A little bit of a stretch, I know, but stay with me here.
Thanksgiving is a BIG deal for my wife’s family. For the past 27 years, they have hosted 30+ people for Thanksgiving dinner (lunch) in their 200+ year old house. We fill the living room with tables and chairs and everyone squats down wherever they can. The menu is pretty outrageous in order to accomodate so many people. This is a far cry from the Thanksgivings I was used to growing up where it would just be the 5 of us in my family up at our cabin in the mountains reading, relaxing, and watching football.
Something else that is different with my wife’s family is Black Friday. I never used to do anything special for Black Friday, but my wife’s family has a very specific set of traditions. Every Black Friday, Caitlyn and her mom will go on and all day shopping spree while the guys of the family go hunting. Now I did not grow up around guns or hunting so the experience of tagging along is all very new to me. This year as we were going squirrel hunting, I was struck by some of the similarities between hunting and starting a successful technology startup. Here are a few things that are comparable.
Squirrel Dog (Market Validation Research)
As with any start up, hunting is a team sport. One of the keys to successfully squirrel hunting is have an aptly named Squirrel Dog. A Squirrel Dog is a dog that is trained to, you guessed it, go find the squirrels. They will go off on their own as you hike around and find the squirrels before “treeing” them by running around the base of any tree with a squirrel barking which both signals they have found something, and keeps the squirrel from running away. I found this behavior very similar to the market validation research that successful companies undertake before even building out a prototype or wireframe. The number one reason why startups fail is due to a lack of market demand for their product or service. By going out of you way you can ascertain exactly where the market opportunity (squirrel) is and devise an appropriate plan of attack.
Gun Choice (Product Market Fit)
Once your dog has treed a squirrel, you need to make sure you are equipped with the right gun for the task. Now I know next to nothing about firearms, but I do know enough to understand that you don’t go squirrel hunting with a .50 caliber rifle. Similarly, it doesn’t matter how perfectly poised for disruption a market is if you don’t have a product that truly addresses the problem people are facing. Now finding product market fit can often be a lot more difficult then picking the right gun for the job, but in either situation picking the wrong tool for the opportunity will leave you unsuccessful.
Taking The Shot (Execution)
Getting the squirrel in your sights with the proper gun is really just the start. If you aren’t able to execute the shot to perfection, it nothing else will matter. In venture, there is a debate on whether a market or a team is really what drives success. There are strong arguments for both, but as a seed-stage investor, I cannot help but believe that the right team is crucial. Even with the more ripe market and the perfectly formulated product, the startup could still be unsuccessful if the team is unable to execute.
Retriever (Business Model)
Assuming you are skilled enough to hit your target, there remains the question of how to extract your prize from the underbrush. You could hike through and get the remains yourself, but this would be a very manual process. Instead, most hunters will use a dog to retrieve for them. For startups, a scalable business model is absolutely essential for any type of meteoric growth. Many processes can be accomplished manually, but without some sort of business model to provide leverage, the company will be hamstrung as they struggle to meet the needs of their customers. Finding product market fit is the first priority for any entrepreneur, but developing a scalable business model is a close second.
Hunting Seasons (Market timing)
Even with the perfect market, an excellent product, a great team, and a scalable business model, you might fail simply because the market is not ready for your solution. Market timing is one of the hardest things for any startup to plan for because it is out of their control and requires founders to adjust opportunistically. You can find example after example of great ideas that failed because the supporting technology was just not there yet. Uber could never have existed before the proliferation of smartphones and GPS technology gave them the ability to put a dispatcher in anyone’s pocket. Other times changes in regulatory requirements can kill a business just as it is taking off. Just ask Juul. Timing is similarly important in hunting. To maintain a sustainable number of animals, hunting is only allowed in very specific seasons. You could face serious repercussions if you are found hunting the wrong animal at the wrong time.
Told you I could (mostly) make it work.