Why early stage companies should not spend time thinking about differentiation

There exists a vast body of knowledge to support those starting  a business. In this mass of knowledge, each entrepreneur must apply discretion and balance in order to adopt and utilise that which is peculiar to their line of business.

While general business knowledge requires that we determine beforehand what differentiates us from competitors, I was quite fascinated when I read this post (by Daniel, an MBA candidate at Stanford Graduate School of Business) which basically  states that in certain situations, determining that differentiation is not our job as entrepreneurs....(think) "you are not your customer".
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Know your competitors and know why you’re different. Seems like a simple enough truism in business. Except, in early stage companies still searching for traction, this thinking can quickly cause you to spend time on the wrong things.

I was sitting in a meeting the other day discussing a sales test we wanted to run for a new product offering. We quickly outlined the product offering, the target customers, and the specific problem we could solve for those customers. Then someone asked the next logical question: “How are we different from companies A, B, and C who offer something similar to what we’re proposing?”

The team proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes posing answers to this question. As I sat and listened to the discussion, I couldn’t help but think it was a useless exercise for a product offering with no traction and for a sale we had never yet attempted. Nobody in the room REALLY knew the answer to why our product was different and it wasn’t going to emerge from conversations within the walls of the building.

There are two reasons why spending time thinking about differentiation is a waste of time:

In large, fast-growing markets, there’s plenty of share to go around.

Most startups operate in newly developing markets that are growing fast. In these scenarios, differentiation typically takes a back seat to simply solving a really important customer problem and having a team that can execute on acquiring lots of customers with that problem quickly. In early stage companies, traction IS differentiation. The winners acquire more customers faster than the losers. In short, there’s plenty of market share to go around, so spend less time worrying about how to steal it from your competitors.

In uncertain environments, those who learn faster from customers win.

You might say: “But, in order to acquire customers, we need to describe why we’re different than all the other companies trying to sell them the same thing.” This may be true in some conversations, but a good sales team will figure this out quickly after trying to sell to a few potential customers. Don’t spend time attempting to guess at what differentiates you. Even more importantly, don’t spend time forming a product roadmap that creates differentiation before trying to sell what you currently have to customers. Instead, go try to sell the product and then build the things that are preventing customers from buying. In short, customers will tell you in the sales process if you’re differentiated. It’s more important to learn quickly from customers and adapt to meet their needs.

Next time you’re in a meeting and someone brings up the topic of differentiation that’s not based on direct feedback from customers, stop the meeting and force everyone to go sit in on a sales call or try to sell the product. You’ll likely find that differentiation is unimportant or that your hypotheses about what makes you different were wrong all along.

Work Life Balance; Why you're not balancing

Work-Life balance for most professionals has become a mirage; we've heard of it, we understand its importance, but we never seem to get to that point of perfect balance. While some have decided to quit trying, many of us are still very much interested in having that balance for varying reasons.

The not-so-good news is that work-life balance can never be achieved in the way most of us perceive it. The good news however is that, with better understanding and a little tweak in perspective, work-life balance is something we can all achieve easily.

When most people think about work-life balance, they think of a situation in which they get to devote equal amount of time to their work and their family. This is the first of two misconceptions about work-life balance. Firstly, work-life balance is not trying to share your time between your work and family, there is much more to it.
There are five different sections that make up our lives, two of which are Work, and Relationships(family falls under this section). The other three components are Health, Spirit, and Interests. Therefore when we think about work-life balance, we are trying to create a balance between;
*What you do for a living
* The people that matter to you
*The state of your physical and mental wellbeing
*Your beliefs and a sense of commitment to something bigger than you
*Your interests, likes, hobbies, and passion.

The second misconception, which is what makes work-life balance seem unattainable, is that we need to devote an equal amount of time to all these areas of our lives. This, as you most probably have found out, is absolutely impossible. What then is the whole balance thing about?

Actually, work-life balance is less about making the remaining four sections of your life compete with your work for your time, its more about making "small investments" in the right place. Its less about taking long trips and family vacations;its more about making sure that the little things gets done.

A lesson from my social media class says "one minute everyday is better than 10 hours on Saturday". Work-life balance is achieved using this same principle. Forget the cliches (plan your day to perfection, set goals, prioritize etc) and focus on what really matters. Humans will always live as humans, so there is no point adopting a robot culture. To achieve that balance we desire, we simply have to ensure that we make those small investments in the right places. In context of the different sections our lives here are examples
* Smile even after a tough day, a broad daily smile is better than a laughter filled 2-day vacation.
* A 20 minute workout every morning is better than 5 hours at the gym once a month
* Listen to a sermon on your way to work each morning, instead of trying to squeeze out time for a 3 day retreat.
* Carve out a nice article from your work notes for your company newsletter, instead of hoping to complete that novel when you retire.

The whole idea of work-life balance is hinged upon the need to ensure that other areas of our lives do not get neglected due to the pressing demands of the work area. Therefore, the important thing is to make sure that on a daily basis, we take advantage of every opportunity to give expression to those other aspects of our lives. This will not guarantee a perfect balance of shared time between sectors, what it guarantees rather is a well rounded, happy, and less demanding life; the life of a human.