Hope is Not a Strategy, One is Not a Team, Ideas are Cheap

I've been meeting with lots of people lately -- prospective partners, investors, advisors and customers (in a way, they are all prospective customers) -- exploring different avenues for how best to move the Interrelativity venture forward. In the process, I'm gaining lots of valuable feedback on a variety of dimensions of this endeavor. Three recent meetings, in particular, stand out: Kimberley suggested that I would gain a great deal of insight by reading the book "Hope Is Not a Strategy"; Mike pointed out that even if I did have a crisp, clear and compelling business plan, no angel would invest money in a venture with a team of one; Dan observed that ideas are cheap, what really matters is execution.

At first, I thought Kimberley's book recommendation represented a gentle encouragement to help ground me in reality (a task that often falls to my wife), in response to my unbridled optimism and idealism about Interrelativity.  This may well be the case, but I also see that "Hope is Not a Strategy" has the subtitle "The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale". Interrelativity faces a sales situation that seems complicated to me, given that the primary intended beneficiaries of our proactive display applications are not likely to be the people who directly pay for our services (just as in the days before cable and satellite television, viewers did not pay directly to view programs on TV).

Mike's observation about a team of one is also well taken. I increasingly recognize that one person cannot do it all (or, at least, not this person). [The Grammy award-winning U2 song, "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" has been resonating ever more deeply with me lately.]  I have been blessed by many wonderful advisors who have provided lots of valuable advice, and a few who have taken a more active role, and I would like to have more people more engaged in helping this venture succeed. I'm reminded of Glenn Kelman's talk at Entrepreneur University 2005 in which he had a slide on assembling in team that included "Find the maniacs and give 'em a reason to believe". I definitely want to find more maniacs ... and I want to give more people more of a reason to believe.

Dan provided some of the most sobering feedback about the viability of Interrelativity, with respect to how much customers would have to pay for our technology to enable this venture to sustain itself ... and grow. He sketched out some numbers and made some concrete suggestions for how to collect more evidence about whether they would really add up to a profitable investment -- for me, or anyone else who might be interested in this venture.

Dan's emphasis on the importance of execution over ideas brought to mind the focus on execution intelligence in "A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs", a book by Rob Adams that was recommended a while back by Doug (who has also provided valuable and often sobering advice, on numerous occasions), but that I only just started reading recently.  When the advisee is ready, the advisor / advice [re]appears ... I just hope it's not too late to execute.