Avoid only focusing on your “toe drag, release” with your startup

It is good to celebrate important achievements but sometimes a certain type of achievement attracts so much celebration that it is all people focus on. Some good news on funding and valuations continues to be the pre-occupation of the startup community in Canada. The good news is great but it has a downside.

Little attention goes to the stuff that gets you there and how you, as a founder, can keep control of your company.

With the popular focus on raising money, almost all the support for founders focuses on raising money. It is like having your team hockey practice only involve lining up and shooting at the goalie.

In hockey, nothing gets people more excited than scoring a goal. We get highlight reels, fancy moves, and even shoot outs to decide big games. You can get tiktok famous focusing on it and/or teaching kids how to shoot like Bedard (and lots of other big name players).

If a team only focuses on scoring goals, they are unlikely to compete and win at the higher levels. There is a lot more to the game of hockey.

What happens in startup world if we only focus on fundraising is we try to find the “toe drag, release” move that will ensure a founder will raise a large amount of money with a high valuation. Then the ecosystem goes all in on telling someone how they can be successful by focusing on that one move.

What is an example of the “one move” (any or all of these can work)?

• Go to YC or Techstars or favorite accelerator.
• Move to the valley.
• Raise from ‘top tier’ VC at some specific valuation and/or amount.
• Build your pitch deck the same way this other company did.
• Product development techniques that are ruled by metrics.

However, what is true almost always is that no two people have the exact same path. People find success going to YC (or something else on that list) but most people that go, do not. The ones that find success are usually prepared to take advantage of using that move. They understand when and how to use it.

People score goals shooting many different ways with many different sticks and different lengths/curves/tape/etc. Almost always with the assist of a teammate or several teammates who win battles, moved the puck up the ice, and helped make some space for the shot to happen.

What you have to do as a founder is the work it takes to get yourself in a situation to score a goal and have the support of a team. It requires learning about the complexity of the game (building a company) and developing a plan that evolves with you. That will help you be in the right position to use the move to score a goal.

It’s not that being really good at one move isn’t important… but it isn’t more important than everything else. You have to develop a collection of skills to own your path to success.