Guest Blog Henk Vlietstra
The resilience of start ups
In early 2009 my kids returned from a school fair with a bag full of carnival fish. These where dutifully housed in a fairly basic fish bowl and with the unspoken yet dark foretelling that the longevity deck was stacked against them we set about as normal.
Sure enough within a fortnight eight became five and not long thereafter we were down to two. They hung in and soon the pressure was mounting for a larger tank, with filter and shipwreck. This also heralded the introduction of two, significantly more expensive fish to keep the pioneers company. Less than a year passed and we were back down to three and after a fine funeral fit for the rather expensive fish we purchased another two even more expensive and despite my best efforts a larger tank to house the new team and toys.
Right from the get go Dark Mole one of the new fish took to swimming upside down (he is still at it) and his fellow newbie was rechristened Helmet Head because it was apparent that his head was the only part of him growing. Despite all this the tank works, thrives actually and those diverse fish keep beating the odds.
In similar ways the deck is stacked against the start up in more ways than most care to admit and yet there never seems to be a shortage of entrepreneurs willing to stand against these odds. Since 2009 I have been fortunate to work with a variety of start-ups.
The good ones have more than a few common denominators clearly evident; passion, good product / technology, ability to attract funding and audience attention. You can’t discount market timing and a healthy measure of luck but these will always be a crap shoot. It’s the team. Their skills are almost a given but it’s the diversity of their backgrounds and the ability to create a unifying culture that comes up trumps as to who will have the best chance at beating the odds.
In early 2009 my kids returned from a school fair with a bag full of carnival fish. These where dutifully housed in a fairly basic fish bowl and with the unspoken yet dark foretelling that the longevity deck was stacked against them we set about as normal.
Sure enough within a fortnight eight became five and not long thereafter we were down to two. They hung in and soon the pressure was mounting for a larger tank, with filter and shipwreck. This also heralded the introduction of two, significantly more expensive fish to keep the pioneers company. Less than a year passed and we were back down to three and after a fine funeral fit for the rather expensive fish we purchased another two even more expensive and despite my best efforts a larger tank to house the new team and toys.
Right from the get go Dark Mole one of the new fish took to swimming upside down (he is still at it) and his fellow newbie was rechristened Helmet Head because it was apparent that his head was the only part of him growing. Despite all this the tank works, thrives actually and those diverse fish keep beating the odds.
In similar ways the deck is stacked against the start up in more ways than most care to admit and yet there never seems to be a shortage of entrepreneurs willing to stand against these odds. Since 2009 I have been fortunate to work with a variety of start-ups.
The good ones have more than a few common denominators clearly evident; passion, good product / technology, ability to attract funding and audience attention. You can’t discount market timing and a healthy measure of luck but these will always be a crap shoot. It’s the team. Their skills are almost a given but it’s the diversity of their backgrounds and the ability to create a unifying culture that comes up trumps as to who will have the best chance at beating the odds.
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