During a Quick Start session the other day, the SaaS startup we were working with was explaining their very complex multi-channel and strategic sales go-to-market strategy. It quickly became clear: these guys had created a very real and viable product that they could launch next week to start generating revenue and gaining market intelligence but they could not see it. In fact, this product by their own admission actually has wider appeal than their initial target market segment and could leverage an automated sales process. In many cases we instruct startups to focus on one market segment, but in this case the opposite was true.
In an effort to go after the big vision, the founders of this company were unintentionally adding complexity and missing out on potential near-term opportunities. They needed to pull back the Complexity Curtain in order to see what they had at their fingertips. What we called attention to was what some refer to as a Minimum Viable Product or MVP. I like to expand on that, and I know it ruins the cute acronym, but I prefer to talk about the Minimum Commercially Viable Product or M-C-VP. And these guys have it. They could go to market literally next week.
Is it possible they will miss out on the big opportunities that make up the big vision? This is just the Complexity Curtain at work and is exactly what was keeping them from getting to market. It is true, once the initial excitement of this new M-C-VP approach wears off, the internal struggle for the founders will be front and center "but aren't we abandoning our overall vision?" This is the struggle that all startups with a big vision have. My answer is simple, "you're not missing out on the big vision, you're decreasing the time it takes to make a commercially viable version of that overall vision a reality."
In other words, you have this big vision, but you also have the ability to get into the market today with a real product. And since we know that its only after you are in the market that you really know anything anyway, and that the best laid plans do not stand up to a run-in with real, paying customers, the sooner you can get to market, the better. And rather than causing you to lose focus on the big picture, this will just ensure that the big picture you see is the picture of realty and not something obscured by the Complexity Curtain.
Need help getting rid of your Complexity Curtain and developing a M-C-VP strategy for your SaaS or Web App? Get started with Sixteen Ventures today.
Author: Lincoln Murphy (Follow me on Twitter)