Week #3 – MBA 6101 – Ascend Your Start-Up, Chapter 3: Move Product to Market Camp

The third chapter of Helen Yu’s Ascend Your Start-Up: Conquer the 5 Disconnects to Accelerate Growth tackles the next two micro-decisions in scaling your business. First, finding “what product category [you are] really in.”  Second, “who will be by your side” and “who will leave.”

Decision #8: What Product Category Are You Really In?

According to Yu, to create a product category (or to prove yourself as a leader in an established product category) requires a comprehensive knowledge of “the market, customer segmentation, competitive landscape, distribution channels, market trends” and perhaps most critically, how, and where “your solution fits in.” 

Yu explains that while an organization may offer its customers a product or service, a leader must also understand

the “minds and hearts” of their customer. Using Nike as an example, Yu relates that while Nike sells shoes, it also sells inspiration (Nike’s mission statement doesn’t mention offering shoes to its “athletes” but rather, to “bring inspiration and innovation athlete in the world.”).  Likewise, while Adobe is a software company, Adobe’s success relies on “[creating] an active listening path to [their] customers.
 

Decision #9:  Who Will Be By Your Side, and Who Will Leave?

As climbers rely on skilled sherpa for support from setting up camp to preparing to summit, emerging entrepreneurs “cannot do everything alone.”  According to Yu, a founder must have someone they can rely on “with complementary expertise” to help and support scaling their business.

Yu details that different types of leaders are needed to “formulate a minimum viable team to scale.”  The four types are thought leader, challenger, collaborator, and operator. Each type of leader plays a special role, 

supplying unique insight. Thought leaders provide vision, challengers challenge the value of a new concept or idea, collaborators build intraorganizational cooperation, and operators execute plans that provide “predictable and sustainable results.”

Just as climbers aspiring to summit Mt Everest, some inevitably turn back. As Yu explains, not everyone at the start of journey will be there at the end of the journey. This should not necessarily mean failure or seen as disappointment, but an opportunity to search out talented support with new skills and knowledge to build the team.