I wrote a post a long time ago, drawing correlations between a startup entrepreneur and Biggie Smalls. There another occupation which has commonalities with a founder: the professional golfer.

THE GOLFER

In order for a golfer to be truly great, he (or she) has to have these key fundamentals locked down: driving, approach shots, pitching, chipping, putting, sand shots. They need to stay focused through adversity and keep their mental game as sharp as everything else. They have a team behind them: their caddie, coaches, manager, sponsors, and family. They have to carefully manage risk, respond to how the field is playing, and adapt to the course conditions. Most of all they have streaks. At one point they’re on top of the world, next thing they’re not. Sound familiar?

THE FOUNDER

Similarly needs to have their skillset honed: product development, marketing, team management, finance, biz dev, etc. They definitely need to stay focused through adversity (team member leaving, bad press, etc) and remain optimistic. Behind them is their caddie (co-founder), coach (advisor), manager (board), sponsors (VCs), family (support system). They need to adapt to changes in the competitive landscape. And definitely deal with the emotional swings of trying to change the world. 

One big difference, though: golfers rarely change the world outside of golf. Entrepreneurs can alter humanity…

Andrew Chen’s recent post on product/market fit reawakened some questions I’ve had about the topic. It seems to be the most crucial and sought after stage in the life to a successful startup, but at the same time the most elusive. So far, p/m fit has been defined as:

“In my experience, achieving product/market fit requires at least 40% of users saying they would be “very disappointed” without your product.” (Sean Ellis)

Identifying when you’ve hit p/m fit is hard because every case is different. The p/m fit that the above people are talking about is usually one of extremely high volume and high growth businesses, which is ideal when looking at it from an investor’s perspective. However, big markets often take a sizable team and hefty bank-roll to capture, especially if it’s an established market with lots of competition and high costs/barriers to entry. Most founders don’t have the experience or credentials to raise money on an unproven idea, and most investors will take an established company with traction over a fancy slide deck. Not only that, but going after that big market at first doesn’t allow you to learn, iterate, and measure through the lean startup feedback loop.

Simple-Product/Sub-Market Fit

Recently while taking a shower I noticed the slogan on my shampoo bottle: Do what comes naturally. Not sure if it’s the best fit for the Kiss My Face brand (I know, their products are natural, but still it doesn’t work as well as it could), but I love the sentiment. It struck me as worthy of a blog post since I’ve given it thought numerous times…

Simple but powerful: If you are good at something, don’t fight it. Do what comes naturally. 

This seems so obvious but you’d be surprised how many people try to make things harder than they should be. If there is something you can do better than most people, something that doesn’t require much effort but at the same time brings you joy, then that is your calling. Don’t go down a path that “makes sense” or is “what people expect”. Do what you do and you’ll be happy you did.

Obvious examples of this are in sports, where a person just has a natural gift despite the odds. Spud Webb, born out of poverty and way too short to consider being an athelete—let alone a basketball player—won the 1986 slam dunk contest over defending champ Dominique Wilkins, who was over a foot taller than him:

Clearly Spud had a gift. He was doing what came naturally to him. Give him a basketball, and he knew what to do with it. I doubt he could do the same with a paintbrush. And vice versa: Michaelangelo gravitated towards art at such a young age, despite his father’s wishes for him to “study grammar with the Humanist Francesco da Urbino in Florence” (thanks Wikipedia). I doubt he would have been a very good point guard. Steve Jobs said that he “saw” the iPhone before it was made. He envisoined a device that changed the world long before it was designed. Imagine if he had been a farmer!! He can see the future of computing (andalways could) so doing other stuff was never an option—though he did try meddling with animation, but John Lasseter at Pixar purposely kept him out of the loop. 

Obviously, as Malcolm Gladwell argues in Outliers, talent is just the kernel. It takes thousands of hours of practice to hone a skill and to be the best at your craft. Just because something is easy for you doesn’t mean you’ll be the best right away. But you gotta start somewhere.

Another point: it doesn’t have to be your passion. Actually, so many people are passionate about things they suck at. Mainly because they want to prove to themselves that they can do it. One thing that an entrepreneur has to learn quickly is to stick to what he’s good at. If you aren’t good with numbers or filing, don’t do your own bookkeeping. If you’re a crappy designer, hire one. Help isn’t for the weak, it’s what all successful people have done at one point or another so they could focus on what they do best. 

