Be what you are

Some companies spend a lot of time and effort trying to please their various angels, VCs, analysts and other interested parties by trying to align with multiple marketplace trends and working lots of the latest buzzwords into their positioning, messaging and content - even when the connections between the problem the company solves, and what the company actually does, and those trends and keywords aren’t really authentic and strong. 

WeWork, for example. A company who provides on-demand office space at its core, who for a time convinced itself and many others in the startup finance and media firmament that it was actually more like a tech company. The strategy was to achieve a much higher valuation than could be achieved as an old school landlord. But the true nature of the main problem the company solves and company’s operational reality, coupled with negative dynamics in the real estate industry, finally brought the chickens home to roost. And the resulting late but accurate realization that WeWork’s core value proposition is that it leases flexible, temporary office space with perks, finally burst the reality distortion field around the company.

James Hannon and I have worked with hundreds of startups (and big brands too)–and we’ve never seen either successfully convince customers and the broader stakeholder community that it was something it wasn’t for very long. Eventually, reality sets in. 

Our advice to startups is, “Be what you are.” Or more precisely, “Be the best, most differentiated, and most valuable version of what you actually are”.  

If you don’t have faith in the importance of the problem your company solves, and what your it truly is and does, then change the company, not just the words you use to talk about it. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you found this helpful. Please get in touch with comments, questions, or additional thoughts.