Starting Out: Realistic Expectations & Value Proposition
I work with a lot of entrepreneurs — in fact, it’s my specialty. When I first started this adventure nearly 10 years ago as a focus, it would frustrate me when founders of startups would come to me and ask how to make $1M within their first month of launching. Being still junior in my career, I felt like I needed to appease this dream they had, and I would put together strategies and business models as a ‘yes man.’
But I’ve grown up. Now with 10 years specializing with entrepreneurs and more than 16 years in total under my belt, I feel a lot more confident in the position I take. I also feel a lot more understanding.
There is a massive fire that burns within every entrepreneur — that’s why it’s called the entrepreneurial spirit. Not everyone has it, but it’s beautiful to see in those who do. It’s this fire that motivates them and enables them to be vulnerable in pursuing new adventures. My job is to help them navigate this… not dim their light. So when entrepreneurs come to me to work through their strategy, I almost always hear: the “goal is $1M within the first few months of sales,” “with no marketing budget,” “because no one is doing what they’re doing.” Whereas I used to get frustrated at unrealistic expectations, I’ve become passionate about the opportunity of educating them.
I think of the story from Rich Dad Poor Dad, in which Kiyosaki discussed the fact many of us have toxic relationships with money in large part due to how we were brought up to think about it. The relatable example many of us have heard is when we asked for something as a child and heard, “we can’t afford that” or “money doesn’t grow on trees.” We were told this because that’s what our parents were told and so the generational passing of expression lives on. The problem is, it’s a limiting belief that stifles creativity and problem solving. In the case of money, it subconsciously tells us to stop thinking big, stop wanting more, it’s not within reach. What the book and its disciples profess is to instead respond with, “We can’t afford it YET… so what do we need to do to get there?” You can see how a simple reframing of this experience can over time teach you to think about problem solving and possibility, rather than accepting what “cannot” be.
I think of entrepreneurship in much of same way. A lot of clients who come to me for coaching feel like they’ve heard “no” so much but believe they have something special to offer and are looking for a path to success. They have ideas and in sharing those ideas with me, they follow up with “but I have a friend who said people don’t usually succeed at X, so I can’t do THAT…” In an instant, I feel my heart strings pull, because I can see the inspiration being sucked out from entrepreneurs left and right. My job as the coach is to get the thinking and motivation back on track, cut through the noise, and find the path.
This is no difference when I’m working with clients on their strategy and setting realistic expectations. My goal is to balance realistic expectations, while educating them and helping their fire stay lit. The discussions then are not, “You can’t reach that goal…” and are instead, “Here’s what we can likely expect…here are some obstacles…so what do we need to do get there?” It’s about educating and encouraging problem-solving and creativity, rather than being either a yes man or a dream killer (neither of which serve my clients well).
A great starting point in this discussion is to unpack the value they’re bringing to the market. If you can’t articulate this, you’re going to have a hard time getting your audience to care and getting that growth you’re looking for. The problem is, everyone believes their product is the first of its kind and no one is doing it and they lean into this as the reason people will care. The unfortunate reality is, there is always someone meeting the need of your audience in some way, even if it’s not exactly the same way. In the case the need isn’t being met, we’re still living in 2022 where someone can replicate your product within days and put it up online. So your competitive advantage cannot be the product or methodology itself.
Working through a Value Proposition Canvas is a great tool for aiding this discussion, but it requires that you start with your customer before building your product. In most cases, I work with entrepreneurs who already are set on their product idea and forego this valuable insight, which usually leads them to being unable to secure funding or going in circles on how they can grow quickly. So if you have the opportunity for an exercise like this, GREAT. If not, keep reading.
Assuming you have your product set, determining your value proposition is more about how you’re operationalizing to bring this product to life. THAT is where your competitive advantage sits that can funnel into your value proposition. Unless you’re using a Blitzscaling growth model (where your focus is more on speed than efficiency), you have the opportunity to carve out your place in the market through your HOW rather than your WHY. In determining this key element, you can build your business model accordingly, which can in-turn allow you gain more traction at more effective costs.
Each of these elements I’ve listed here require several sessions each, so there is no possible way I could unpack them all here in one article. I do hope, though, this has sparked you to consider where you’re at in your startup journey and a few steps you can consider taking to get you on track.
