This week, Benjamin — who just joined us at the start of this year — shares with us his thoughts on his venture-building journey thus far.
Everyone wants to turn their idea — their baby — into reality. Being a part of this venture building programme has given so much structure and clarity in ascertaining that possibility and, in some ways, the programme is a litmus test as to whether a product/service/technology can succeed.
Col-Lab
The project Benjamin was working on is “Col-Lab” — a bioengineering-based project focused on the commercialisation of collagen — which we have covered in Week 22.
Obsession with Success
Benjamin shares with us that in the startup scene, there is this whole obsession with success. However, diving right into the abyss without ascertaining and validating the feasibility of a business idea often ends up in failure. Benjamin shares his observation — that the key to success is not necessarily how long the founding team can persevere with the idea, but also how quickly they get to realise that the idea needs to be canned.
Time and time again, the rhetoric that 90% of start-ups fail in their first year rang through (though being rhetoric didn’t make it any less true). There’s a whole industry filled with gurus and self-help books dedicated to encouraging founders to ride out the storms and persevere through the hardships of entrepreneurship.
Of course, this all rides on a few assumptions — that the business is viable, in demand and profitable.
We see in the case of the billion-dollar disaster Webvan how going too far and too fast with an idea that isn’t validated can have catastrophic effects for the business and its investors.
Time and Tide
Benjamin shares with us that during the course of this venture-building programme, he has learnt that time is one of the most valuable resources an entrepreneur can have.
Given how the team is constantly stretched for time, the team had to determine where each member can take a task on single-handedly in order to spend their time more efficiently. This was especially useful in conducting interviews: something as simple as talking to people separately doubled the rate at which they could garner data and process them.
Time and tide wait for no man, as the saying goes. There are only so many hours in a day and how quickly a venture progresses depends on how efficiently the team uses and multiplies their time. Run solo and a founder has only twenty four hours. Go in a pair and the team now has forty eight. Make it double and it’ll have ninety six a day.
Swimming with the Sharks
Benjamin also shares with us the benefits of having mentors who are unafraid to show the team various perspectives of the realities of the world outside our cozy and comfy four walls — feedback that, while dreaded at times, has been much needed.
In addition to their wealth of experience, the mentors were helpful in keeping the participants accountable for their targets — without which their progress would be a lot slower.
We’ve all been assigned mentors and instructors as part of the Venture Builder programme. One of the best parts of the programme is having second, third and fourth (expert) opinions on every step we take.
Seriously can’t imagine going at this with nothing but our wits and guts. Yet that’s what many of the mentors have been through and it’s only right that they get pissed at us underlings for making classic mistakes they warned us about.
Failing Fast, Falling Forward
Benjamin shares with us the that sometimes even with the best mentors around, some business ideas just do not work out.
Even with all the help and guidance from mentors, there’s only so much the mentors can do, lest they be the ones running the venture. In the end, we have to make the hard decisions and solve our own problems.
How will research labs respond? How many of them even will? If they don’t, how will we get the numbers we need to come to a sufficiently conclusion?
Benjamin’s team has since decided to end the project. While demoralising, it seems to be the best decision for now.
With a few major pivots within the last few weeks, gears have shifted rather quickly. It was eventually decided that the best decision was to wrap things up. This was, admittedly, demoralising.
Yet it’s been exceptionally liberating to know the right decision was made, and quickly. Continuing with a business idea that had all the numbers going against it would have more than likely ended in a way worse situation than halting things before going all out.
Parting Thoughts
Benjamin shares that while it is regretful that he has to end his venture-building journey prematurely, it has been very worthwhile to have gained first-hand experience on starting his own venture.
Looking back, there’s nothing in this world I would trade with for this experience of taking ownership of something from start to finish. The process of building an idea, testing and validating it over the last few months is priceless.
Moving forward, this likely isn’t the end of entrepreneurship for me. Building for corporates is a great idea for gaining insights on running a company especially when it grows out of the start-up stage. Can’t go wrong with building that foundation as well as stronger a base of capital before embarking on the next journey.
Excited for what’s to come!
Benjamin’s full account of his journey can be found here.
We wish Benjamin all the best in his future endeavours! Next week, we will be hearing from another Venture Builder. Till then, stay safe!
