Startups Are Full of Surprises

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Startups are full of surprises.

The market changes. Technology changes. Teams change. What you are learning changes.

If you find yourself on top of the world today, with growth accelerating and things finally clicking, it is worth remembering that a disruptive change may be just around the corner.

The protection against this is not paranoia.

It is learning. Innovation. Building a culture of resilience, experimentation, and adaptation.

And if you find yourself today with your back against the wall, running out of cash, it may be especially helpful to remember this:

The next surprise may also be just around the corner.

In my last company, we were 60 days from running out of cash as a college admissions product when we began experimenting daily with new ideas.

During that stretch of experimentation, Instagram opened up its public API in the early days of its rapid growth.

We tested a product that allowed Instagram users to sell their photos directly to their followers.

In 45 days, we went from roughly 50 users on the education product to more than 100,000 users on the image marketplace and over $100,000 a month in revenue.

On day zero of those 45 days, I did not even know what Instagram was.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself running that business 45 days later.

One of the great lessons of startups, and maybe also of life, is that the next major shift may arrive long before we expect it.

A new technology.

A platform shift.

A new market behavior.

A chance encounter.

A breakthrough insight.

A new relationship.

A moment of courage.

The founders and teams who survive long enough to capture these moments are often not the ones with the best original plan.

They are the ones who build cultures capable of adapting quickly.

The ones who keep learning.

The ones willing to experiment rapidly.

The ones psychologically resilient enough to stay in motion even when things look uncertain.

I have seen this over and over with founders.

Sometimes, the thing that changes everything begins as a small side experiment that almost nobody believes in.

Sometimes, the opportunity arrives disguised as chaos.

Sometimes the business you ultimately build looks almost nothing like the one you started.

This is why resilience matters so much.

Because if we collapse psychologically every time the market shifts, every time growth slows, or every time uncertainty appears, we often exit the game right before the next breakthrough arrives.

The next surprise may already be on its way.

The question is whether we are building ourselves and our teams in ways that allow us to recognize it and move quickly when it appears.

If you’d like a partner in that process, feel free to reach out. I’d love to meet you.

-Matt

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Looking for some support? If now is the time to consider coaching, reach out here.