If you have been reading startup advice long enough, you surely noticed two trends repeated ad nauseum.
Iterate Quickly
Also known as “kill ideas fast”, this advice is saying that your idea is probably not worth the pixels it’s displayed on. Ideas are a dime a dozen, execution matters. You’d be better off with a dumb idea in a large, expanding market!
The advice goes on to recommend that you submit your idea to friends, advisors (maybe VCs). Find people who you trust and are honest enough to tell you that your idea is dumb. Don’t fall in love with your idea, move on, try another one.
Trust Your Guts
Also known as resilience or tenacity: when everyone else tells you to give up, when there is no hope in sight, what separates the successsful entrepreneur from the wanna-be: perseverance. Don’t give up.
Or my favorite quote: Instant success takes years!
Making Sense Of It
The apparent contradiction was especially visible during the latest Founder Institute session in Silicon Valley, since several mentors gave both advice back to back. Some founders couldn’t help but notice.
Here’s my take on the contradiction: both your guts and everyone else are right — partially. It takes a very smart person (you) to figure out the gem that your guts detect and remove the junk that everyone else sees.
So it’s not a contradiction at all. We are just going back to the essence of intelligence: you need to keep thinking about every angle of your idea. If you really believe there is something to it, I’ll believe you. But also listen to feedback because while it may be missing your big picture, it is probably right at least on a tactical level. Your rough idea, as you pitch it, likely has shortcomings and limitations.
It’s your job to figure it out.
