When to quit a bad idea
June 27, 2021
In this episode, we talk about failure and quitting with the vertical method.
Earlier in this podcast, I did a whole episode about when should you quit. And this was episode 11. So if you're curious on when you should quit, then this is the episode for you. However, if you have gone through the vertical method and you are building your startup using the GPDS framework, then it's really difficult to fail using this framework. And the only way that you will actually fail is if you quit. So that's the key.
The key is if you've gone to the vertical method, you realize that your people are everything and if you enjoy being around your people then it just feels like playing. It just feels like fun, right? So let's say you built out a solution and you want to know whether you should stick to the solution or you should move on. And the answer to this question is you don't quit, you don't quit. The only way that you will actually fail is if you quit. So what you do in a case like this is when you are selling your solution, it's an iterative process. It's not an all or nothing. It's not like you have this product assuming you did it the GPDS way, because if you heard you built a product and you're trying to sell it, you might have built something that people don't want to buy, right.
But when you grow your customer list first, then you are able to pull your customers for feedback. And as you're trying to pre-sell your minimum viable mockup, which is your solution, you will start getting a whole bunch of different answers, right? You will hear people that have questions, they will have false beliefs, they will think that it doesn't work for them. And your job as the founder is to write all these questions down and figure out how you can overcome these objections. And what this is going to do is it's going to get you marketing materials that are so much better. That converts so much nicer. And it's going to give you an edge on your product development process. Because now, you know how to build a product that actually sells, that people would actually want to buy. And you keep talking to as many people as possible until you've heard every single objection, every single false belief, etcetera.
And once you've done that and you figured out how to overcome it, then you will succeed. So the secret here is really not to fail. The secret is just to keep going. And the key to making this actually happen is to make sure that you are able to survive the long haul. Right? So if your product, if you only have maybe six months of runway, well then that's your answer right there. You need six months to get the profitability before you go out of business. But if you do in a very smart way where you're not going into debt, not getting into a bunch of liabilities, you're building an asset first. Then you can actually kind of take your time as you're building this or move as fast as you want if you want to move fast.
But really it's up to you because you enjoy being around the people that you like that love you. And these customers love you back or I'm sorry. You love them and these customers love you back, then you're in a very happy place, right? And in order for you to be able to deliver a solution that actually converts that people want to buy. You just keep at it, keep going. It's an iterative process. And when you do it this way, how do you fail? It's really difficult to fail like this. Let me know what your thoughts are. Send me an email at robin@robincopernicus.com and also check out the blog at robin.ws. You probably hear that at the end of this clip. Anyway, this is Robin Copernicus. Boom bam, I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
The key is if you've gone to the vertical method, you realize that your people are everything and if you enjoy being around your people then it just feels like playing. It just feels like fun, right? So let's say you built out a solution and you want to know whether you should stick to the solution or you should move on. And the answer to this question is you don't quit, you don't quit. The only way that you will actually fail is if you quit. So what you do in a case like this is when you are selling your solution, it's an iterative process. It's not an all or nothing. It's not like you have this product assuming you did it the GPDS way, because if you heard you built a product and you're trying to sell it, you might have built something that people don't want to buy, right.
But when you grow your customer list first, then you are able to pull your customers for feedback. And as you're trying to pre-sell your minimum viable mockup, which is your solution, you will start getting a whole bunch of different answers, right? You will hear people that have questions, they will have false beliefs, they will think that it doesn't work for them. And your job as the founder is to write all these questions down and figure out how you can overcome these objections. And what this is going to do is it's going to get you marketing materials that are so much better. That converts so much nicer. And it's going to give you an edge on your product development process. Because now, you know how to build a product that actually sells, that people would actually want to buy. And you keep talking to as many people as possible until you've heard every single objection, every single false belief, etcetera.
And once you've done that and you figured out how to overcome it, then you will succeed. So the secret here is really not to fail. The secret is just to keep going. And the key to making this actually happen is to make sure that you are able to survive the long haul. Right? So if your product, if you only have maybe six months of runway, well then that's your answer right there. You need six months to get the profitability before you go out of business. But if you do in a very smart way where you're not going into debt, not getting into a bunch of liabilities, you're building an asset first. Then you can actually kind of take your time as you're building this or move as fast as you want if you want to move fast.
But really it's up to you because you enjoy being around the people that you like that love you. And these customers love you back or I'm sorry. You love them and these customers love you back, then you're in a very happy place, right? And in order for you to be able to deliver a solution that actually converts that people want to buy. You just keep at it, keep going. It's an iterative process. And when you do it this way, how do you fail? It's really difficult to fail like this. Let me know what your thoughts are. Send me an email at robin@robincopernicus.com and also check out the blog at robin.ws. You probably hear that at the end of this clip. Anyway, this is Robin Copernicus. Boom bam, I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
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