Overcoming inertia

One of the hardest parts about launching a new business or product is overcoming inertia. Very few companies go through exponential growth just by launching a product. In fact, almost all products require a lot of brute force initially to kick off that flywheel. As Paul Graham put it, you need to do things that don’t scale at the beginning of the startup.

When I helped launch our financing product 3+ years ago, it felt like we would take 2 steps forward and then 1, sometimes 2 back. There would be prolonged periods of nothing happening. No new leads coming in. Not hear from any potential customers. We went out and tried lots of things that don’t scale, conferences, personal outreach, etc. It was a grind, but it needed to be done.

We’re currently deep in that phase of a product build right now. We’re building and making great progress, but it feels like baby steps at this point.

The beauty behind the grind is that if you design the flywheel correctly and your thesis is correct, then things can pick up quickly. 5 deals a month quickly turns into 15 then 40 then 80.

The problem is to get to this point, you have to grind. Inertia is not easy to overcome and for most, the grind can last months or years. The best tip I have for people in the grind is the embrace it and come to terms that these things take time. Set expectations accordingly. If you’re hoping for an easy answer to get users, customers, etc. you’re setting yourself up for failure.