Romancing the Risk

Keep it Fluid. As a venture, it is pertinent to not solidify your product/positioning in one stance for too long. If you become rigid in your business model, you may never get past the stages of early launching. Until you get out and really understand which assumptions were accurate and which were completely inflated and miscalculated, you do not know your real success rate. Even when the cash flow commences, that doesn't mean your meal ticket will be there tomorrow. This point of keeping it fluid, especially in the development stages can be a bit haphazard though.

If you are developing something new (i.e. a product or service) you can't let the current world utterly influence your product development. Something brand new or with a unique spin to it hasn't been brought into market for some reason. If all the data aligned with your idea earlier, it would have come to be sooner than your inception. In my opinion I argue that keeping your idea fluid can be harmful, for the sake of possibly losing sight of the original concept and adapting it to be too much like an existing product. Yet to argue with myself I see a lot of value in preparing your product in its infancy to be the most successful for the sake of delivering you the least amount of risk and suffering.

Identify the Big killers. This tip I heard worded a bit similarly from my godfather. Mike Mollitor told me "Most people don't know when to cut your losses." That is where most people get caught up, hanging on too long and not letting go. If something goes sour, don't wait for it to turn around or lose more before you let it go. Your first loss should be your only loss. If you lose money from your venture or your idea fails once, it could be the market or bad luck, but the second loss is your fault. If you don't know a deal killer or don't move on after an initial loss, you are only shooting yourself in the foot. This concept is more of a safety than a progress and potential growing point but it is important to wear a belt when flying on the seat of your pants.

"No business plan survives reality" This quote sounds cold blooded but it resonates with me. Nothing is really as it seems and until you hit market you can't predict sales and who your affected target audience will be etc. You can plan as much as you want but the real learning and development of a successful business model comes from putting your product out there and

Back to my first point about fluidity, what is too much? At what point should the threshold of fluidity in your model and plan be? How much should you let the current world/market shape your venture/product? When do you lose ownership of your original idea because of the massive influence from current systems?