I attended a presentation at UVEF today by Skullcandy Founder & CEO Rick Alden. By the way, Rick is being considered for the
Does Too Much Success Too Early Hurt Start-Ups?
Answers
I like the analogy of an infant becoming a toddler, child, adolescent, and adult. You start with a newborn invention or idea and a founder's vision of how "success" will ultimately be achieved. Execution of a business plan in a nurturing environment may lead to tangible, measurable accomplishments, and each step toward maturity is rewarded with greater resources and more variables to manage. If milestones are met and feedback is positive, healthy growth takes place. Slow and steady progress is always preferred, but every industry has examples of erratic, unexpected successes and failures. Drug development, for example, is a very high-
This is a great discussion topic, and I'll look forward to reading different views.
The garage/basement, scratching month-to-month teaches you good habits and forces you to make tough decisions. This all leads to maximizing capital efficiency and your own inventiveness. When there are plenty of funds around you tend to substitute money for work and thought. It's not that you aren't putting in the hours, it's that you don't have to consider every decision quite as hard. Also, it's much easier to say "we'll hire someone" or "let's pay someone outside to do this" rather than hunkering down and doing it yourself - which is how you really learn when you are a young startup.
Could too much success hurt? Sure. But I think it would hurt for the same reasons as too much money, and primarily b/c it would bring a flush of funding and the sloppiness that follows. Of course that's just my two cents (and as a scrappy startup, we can't afford a penny more).
I have worked with more than two dozen start-ups since 1999, and I find that the probability of success is driven more by the perceived tangible beneifts of the product in the eyes of potential customers as opposed to the amount of capital raised or the quality of the management team. If you are developing a product that offers measurable ROI or enhanced performance, you will generate revenue more easily than many others can offer. Then, it's a matter of controlling costs so that your venture is profitable.
To answer Ken's question directly, I would suggest paying attention to Ning. This is yet another social media company, but it is headed by internet legend Marc Andreesen, who has no trouble attractive investors and certainly has plenty of money of his own. Thus, Ning has plenty of capital and as "A" CEO as a company could have. Let's see how they do!