Startups Should Expect Surprises

Startups Should Expect Surprises: There are very few startups that develop in the way that their initial business plan described, nor one that delivers the results forecast. Surprises are inevitable. Happily, some are delightful, but sadly there are many that appear disastrous. Either way, entrepreneurs with the ability both to learn, and to apply that learning, will be separated from the 90 per cent of people whose startups fail.

Successful entrepreneurs demonstrate humility towards outcomes, both unexpected as well as intended, both positive and negative. Mike Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada acknowledges this in his book, Value(s): Building a Better World for All, describes humility as recognizing there will be surprises.

He concludes that, “we have a choice. We can continue to let financial valuation narrow our values or we can create an ecosystem in which values broaden the market’s conceptions of value. In this way individual creativity and market dynamism will be channeled to achieve society’s highest goals.”

Taking risks is considered by many to be a necessary ingredient of entrepreneurial success. The creator of a new venture might not consider caution to be a virtue of benefit to her startup. The same applies to similar human traits like generosity or compassion. But, and it’s a big BUT, the cautious entrepreneur has a huge advantage over the bold one. Why? Because arrogance is likely to prevent the ability to spot what surprises have to teach.

Surprises come in many varieties. An inclusive workforce with differing physical, racial, intellectual and emotional characteristics may produce surprising ideas, reactions, and competences. Marketing and advertising campaigns may not meet expected outcomes—or could vastly exceed them. Estimated production costs may go way over budget. Downstream waste may horrify management or the community. In any of these cases, unimaginable innovative responses might occur and make the knee-jerk reaction of the proud entrepreneur fail.

Startups Should Expect Surprises—Some Offer Opportunity

Naturally, surprises can lead to beneficial—or harmful results.

For example, a startup with a uniform workforce profile might easily jump to wrong conclusions. I have seen sales ad campaigns that fail to produce anticipated sales, cause the marketers to increase budgets having jumped to the conclusion that the ads were just fine, but the spend was inadequate. Maybe production costs soared because the raw material buyers paid too much, or it might just have been that the manufacturing process was used because ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’, took precedence over innovative methods. Unanticipated waste could have happened simply through lack of awareness of sustainable alternatives, or that outside ecological pressure had not impinged on the business.

These are just a few of the reasons why startups should expect surprises, not dismiss them. The Conscious Competence Matrix might help you reflect of attitudes and behaviors you had previous ignored as being contributors to a successful startup. 

The Curious Entrepreneur

The curious entrepreneur will tens to ask herself, “Why not?” as a means of considering the kinds of surprise that might pop up in the developing process of business building. Curiosity and inquisitiveness are certainly very productive for startups, provided, of, course, that the intending entrepreneur does not descend into indecision.

Significantly, the entrepreneur should expect surprises because curiosity can lead to finding and fulfilling needs that others have not discovered or that are not yet fully obvious to mainstream business. If customers repeatedly complain that a range of other suppliers products fail to deliver on their claims claims, the entrepreneur might have stumbled on a market opportunity.

It is the curious entrepreneur who may encounter good but surprising reasons to pivot, that those lacking such curiosity might not even notice at all. Experimentation is a wise practice for a newly started business. Continuous curiosity will emphasize entrepreneur perception and intuition. Remember, curiosity did NOT kill the cat! Startups should expect surprises.

The Bold Entrepreneur

The bold entrepreneur makes audacious moves and inspires amazement, admiration or skepticism, but in any event, over-ambitiousness is blindness to negative consequences. However, bold entrepreneurs can still be first class noticers of the world that surrounds him.

Here’s a good piece to inspire lurking bold entrepreneurs: 10 Entrepreneurs Explain What Being Bold Means to Them. Remember that there are almost as many entrepreneur types as there are entrepreneurs. It is dangerous to fall into a trap that says, ‘if I’m going to be successful as an entrepreneur, I need to be like so and such a person, or I have to have a 50 page business plan’. Stereotypes are dangerous, so take a look at these entrepreneur types.

The Timid Entrepreneur

At the same time it’s interesting to learn how much support there is for the humble entrepreneur. An article in the Entrepreneur in 2021 pointed out the obvious factors like how a humble entrepreneur can strengthen social bonds; help identify weaknesses; be more likely to learn from others; or have awareness of competitor advantages. Faster Capital suggests there are five way to embrace humility and gratitude for long term success: 1) Inclusivity in Decision-Making; 2) Resilience in the Face of Failure; 3) Mentorship and Growth; 4) Sustainable Business Relationships; 5) Adaptability to Change. An article in Forbes suggests that there are three reasons why being humble is critical to growing your business: humble managers earn loyalty; you can learn from your employees; it cultivates a workplace culture of authenticity.

Startups should expect surprises because overconfidence is sure to trip you up. There are many ways to behave humbly that will have a positive impact on business success. A humble startup founder will unconsciously ….. Say the Customers Name—Lessons for Startups …