The following concept is applicable in many areas, whether it is self-growth, leadership, or product and marketing.
However, this should be your No. 1 tactic if you’re a startup founder.
One of the most counter-intuitive things about creating a startup is that instead of avoiding obstacles, you should rather seek obstacles.
Like in skateboarding, instead of rolling around the obstacles, you need to use the obstacles.
Let me explain.
The way most startups happen is by the founders getting so excited about a particular idea that they rush into making it happen.
Whether they’re doing it out of ideological reasons or chasing money ― the trigger is always the same. The idea is “growing” until a tipping point, where it becomes so big that it creates momentum.
Naturally, to keep the flame of the idea burning, you need to feed it with evidence of why this idea is worth it, and why the founder should continue pursuing it, even though it might be hard and require a lot of effort.
What happens is that the founders are actively looking for validation, for evidence and reasons of why the idea is going to work.
The founders are investing their hard work, time and money into the future promise of the idea, and they need this reinforcement in order to keep going.
Nobody wants to work on something that might not work.
The problem is that seeking out only positive signals, whether consciously or subconsciously, leads to filtering out all negative signals.
And that’s the negative signals that show where the risks are.
If all the risks are in your blind spot, chances are, sooner or later one of them becomes a reality.
That’s why, in addition to positive validation, you always have to be a little bit paranoid and seek out problems in order to address them upfront.
Meet Inversion Thinking.
Find all the obstacles and potential risks and reverse-engineer them in order to come up with solutions.
Best put by the famous investor Charlie Munger:
“Just reverse the problem in order to avoid the problem” (YouTube).
Avoiding stupidity is probably the biggest factor for turning an idea into success.
So if you’re building a startup, by all means, keep track of what works and double down on it.
But even more importantly ― seek out problems.
Whether it is legal or technology risks, objections of your prospects or customer support complaints.
Once you find the problems, addressing them will guide you towards future success.
“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.”
― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage
Take care. 👋