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What are the important variables in a startup? The Unknown Unknowns!
These are the "20" in the famous "80/20" rule.
No matter how smart (you think) you are. No matter how well you plan. No matter how much research you do...something is going to bite you in the ass. It comes out of nowhere. You're ticking along, time lines are in sync, things that need developing are being developed and you are checking off the completions...then...it happens.
Like what? This stuff that 'happens' is never 'small' stuff. Any decent resourceful human unit in the startup game can handle the occasional small hiccup! In fact, those happen with some frequency. Most are akin to seeing your 'washer fluid" light go red on the dash on a long trip. No prob.
The "20" were talking about are of 'mission critical' variety. It's an unforeseen feature that your core app dev requires and your release of 'X-ware' doesn't support that feature. It's a cutting edge network management tool or feature that you found and are planning to leverage into a competitive advantage and it goes back to the bench for 'further testing' before OEM release. It's big, you need it, you didn't expect it, you didn't plan for and you have to deal with it.
When this 'thing' breaks or comes at you from just out of your field of view, it stops you in your tracks. You cannot move forward unless and until it's resolved. These events are the make or break of a veteran start up team. I would tender that every successful startup of any reasonable measure has experienced at least one of the 'events'...and most experience more.
What do you do next?...I am not sure there is one answer or one procedure but I will offer a few things that I would put in play to get to the other side.
First, get your team together and outline the problem. It's obviously in someone's domain of expertise. This is the place you can generate a 1000 ft view of the issue. Getting a handle of the direct point of failure and determine the tentacles of the problem; what does it affect and impact directly. It's important to figure out the details of the issue and get them into the light. Why the entire team? Typically this 'mission critical' event happens when you are less than 10 people in size. So you have probably your smartest, most committed, most resourceful people around the table that you will ever have. Usually their expertises will have some nice overlap and if they joined you early, they have a network of resources that can be leveraged quickly and often at no cost. The relationships your team possess are technical experts, domain experts, vendor connections, investor network contacts and even competitive sources; if you are creating a business with no competitors, your's is a one in a zillion company.
Second, step outside the 1000 foot view and start to generate ideas. Don't judge them for execution or reliability but just focus on getting them up on a grease board. Make it known that the rules are simple: any idea is worth putting on the board. Keep your conversation moving. If an idea pops and it seems obscure don't mash through it, just get it down.
Always force questions into the discussion. Questions generate thought. Thought generates ideas. Ask for gut checks "does anyone feel anything...a random thought...an outlandish idea". The conventional will rarely produce the new. The 'out of the box' thought will move other thought processes off the conventional into the realm of new possibilities. This is the arena where your solution will originate.
Third leverage every contact you and your team can muster. Again, they may not have the solution but they may know someone somewhere who can help you formulate a strategy. Your investors are folks who typically have been in numerous deals. They have a keen interest in getting problems resolved. At the end of the day, your reaching out will create a ton of credibility with the folks who have backed your deal. More than you had when you start, if they are people who you have not worked with in the past (That is secondary to the focus here.).
Finally: the solution. There may not be one clean, crisp, risk free solution. There rarely is. But there are solutions with trade offs. One app may scale but is a bit slower. One solution may be perfect but is out of budget or requires a complete recast of your time line for launch or rev intro. If it's possible craft two routes to the end game. A primary and a secondary plan of action. Go to work on the primary with abandon. Find out all the details - the resources required, the capital, the cost/benefit, the time line for implementation, how much it busts your current benchmark delivery dates...everything you can know...know it! Have a couple of folks responsible for moving the secondary solution forward at "25,000" feet. Get the basics down but not all the details. If the primary is a bust, you are not starting from square one.
Make a decision. That is what you get paid to do. One aspect of that decision which I recommend you pay close attention to is 'gut feel'. If everything looks great on the grease board...and your gut is knotted? Not a good sign! Figure out what 'that' is. You may have to go to lunch with your closest ally or go have a beer with a trusted friend. But do something, whatever it takes to identify what does not feel right. This is big.
No decision ever made is a result of pure metric or economic evaluation which yields a conclusion that is divined from what is put on paper. All decisions are based on the emotional comfort of the person making the decision. Or stated another way, there is no way a human unit can desensitize themselves enough to make a purely objective decision. So the corollary of a human being able to produce a 'purely objective' decision from a set of choices is that all decisions are based on emotions.
Once you get the 'feel thing' identified; what was it about the solution which did not sit right with you, now you can state your decision to your team. All that is left to do...? Go to work!
