Do you really want to boil the ocean?

Throughout my professional career, I’ve observed how those with tons of resources and outsized ambitions, try to execute Hail Mary initiatives with very limited results. On the other hand, focusing on high quality, low quantity results (e.g., get a few fanatical users of a product versus thousands of site visitors), is much more effective. Later, they are able to build upon these successes.  Startups should really resist the temptation and pressure to ignore this key principle in pursuit of the “boil the ocean” strategy.

I’m still surprised by the strong voices that startup founders hear leading them down a road that will dilute their efforts and produce negligible or incredibly costly results.  These voices take the form of their own desires, of criticisms for not being ambitious enough or “thinking too small.”  My personal experience has been anecdotal, but there are actual studies that confirm this even more.

While working as a Partner Alliance Manager at companies such as Intel or Oracle, I, myself, ignored the temptation of evangelizing all of our partners (e.g., boiling the ocean).  Instead, I decided to frame the direction we were promoting within a vision that made sense to these partners (entrepreneurs who were creating growing, profitable businesses), over communicating that vision internally and externally, promoting a specific program (training, business development support, etc.) and being happy with a handful of takers.  I even gave the strategy an internal name called my “Pinch’n Pull” strategy.

The mental imagine that I was trying to create was that of pinching a table cloth and pulling it up in order to get the rest of the cloth off the table.  What I meant by this was that if we could get a few partners to buy into our vision and take action, the other partners would simply follow.  Obviously, this depended on delivering results to these initial partners that were meaningful (e.g., greater profitability, better customers, etc.).

The results? Within nine months of entering Intel and managing the Northern Cone region (Andean, Caribbean and Central America), the organization actually created a special award direct from headquarters to bestow on me for overtaking much bigger regions (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, etc. ) in sales of new products.   A similar result happened at Oracle when my territory had the best trained partners in Latin America.  Much more important, though, were the expressions of gratitude from partners who saw a positive impact to their business.

Today, I advise several startups and am working full-time at one of these (Tappsi) and have seen firsthand how important it is to avoid falling down this rabbit hole (boiling the ocean).  Each startup is at a different stage and some pressures could come from cash flow issues, others from being too worried about what competitors are doing (another mistake) or pressure from supposed experts.

After observing different strategies for getting new products or new initiatives off the ground, I am convinced that falling into this trap is a key mistake to avoid.  For new product launches, it’s much more valuable, in my opinion, to know the customer you are trying to target in as much detail as possible.  You may end up being wrong (concerning who you’re targeting), but if you are focusing on this, you will end up having a clearer idea of the final customer and what exact problem you’re solving for her.  You can expand from there once you delight these initial users (read Geoffrey Moore, Paul Graham, etc. etc.).

I’ve actually seen this principle hold up incredibly well in my own activities.  As many know, though there are many startup initiatives in Colombia today, five years ago, practically nobody was doing much for the ecosystem.  That was when, after talking with many entrepreneurs, I decided to bring the Founder Institute to Colombia (becoming the first country in Latin America to have a chapter) and organize a group of incredible local mentors to help new startups.

Note: I did fall into the “boil the ocean” syndrome two years ago when I decided to hook up with some partners and run a local government-funded accelerator for about a year and a half.  I even tried to get government funding for a Venture Capital fund (thankfully, the government said “no”) that I wanted to create.  Aside from my hooking up with the wrong partners (my mistake), I expended incredible effort and produced very little results. This made me realize that what I was doing without any outside money was producing many times more impressive results than many others were producing with big teams and large amounts of money from the government and other sources.

I am, indeed, very happy that there are other players trying to take the Colombian ecosystem to the next level.  Nonetheless, I have realized that creating a big impact on an ecosystem does NOT require big government investment and many times those with tons of money can’t create the same impact that a motivated person with a vision can engender.

Caveat: I do think that a local government agency called Innpulsa has been the closest to getting things right in the public sector here.  Nonetheless, if the government would focus on building an incredible data transportion infrastructure (fiber, etc) to offer super cheap high bandwidth internet for all (Colombia needs much faster Internet) along big tax breaks for startups and much lower capital gains taxes for investors, I think they would accomplish 10x more.