So pour yourself a glass of Mangosteen juice, sit on the couch without the TV on, and figure out what it is that you have always been able to do with ease. It will take some work to find it—a skill that comes easy is often taken for granted—but when you do, see how you can use and hone that skill going forward. You’ll be happier for it, I promise.

The latest juice from my mind-grapes: the two most important things you’ll need to do as an entrepreneur are PRIORITIZING and exercising PATIENCE… 

I’ve been obsessed with the Paleo diet lately. After reading a post on Tim Ferriss’ blog, I was hooked. I’ve been reading and learning and it’s something that opened my eyes to a completely new way to live. If you struggle with staying healthy, especially through bad food choices, read this (and this) book and it will change your life. 

Summed up, the paleo diet is eating according to our history and genetics. The way we eat, the fuel that the modern world runs on, isn’t suited for us. Our hunter-and-gatherer ancestors ate a specific diet for millions of years, and just recently (in the last 5,000-10,000 years) we drastically changed what we consume. We became agrarian—which allowed for modern civilization to exist as we know it—but at the cost of our health and well-being.

Hunters and gatherers were extremely fit, tall, and almost disease free. This was because of regular exercise and eating a consistent diet of lean meats, fresh fruits, and seasonal vegetables. The above pic is exactly what happened. We moved from a healthy lifestyle to being fattened up by starchy carbs and more recently processed foods. Before farming, things like grains, dairy, and legumes didn’t exist (how can you milk a wild cow?). These foods are now the mainstay of our diet (and economy) and are not inline with our genetic requirements. 

There’s lots of evidence to back this up, but the main one that gets me is this: they feed grain to pigs and cows to fatten them up. Yes, we make our animals obese. And that’s only done through overfeeding of corn and other grains. It’s so bad that cows who eat this stuff get sick—because of the havoc it wreaks on the immune system—and so anitbiotics are used to keep them alive long enough so they can be slaughtered. Terrible. A great post by John Robbins outlines some frightening things. A must read. 

Without getting all technical, this is the gist. 

Things to never eat:
- grains and grain products
- dairy
- legumes
- processed foods
- too much saturated fat

Eat in moderation:
- sea salt
- alcohol
- sugar (unrefined, like raw honey, agave, or maple syrup are the best)

Things you can eat unlimited amounts of:
- lean grass-fed meats
- wild fish and seafood
- poultry
- veggies
- fruits

If you want to learn more, and lose weight immediately, cure your diabetes, prevent cancer, osteoporosis, and more, read the books mentioned above. You will never look at the world the same! 

Since watching a talk from Kathy Sierra (after the jump), my view on creating passionate customers has changed drastically. Kathy is a beacon of hope for all of those mediocre products and services out there. Her credo: Don’t create a better product, create a better user of that product.

I couldn’t have understood that more after my trip to Sri Lanka’s tea region. There, amidst thousands of acres of mountainous tea plantations, I learned about how tea is grown, harvested, produced, and tasted. I will never drink tea the same way again; I now have a higher-resolution experience every time I sip a cup of Orange Pekoe or Darjeeling. Knowing that tea grown at varying elevations with different processes will produce a completely new taste profile (all from the same plant!) makes me want to explore all the regions and brands to find the ultimate tea for my palette.

Knowledge is like a magnifying lens that can instantly enhance an interaction with a consumable or service. Like with photography, knowing about the Bokeh effect makes you pine for a really high-end digital-SLR. Or with wine, tasting a 1982 Petrus will make your next glass of cheap wine taste like Welch’s. Same goes for single-malt scotch, performance cars, flat screen tvs, and all the great products people are obsessed with.

If you are entering a robust product category, you can take advantage of the available knowledge in that category and educate your users. Make them the best they can be at using your product. Make it easy for them to understand what they are consuming and why it is so special. Apple does a great job of this with their seminars and Genius Bar. You can learn how to use a Mac and not only become a better Mac user, but increase your digital IQ. All great brands that create products in such spaces do a good job of this: Williams Sonoma with their Wine Club, Calphalon with their Culinary Centers (where you use only Calphalon products), BMW with their Driver Training courses, and the list goes on and on.  

This video is a must watch for anyone with customers (or looking to find some!). Thanks Kathy!

http://blip.tv/play/hatvgc21fQI