あきらめない人を倒すのは難しい。
今日、起業メンターのジェームズ・シンクレアが書いたニュースレターを見ました。
時々、市場が良くなったのか自分自身が良くなったのかを区別するのは難しいです。つまり、私たちが達成した成果が外部要因なのか内部要因なのかということです。あなたが強くなると、物事が簡単になることに気づくでしょう。しかし、革新や突破、成長はしばしば衝突や摩擦から生まれ、確定性からは来ないものです。
来年に関して、彼は
諦めないでください
2023年は、融資環境、AIの影響、人員削減、顧客支出の観点から見て、市場が下降局面にあることを示しています。市場が底打ちし、反発しつつある兆候はありますが、これにより以前のような過熱した評価や期待値が戻ることを意味するわけではありません。単に顧客と投資家の予算が若干緩和されるというだけです。引き続きテーブルに留まり、会社のビジネスモデルキャンバスとバリューチェーンについて常に考え続けることが重要です。
権利を勝ち取る
顧客からの最も信頼されるアドバイザーとなり、ユーザーを引き付け、料金を徴収し、ユーザーを維持する能力を持ち、優秀な従業員を引き付ける雇用主になること。自分自身、自分の会社、そして会社の製品をより価値のあるものにして、他者の信頼と権利を勝ち取るのです。
第一条をご参照ください
起業家は常に逆境の中で会社を存続させる方法を探し、給与の支払いを確保するためにあらゆる手段を考え出します。年末を機に、より深く考え、来年への更好的な準備をしましょう。
以下は英語の原文です：
The StartUp Rule For 2024: Don’t Quit
December 24, 2023
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
-- Babe Ruth
Dear Reader,
Three Rules for StartUp Founders to Follow In 2024 (1) Don’t quit. (2) Earn The Right. (3) See Number One. – Simple. Right?
Sometimes, you can’t tell the difference between the market getting easier and you just becoming a better founder. Mastery often looks like a gentler world.
LAST WEEK:
StartUp Founders: Embracing Discomfort & Dissent – Innovation and growth comes from from collision not confirmation.
LETS GET INTO IT:
Don’t Quit:
2023 was a shitshow. The rules changed for just about everything, from fundraising to AI’s impact, layoffs, customer spend, and an all-around down cycle.
Early indications are starting to show an upswing. It doesn’t mean that crazy valuations and vision money will come rushing back. Rather, the purse strings of customers and investors might just loosen a bit.
So, stay in the game, stay sharp, and start thinking about how you might recalibrate your strategy as you head into Q1, rethinking both your business model canvas and value stream.
Earn The Right:
2024 is about consistently earning the right. The right to be a trusted advisor to your customers, the right to launch, the right to charge, the right to retain, the right to hire, the right to everything.
If you set the understanding of what it means to earn the right at every stage before you start, it sets a very clear gate, a framework for accountability.
Earn the right, don’t just hope for it.
See Number One:
More than any other data point around StartUp Founders is how, through every adversity, they find a way, a way to stay alive, to make payroll, whatever it is, they just find a way.
And if you are buying into the “you have to have a co-founder” conversation, then just remember Mo’Founders, Mo’Problems.
Wishing you and yours a restful holiday season, a chance to recognize the milestones, and think, and think, and think, and think, and then prepare for the year ahead.
Thank you for being a reader throughout 2023. I hope my insights have been valuable, even if some topics might have felt a bit extensive at times.
A huge thanks to the thousands of you who pinged me a note and shared your story. It works. I introduced two founders working on a similar problem, they are now co-founders. Since launching my personal Angel Fund, I’ve had the privilege of investing in four innovative startups. In 2024, I look forward to supporting even more.
Congrats on duct-taping your way to success one challenge at a time and letting me be a small part of your journey.
As always, you are welcome to grab time with me.
James