About Startups: Get to the Peak!
Most recently, I decided to do the hike up to northern Europe’s highest peak, Galdhøpiggen, in Norway. My youngest son (12 years old) wanted to come with me — a generation that lives and breathes on YouTube, so that was great!
REFLECTIONS
Being at the base camp, some 1800 m above sea level, it gave some time for reflections:
I am an entrepreneur, and as such I have a passion for scaling up businesses making an impact with game changing technology. Innovation for me is exciting and meaningful when it can provide user value that improves processes, efficiency and at the same time being good for our planet. But you need to have nerves of steel. Every week is a roller coaster ride touching both heaven and hell. Every week. You can find statistics on the rate of failure of startups stating 75–90% failures. Scary. But also traditional companies fail and a big part of them (read some statistics that about 80% of the world’s largest companies some 60 years ago have today disappeared, so not much of a difference really). Nothing is stable and it is tough to stay on top.
With startups, as an entrepreneur, you can get excited about getting your initial funding, your first paying customer, building that first small team, which are all elementary, required and creates many golden memories. But I would challenge those entrepreneurs who say that the early phase is the most exciting and the best part — because then I believe that you have not for real attempted the scale-up phase. It is so scary, difficult and painful. About everything changes; you need a different mindset, other skills, your initial team probably does not function, you need more resources and funding, and you have to focus and select what to do. Far from everyone loves this. But re-building your startup for the scaleup is a unique experience. And creating that success, the impact of your innovation, that taste is so sweet. I wouldn’t like to be without it.
THE CLIMB OVER THE RIFT
So being a game changer and attempting “the climb”, this scaleup — what should you consider? First of all, when you get your idea and creating your company, think about what is the big idea. This might not come directly or needs some iterations, but that gives a good direction for the path and impact this can create. I mention this, because when you get to the rift (Note: “Crossing the Chasm”), where you want to jump over from the initial startup phase to the real game as a scaleup, this will matter.
A small note on startups vs. corporates, having my fair share of both; when thinking about startups, the pictures most probably are of that early phase — all individual passion driven, no rules, lack of processes and similar. About corporates it can on the other hand, create pictures of all process-oriented stiff organizations with innovation landlocked. The game of scaling up is to find a fine balance, where you create key processes not depending on a individual, and describing the critical work processes so that you can recruit and/or enable partnerships, as a key ingredient for being able to scaleup without immediately choking. Corporates also have their “bread and butter” business, which is the fundament for their organization to function, which also undermines innovation. Startups on the other hand might have a variety of applications, prototypes, proof of concepts and other R&D type projects — they will have to make a hard prioritization and selection for what is the most likely product of their initial success and scaleup. This you will have to assess by means of customer value, market size, competition, your unique selling proposition, market hurdles and much more. And if you think about all the agile development and pivoting done in the startup phase — it will not go away when you are scaling up.
THE PEAK
The hard work, all the efforts, setbacks and over time more and more successes can take you to the peak. This is when you have become a scaleup company and professional. This means that you have large revenues (and hopefully also cash positive operations), you are a market leader and can celebrate your success. You reach a first real peak, this is what every entrepreneur should aim for!
Getting here you can plan for the next steps and other peaks to conquer — build additional products and services, go into other verticals, do an acquisition, or consider a merger. Whatever the idea, there is still a lot to explore! I feel fortunate to also have the chance to advise other entrepreneurs and helping them to build the road map and journey for jumping the rift and climbing the peak. It is scary, requires a lot of work, but also you have to disrupt you startup system to make it an agile scaleup system. The reward is a ahead, and making an impact with a game changing solution is a wonderful success.
So this particular physical climbing to the peak 2469 m above sea level was hard but manageable. My 12-year old boy really enjoyed it, especially the walk over the glacier and getting to the peak. He could have continued and wants to do it again on some other peak. He made some videos documenting his climb, a YouTube version coming, I am sure. This young generation enjoys outdoor experiences, they just do it their own way.
ABOUT THE CLIMATE
Of course, being in sensitive nature, you also get a view on the climate changes. Even if we manage to keep to the Paris agreement, the temperature increases are predicted to melt virtually all glaciers in Norway by 2100 — the climate changes do have both a local and global impact. Here for instance, the changes and melting of permafrost (which is also occurring in the Northern hemisphere in Asia and America) is unlocking a huge amount of captured carbon emissions.
This summer I was told, the melting here at this mountain, had been tremendous, also causing the walk on the glacier being extra risky. Do reflect on your own activities and startup or company — what can you do to reduce own emission and climate impact, what solutions can you provide to your customers and users, that improves efficiency, reduces the carbon footprint and is good for our planet. We all need to make our own contributions.
/Mika
