As I've navigated my way through startup land, I've noticed certain people tend to be very absolute about things. These kinds of people tend to live on theorems. (If a, then b). These types tend to be fairly smart people, but they are prone to having 'forest for the trees' issues. See, in a start up, it's very seldom 'if a, then b'. There are numerous variables which point to outcomes in numerous areas, all of which may be impacted by making decisions about its parts. In other words, it's very seldom a black and white issue. Yet, anyone not in your shoes probably has the answer.
Here are some examples off the top of my head:
-an employee is clearly unhappy, unproductive and looking for a job. He/she has friends within the company, and his/her leaving will be a morale problem. But he/she is already a morale problem for others. What to do? Fire him/her? Solves one problem, but creates another. All his/her friends get pissed and the morale problem is dinged from another angle. He goes off and gives your company bad PR, or better yet goes to your investors and gives them bad PR. Sounds like fire-worthiness. But if you'd fired him/her, you might have created an instability that wouldn't have helped get that release out the door..
-private labeling your product: you have a hot product, but it would allow for scale, faster revenue, proof points, etc. You do it for all those reasons, as well as leveraging it for PR and funding. But you don't do it because it defocuses your team and investors, taking everyone's eye of the ball; the ball of greatness. You only have so many resources, so you should focus them on the big picture, even if it means a slower initial growth ramp. You rationalize this by realizing the exponential growth later. But what if you don't crack that code? Wouldn't you have been better off focusing on the white labeling?
-taking money from a particular venture firm: You get a term sheet from venture guy X. You accept it, and need to find a co-investor to syndicate. Venture guy Y doesn't want to follow investments made by venture guy X. Then you realize venture guys A, B, C, D and E as well don't follow venture guy X. What to do? Give back the term sheet? Don't sign it? What about the bird in the hand? You do want to get to work and start building this thing right?
The moral of the story.... Play the field with your instincts, because nobody knows your company as much as you do. We all possess a gutt, and can form an impression quickly. In summary, the value of |absolute| diminishes quickly when you're making decisions and have to live with them. Take advantage your gutt, because sometimes it's all you have.
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