A saw a retweet the other day that I think was originally from one of the top guys at Twitter. It was something about “not shooting for the moon, lest you end up a corpse floating through space” or something like that.
I think his point was that if you shoot for the moon, most of the time you will end up with nothing. There is some irony in this coming from someone at Twitter, but I think his point is valid.
This reminded me of a discussion I had a couple of weeks ago with a great group of guys in Portland, Oregon. One of the guys and I got into a discussion about whether or not one should aim, in business, to change the world. He thought ‘yes’ and I thought ‘no’.
If you want to change the world, start a religion or a political/economic system. Start the next Christianity or the next Capitalism. Follow the footsteps of Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Work to increase crop yields or basic sanitation. Or design really inexpensive water pumps that are powered by solar or human energy (that’s a real one, by the way, that’s really cool!)
We talked about great, hugely successful companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, etc. Now, I don’t know this for sure, but I bet most of those companies did not start out to change the world. I bet they started out to fill a market need and to make money… or maybe to take over the world in at least some of those cases 
.
The whole conversation started because of something I find great: small businesses that fill niches across our economy. Through Chargify, I talk with people who run small businesses that you’ll never hear of, that start small with revenue of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a month, that grow to cover the mortgage, then allow the person to cut back their consulting or job hours, and eventually provide a good living for their family and employees.
I met a guy who developed a simple web/email-based service for a decidedly non-tech niche that he enjoys. It generates $3K/month, which pays his mortgage. I won’t be surprised if I ask him in 6 or 12 months and he’s up to $4K or $6K or even $10K/month. But even if it stays around $3K/month, it’s still great, because it’s one of several things he’s doing and it’s already paying a large expense for his family.
I’ve seen other stories that start similarly, but if you leave and come back 5 years later, whoa, the business is generating $25K or $50K or $100K a month, employing people, providing a good living and maybe building savings.
I love these stories because I think of them as the real economy, the online and offline backbone that generates a large chunk of our GDP – maybe a majority of it.
These entrepreneurs and SMBs aren’t shooting for the moon, but I bet they have a much higher statistical chance of success versus those who do shoot for the moon. Almost by definition, these folks notice a need and aim to fill it. Need is a big prerequisite to success. We’ve all been infatuated with an idea that we thought was really cool, even when there was no real need.
There’s a lot of attention given to the TINY, TINY percentage of hugely successful consumer-oriented tech companies. While we can learn from these successes, I think dwelling on them is akin to planning to be the next Derek Jeter.
Most of us are better off targeting a niche and growing from there. There’s nothing wrong with a “boring” niche business that few will ever hear of in the media, and in fact, I think it’s wise.
Some people say my viewpoint deprives us of the benefits of shooting for the moon. We need great breakthroughs, great athletes, great musicians, and literal trips of discovery. I don’t disagree.
I just think most people contemplating a business are better off starting with something more attainable and then building on that success. The irony is that most of them will be better off in 10 years than those who aimed for the moon.
Totally agree with you on this Lance. I’ve had similar debates recently. VCs seem to be in love with the “shoot for the moon” ideas. I have become a big believer that when you’re small it’s a proving ground. Starting a tech company isn’t about swinging for a single vs. a home run. They are not mutually exclusive.
Small can become big very quickly (Ruby as a dominant language anyone?). The only thing one may want to consider is that there exists a big market or there are signs that the market may become a big one. The latter takes some great instincts and being able to read the tea leaves.
Great post. Big solutions often end up being mediocre at everything. That is one of the things that is so exciting about SaaS businesses today. You have a bunch of people trying to do one thing and do it really, really well. With good APIs you can put together some pretty incredible solutions with billing, help desk, CRM and other tools for a very small price. Anyone who tried to be all of these things couldn’t do it half as well.
I loved this paragraph:
“If you want to change the world, start a religion or a political/economic system. Start the next Christianity or the next Capitalism. Follow the footsteps of Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Work to increase crop yields or basic sanitation. Or design really inexpensive water pumps that are powered by solar or human energy (that’s a real one, by the way, that’s really cool!)”
I am so sick of hearing people tell entrepreneurs to change the world. IPO’ing, or even selling a startup for hundreds of millions of dollars is incomparably easier than changing the world. World-changing companies are just a drop in the bucket compared to even an exclusive field of legendarily successfully companies.
If you want to change the world, then by all means, go for it. If you want to be an entrepreneur, just set out to change your life.
Got here through a tweet from Greg and enjoyed reading this, but I had to smile when I read this:
“I love these stories because I think of them as the real economy, the online and offline backbone that generates a large chunk of our GDP – maybe a majority of it.”
And that’s not changing the world?
Karin H (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Exactly. None of the millions of little businesses are setting out to change the world, but they do end up making the world better one step at time by focusing on a niche/small business that enriches their family & their community.
Lance, Great points all around. I work as a Duct Tape Marketing coach helping many of these smb’s grow, and the first thing we discuss is how to narrow their focus and find an ideal customer (they value what you do, they are profitable and they refer you.
Once they define their ideal customer, they can get to their core message and remarkable difference that allows them to further penetrate that niche. Referrals are the #1 way that most smbs’ grow and its really difficult to get referrals when you shoot for the moon as opposed to the potential client the next block over.