The Focus

Abstract

One of the earliest mistakes so many startups make is that they try to do everything. They try to satisfy every customer need and request in every market where one can use their product. That is the biggest mistake to make. It is tempting to do everything, but you cannot. Learning early to say “No” is therefore very important in the early stage of a company. We are capable of doing that, but we are not going to do that because we are going to do this, and only this. It is really hard to learn to focus in the early stages of a company, especially if you have a product or technology that can be broadly applied to many different markets or customer segments. It is tough to say, “Sorry, we cannot take your order”, when companies call. You have to let certain opportunities go away, you cannot chase every business opportunity. It is a hard thing to focus when you still have very few customers, but it is really valuable. And you almost cannot focus too much.