The end of year is full of posts about how all startups and CEOs (now after the market meltdown) are going to be focused in 2009 on revenues, efficiency, listening to customers, making better products, and more…
Just the other day I read Some startup CEOs? New Years’ resolutions where most resolutions sound like boiler plated stuff. It is not that I don’t appreciate efficiency and revenues, don’t get me wrong, but still one has to ask what was the focus last year? I understand the pressures these companies have on them, especially from some of their investors who would like to see results (what are results when you try to build up to something?) but these responses seem to only satisfy the eager investor ears and nothing more.
In general, every time the market goes either up or down new mantras are invented – or reused. Usually, when the market goes up you are required as an entrepreneur to make sure you see for the long strategic term, have a scalable technology that can cope with potential huge market adoption, build a solid and endurable team, and infrastructure as a company as well as others. Actions that usually take a long time cost a lot, and do not bring near term financial results. When the market is down then you should forget about all the nonsense (just previously advised) and now refocus on making money and spending less.
Although the downtrend creates suggestions that seem logical, I am not sure new companies being created, if one considers a new company as a growing living entity, can be bent towards people’s wishes just based on the current weather or market trend. There are companies or products with no revenues in nature – twitter up to the moment, and there are those who require heavy investment in R&D. Sometimes, changing the strategic goals for the venture at a certain point of time can mean the end of life. Everyone wants a cash cow eventually but how can you milk a calf that was just born? Or grow him with minimal food?