Go To Your Customers
Immediately!
I really like the Myers-Briggs Typology, a personality typology based on Jung's typology in the 1940s. It allows each person to be represented through a set of characteristics that describe their behaviour. The theory itself I strongly advise everyone who hires (and fires) people to study, I will focus on the last of the 4 parameters.
The J-P scale is a way of preparing decisions:
- J (Judging, judgement) - a rational preference for planning and ordering information in advance,
- P (Perception) - an irrational preference to act without detailed prior preparation, more in tune with circumstances.
Judging is such a chronic problem of "almost entrepreneurs". Who keep planning and ordering. While the typology itself suggests that each option occurs about 50% of the time, in startups the ratio looks like 20/80 - and I don't mean the Pareto rule.
The eternal "polishing" of a product to an imaginary perfect state is often explained as a sign of perfectionism. But it is an illusion. The reason is something else - fear of selling. And without overcoming it, you can't become a true entrepreneur.
I've seen hundreds of startups hang in a loop of perpetual improvement, pulling out their "understanding" of what the right product should be. They rubbed their car to a shine in the garage while their competitors - 'hustling 20%' - were already in the race. And as it turned out, it was boats, not cars, that were needed. But you can't see that from the garage.
I urge all entrepreneurs to remember the old wisdom: "If you are not ashamed of the first version of the product your customers saw - you did it too late". Put off another sprint, put off hiring and refactoring, put off the battle for the perfect UI. Go and talk to your customers.
1. Do customer development - stop coming up with the product out of your head
2. Sell - no one is interested in theoretical product-market fit
3. Generate loyalty - no one has cancelled the network effect.