This article is written by Nardine B. M’barek, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
Doing business nowadays is much more different than the way it used to be around the 50s and 60s. During that time, companies could be established in a rather long period, but would also be very successful for a longer period as well, even remaining in the Top Fortune 500 list for up to 75 years. But now, things have changed due to the change that occurred in the way people around the world work. Studies show that now after only five years, even if the company that you established is very successful, you are going to need to think of something else that could make you more successful.
You will not be able to remain in the top Fortune 500 list for 75 years now, but just for five years, that’s all. This change is mainly due to innovation and technology, to the way people connect with each other, and how it highly influences the customers and market of certain companies. The Internet allowed new startups and companies to obtain customers from all over the world. These new customers for those newly-established companies could mean old customers for another big company.
We now have this major spike, what we call the Big Bang Disruption, that represents the shift in the number of customers that a company can have. It could be at its finest during a few months, or maybe even years, but after a while, customers will disregard your services and change their vision towards another company’s services instead. It is not enough time to let innovation really happen to you, it has to happen from within you.
By the time your revenue grows, and you are ready to attract more customers, you will need to change and do something else instead. The first phase is building a product that people could use, the second phase is doing your math calculation, how much money could this product make you win. Phase three is can you get that math to scale. Now the fourth phase is where you should not find yourself, during this phase you should get into something new, and find something else that would represent another ‘S curve’.
The mechanics that are related to these phases, and which would help you figure out the way we look to the world are the following; the first step is to find out what do you do, for who, and why? This is the job to be done. You need to establish a good market in which your customers will use your product, and more importantly, continue using it.
You, later on, need to convince your investors that your math is going to work, that the company will bring you the profit that you calculated. Phase 3 is to get that math to scale. It is not a growth hack, there are no secret methods for you to use, it is just about the mindset that you have got, and the process you go through to make it work.
