271020 - Runrates, Sustainability & Moonshots

You're part of a start-up. Your team is raising capital. You know your revenue. You know your customer acquisition cost. You know your burn rate. How do you weigh the decision to focus on incremental improvements to an existing solution vs going for the 10x moonshot solution, which is likely a potentially radically different product or service?

Google's Moonshot Factory has a simple goal:

'10x impact on the world's most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement'

I would argue such a notion applies to many start-up companies. Early-stage companies can often find themselves at a crossroads where they can see their competition, their growth rates and their trajectory. Sometimes it feels like once they start gaining some traction, they become unwilling to shoot for those features at risk of skewing investor charts.

Yes, it's a balancing act. You still need customers. You still need to look good on paper. You're most likely still going to need to raise further capital. However, you're never going to be the 100x start-up that brings real value to your customers unless you're willing to take the risk on the 10x features that your competitors won't. Start-ups, by definition, should be taking those risks and trying to change industries.

I'd rather fail early knowing I gave it my all rather than prolong things as long as possible in the hope of being a sustainable mediocrity.