Often founders come across scenarios when their offering is as good or sometimes better than another startup but the commercial outcomes produced by their venture are not equally stellar. This is really confronting. Here is my take on what can be done about it?

One of the startups I was assisting mentioned the following.

I wanted to share this with you, a really interesting startup in the US within our space. Raised a $AA M seed in Jan and sold to xxxxxxxx at $BB M . ! The market seems to be moving. Keen to get your thoughts.

My suggestion to him (and to everyone is) was - though it may seem we are comparing apples with apples but the apples are different.

If you look at many firms playing in BNPL, Electic Cars segment, they all have different outcomes. No two MBA’s, engineers, doctors, programmes have similar business or life outcomes.

Treat your business in a similar manner. You can easily make yourself miserable by comparing the outcomes without understanding the journeys and their backstories. They go through a totally different voyage and experience. The founders have their own set of relationships or contacts that help or propel them forward.

Not everyone has the same palette of choices at the same point in time( Watch a TED talk by Bill Gross https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gross_the_single_biggest_reason_why_start_ups_succeed?language=en where he mentions that timing is one of the key facts for success). Contacts or turnout of events, nuances may create a different level of market acceptance for the offer. That said, no two business models and tractions are alike either.

As it turned out that the other founding team had a great personal track record and relationships with some big brand name firms in the US, they were colocated with their investors and managed to get two brand name clients with whom they had worked in the past.

That said the startup I was talking to is not far off as they have decided to create a better version of their own venture and they are succeeding in that.

Entrepreneurs, be kind to yourself as your subpar outcomes may seem to be so because you are at a different part of the journey. It may seem that you are going in circles but you may be climbing at each step along the way.

Focusing on what you set out to achieve will help you will in differentiating and move from red to blue oceans.

Best

© Sameer Babbar

PS: if you think someone will benefit from changing their thinking around this concept, please do share.