Member-only story
Starting a Business? Dumb it Down.
Why your big vision can ruin everything.
When we start something new, we make it complicated. In the pursuit, we add a dozen moving pieces.
It’s against our nature to think small but that’s the only way we can survive and grow from a fragile beginning.
We need to think stupidly simple.
“The beginning of all things are weak and tender. We must therefore be clear-sighted in the beginnings…” -Michel de Montaigne
We Think Too Big
I don’t know about you but I get excited when I’ve thought of a great idea.
Entrepreneurs and creators have to deal with hundreds of horrible ideas before they get one that makes sense. By the time we get there, we’ve lost all patience and want to move fast.
Our eyes get big and instead of solving one simple problem, we want to change an entire industry overnight.
Investopedia ranks “expanding too fast” as one of the top reasons for business failures.
When I think back to my failures with various projects, almost every one can be linked to thinking too big in the beginning. You’re only one person and you can’t solve multiple problems. When you try to solve everything, you add complexities.