By simply leading a number of initiatives that motivate incredibly talented and able individuals (e.g., mentors, founders, sponsors, etc.), I am even more convinced of the effectiveness of a focused strategy versus a “boil the ocean” type strategy.  Aside from family and activities such as being an Endeavor mentor (which I thoroughly enjoy), the activities that keep me busy nowadays and the impact they are creating are the following:

1. Executive VP at Tappsi – Time commitment: most of my waking hours  –  Though I started out as an advisor to the company, I’ve spent the last year complementing this role with that of full-time employee.  I’ve been leading some special projects on company culture, corporate product management and in other areas. It’s really great to work at one of the most exciting startups in the country, especially since we started our relationship about three years ago, when few had heard of the company and it consisted of the two co-founders (versus the 80+ employees now working there).

IMPACT:  One of the biggest impacts you can have on a nascent startup ecosystem like Colombia’s is helping, even in a small way, to create a powerhouse success story for the rest of the startup community to learn from.

2. Advisor to five awesome startups – Time commitment: Occasional coffees and phone calls –  There are indeed incredibly talented and able founders in Colombia and I believe that I have identified five young companies that boast the most talented startup founders in the country.  In addition to the Tappsi founders, I’m talking about companies such as Lulo (on-demand economy), 1Doc3 (healthcare), Magnolia Moda (fashion marketplace founded in Peru) and Acsendo (HR SaaS). I meet many, many founders and have the privilege of being able to pattern match across a broad base of companies and founders.  I truly admire the founders that I’ve selected and am quite excited about each and every one of these companies and the results that they will be achieving in the coming years.

IMPACT: Even though I have not yet created my venture fund, holding Advisor shares in these amazing companies could turn out to be more valuable in the long run.  Aside from this, having the privilege to work with these founders when their companies are just starting out is an invaluable learning experience for myself in terms of understanding what traits are required to make it as a successful startup founder in Latin America, among other things.

3. Director Founder Institute – Time commitment: One night a week during four months – Though it only takes one night a week (during a four month semester), being Director of the Founder Institute Colombia has been incredibly rewarding.  I am extremely grateful to Adeo Ressi for allowing me to become the first Director in Latin America and recently naming me the Best Director in Latin America.  Aside from being phenomenal for my ego, I am cognizant of the fact that I share this with the amazing mentor network in Colombia and in the states that has taken the time to help Colombian entrepreneurs in Bogota and Medellin (we ran a program in Medellin for two years). I have met great founders and the best mentors on the planet (from Colombia and from the US).

IMPACT:  As I wrote previously, the Founder Institute in Colombia has helped create some of the most promising new startups in Colombia. It’s hard to overstate how incredibly HARD it is to create a company and, much less, a growing startup.  Though I wrote in a blog post that up till now, Founder Institute grads have raised $2M for their startups, the number is actually $3M in funds raised by Founder Institute grads.  Now that is real, measurable impact for such a nascent ecosystem.

4. Director Startup Grind – Time commitment:  Six nights during the whole year –  This is a new initiative, but I think it can create tremendous impact.  My goal for this year is to take a snapshot of the Colombia startup ecosystem and showcase the 6 top success stories to a global audience (interviews conducted in English).  These interviews will be promoted on the global Startup Grind Youtube channel.  The interviews are already set up and include the top examples the Colombian ecosystem: Juan Salcedo from Tappsi, Juan Franco from Paymentez, Jose Velez from PayU, Freddy Vega from Platzi, Jose Calderon from ClickDelivery and Juan Calle from .CO and Pop.co.

IMPACT:  Five years from now, those who wish to research the top success stories of the Colombian startup ecosystem in 2015 will be able to refer to these interviews for insights into those companies and what these successful founders predicted for the future.  I believe that, within five years, there will be many more US and European investors investing in Colombian startups and if watching one or two of these interviews had a any hand it getting them here, I will consider this as a tremendous result.

So there you have it.  Instead of my trying to boil the ocean and get hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for big (many people) initiatives, I do believe that I can create much greater impact through focus and building credibility with talented individuals (mentors and founders) and quality organizations (sponsors).  What I do sacrifice (and this hurts more and more every year) is the time that I could spend with my kids and I am thinking of cutting back on some of the extra activities in the future because this is hurting more and more.

Nonetheless, it will be great to look back and watch the results of the efforts of these last 5 years continue to bear fruit in the years to come.  The fact that none of these required hiring an army of people and getting gobs of money to execute will make this that much sweeter.  Anybody who wants to create a big impact either founding a startup or through some other means, should keep this in mind.  Anyone who is motivated by such goals really has the most amazing tools available (e.g., social media, cloud computing, etc.).  All they need is a vision and some effort.  You REALLY don’t need to boil the ocean.