How to achieve overnight success in a startup?

Overnight Success: It is fascinating to look at the statistics of startup successes. During my MBA, almost every time I produced a business plan, I was asked to project the 5 year plan. I often wondered where this 5 year requirement came from.

Naturally most of the plans had a breakeven period of 3 years, a hockey curve which would give fabulous results in 5. Following that and a startup journey, it is safe to say that the journey has been fairly different. But exciting for sure. On that note, I will derive some inspiration from a lovely quote by Biz Stone,

Timing, perseverance and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success

– Biz Stone, Twitter

As much as we would love every plan in a startup to succeed, the percentage of success is fairly small. This certainly sets the concept of overnight success in a startup under the scanner.

Overnight success as a startup 

I suppose I won’t be far off if I start from the assumption that overnight success doesn’t exist. Every deliverable comes after its deserved amount of work which makes it a valuable product or service. As much as I wish that would happen, it probably is more suited for a lottery than a startup.

But why do startups go through the rigorous effort of providing projections to investors? Well, the projections certainly force us to think about all the known factors and be aware of the risks of unknown. This is certainly not to say that these projections are of a theoretic value, but they are :D

They do however show an aspirational value to offer clarity to investors, potential hires and senior management team as to where the company is headed. After all, one of the biggest take away from a startup is the hockey curve growth!

Timing and Perseverance for Overnight Success

I might be pulling these words straight from the quote, but I would like to explore the importance of timing and perseverance. From previous experiences in the startup world, success has always taken longer to materialse.

Even if we had the best product, it will take time for it to reach its peak in sales and provide us the results. The marketing value hugely benefits from its timing into the market, presence of competitors and all the various facets which Porter’s 5 forces can highlight.

1. Timing : The market is a huge driver. We always have to be on the top of it to constantly keep up with where the trends are heading. There are plenty of examples of products released too early when the market wasn’t ready. At the same time, there are numerous ones about the releases being too late. It is often a fine balance between the two. MVP and Agile Approaches: An MVP approach with constant focus on customer development, listening to the voice of the customers, can provide us a closer feedback 
2. Perseverance: As a startup, there is a constant feedback loop. Not many things work in our favour. It can be investment, time delays in completing products, timeline for sales projections to come through. The number of challenges are naturally never ending. Although perseverance is held out as a wonderful model, a startup does test this quality quite often. And we are quite often forced to get up, dust ourselves off and work again.

Is the Hard Work Really worth it?

This is a question I would encourage all entrepreneurs to think about. I am a huge fan of understanding how people are motivated. One thing has been a harsh lesson for me in this process. It is the knowledge and acceptance of how tough things can be in this journey.

A lot of my motivation stemmed from envisioning the final picture, but that also exposed a risk of turning a blind eye towards the obvious challenges. A startup inherently is risky. If we are committing to it, it is not just the time in our lives, but the emotions, people and relationships around us which will be affected.

Awareness of Potential Pitfalls and Failures

The idea of overnight success is a great fairy tale, but so is the awareness. Before delving in, I would encourage to delve through the risks and plunge into this world. As tempting as the journey is, it is equally fraught with risks. Unfortunately not all risks are rewarded.

Having said that it is a fantastic journey which unfolds fascinating results even after a failure. Having seen both sides of the coin, we will need to treat the startup affair as a job too. Yes, it is certainly very important and meaningful to us and a lot hinges on its success. But, it certainly is not everything! The flip side of an overnight success cannot be a zero, we will need to carve a path for ourselves regardless of the outcome and the unforeseen challenges. After all, even these are the key facets of timing, perseverance and hard work!