In my own experience, I have learned that there are two kinds of decisions in startups. Any CEO who is capable of trusting his/her own instinct tends to make the right life-and-death decision, which is like avoiding a car accident that never happens.
Decisions that are not life-and-death are much more difficult to make and are in fact more important to the success of startups. What I have learned is that the key is not in making the “right” decision but making any decision right.
As technologists, we prefer to make the “perfect” decision, which means that we would have to have “perfect” data. Typically, in a startup, there are two ways to compensate for the lack of perfect data. One is to wait for more data and one is to seek consensus.
CEO who procrastinates hoping to get incremental data is as deadly as a CEO who jumps to the wrong conclusion before enough data is in. Similarly, a CEO who is afraid to make tough and unpopular decision and hides behind the shield of consensus will almost always lead a startup to the proverbial cliff.
Sometimes I find it hard to weigh JFDIing vs the customer development methodology. I see the value in customer development, but coming from a development background, sometimes I don't get the sensation of "getting things done" if I'm not actively coding. I guess once I start seeing more sales, I'll feel better about customer development.
The two are not at odds at all. Customer development isn't about not JFDI, it's about doing the right things. Also, customer development isn't something you do before product development, it's something you do alongside product development.
In my own experience, I have learned that there are two kinds of decisions in startups. Any CEO who is capable of trusting his/her own instinct tends to make the right life-and-death decision, which is like avoiding a car accident that never happens.
Decisions that are not life-and-death are much more difficult to make and are in fact more important to the success of startups. What I have learned is that the key is not in making the “right” decision but making any decision right.
As technologists, we prefer to make the “perfect” decision, which means that we would have to have “perfect” data. Typically, in a startup, there are two ways to compensate for the lack of perfect data. One is to wait for more data and one is to seek consensus.
CEO who procrastinates hoping to get incremental data is as deadly as a CEO who jumps to the wrong conclusion before enough data is in. Similarly, a CEO who is afraid to make tough and unpopular decision and hides behind the shield of consensus will almost always lead a startup to the proverbial cliff.
I highly recommend this article ... JFDI