✴️ How I'm Making... #16

Did you ever use one of these bad boys in a chemistry class?

I did - I remember the box, but I have no idea what we were actually building. The thing I do remember is that I took the contents of the box and sorted them into a neat pile, separated into each type of component.

I used to take it as a compliment when someone told me I had OCD (I don’t think I actually have OCD). But this was a lesson I had to unlearn. Startups work best when it starts with the unscalable - there are a few reasons for this.

✏️ Summary

• The marketplace tells you what it wants

• Optimization takes time

• Doing good work takes time

📈 Doing Things That Don’t Scale

The marketplace tells you what it wants

I remember my first idea - a timezone converter that could book meetings. I still use this tool every now and again, but even I know now I would never pay for this thing.

Starting a business is not just about finding something people want. It’s about finding something people are willing to pay for.

Very often, since we start with an idea that seems good to us (otherwise why are you starting a business?) the only way to find out if people actually want this thing is to put it out in the marketplace and see how people react.

Optimization takes time

So why do we sacrifice optimization for speed?

If you hire an engineer to build you a house, they’ll work to make sure that the house can withstand a certain amount of weight on the roof - maybe enough for one or two people so that it can be maintained. There’s no use in building a roof that can withstand the weight of two elephants, because that’s not what it needs to do.

The trickiest thing about optimizing for a personal project is that there is really no ‘right’ use case. You’re building for an imaginary audience or yourself, with no real sense of what matters or doesn’t - just your gut feeling.

This can lead to the problem of overoptimization - the feeling that the project isn’t done because you think you can change one more thing, make it faster, prettier, smoother.

I fell into this trap a lot with websites. The header should be centered. No it should be bold. This button should be red, etc…

Doing good work takes time

The second trap is the issue of volume.

Just a couple of years ago I used to dread sending Linkedin messages - I would get scared. What if they rejected me? What if they’re rude to me?

But here I am, about a year later, with 8000+ invitations sent out.

The truth of the matter is, getting the outcomes we want often take orders of magnitude more work than we originally thought.

The average B2B cold outreach success rate is 1%. That means on average, if you reach out to 100 businesses, you might just get one person to work with you. In reality, when we’re starting out, it means we need to put in 2x or 3x the work to get the outcome we think we deserve.

So if you’re just starting out, with no validation from the market that it wants what you have, get it out there fast.

Fail fast, fail often is a maxim that stuck not just because it’s catchy but because it’s true. What we think of as failure is actually evidence-gathering. And it might just be the thing you’re missing.

🔗 Link: Find your lead magnet

If you’re running a business with some kind of a funnel, but don’t know how to pick what funnel to make, try this out. It uses Hormozi’s funnel fundamentals to help you design a funnel that sticks.

What’s Next?

I will be working on a project with an established education business to help them implement AI into their workflow. This should be exciting!

That’s all for now!

If you’re worried about starting - just get started.

Take it from someone who took over 10 years to start his first business!

Ben

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