In bringing new technology to market I have always been a big believer in maintaining a well-defined, sharp focus. This is critical to provide the development team with clear objectives and to maximize the resources applied to the relevant tasks. Yet it begs the question: how do I know that we are focusing on the right thing? If we select the wrong market/application/customer/positioning we could still execute well but fail to achieve our business goals.
One answer, of course, is to continuously monitor and evaluate and to change focus when it becomes evident that the selected one is not going to work. (This is the “pivot” that one frequently hears about with startups.) The problem with this strategy is that it is sequential. The startup charges along one path, changes to another, and another, and so on. This takes time and time is money! Can the startup find the right focus before it runs out of money? Can the startup raise more money without having a focus with demonstrated customer traction?
In most software-based startups this is certainly possible. Software can be modified quickly and cheaply lending itself to rapid market experimentation. But with hardware-based startups this is more difficult. Modifying hardware takes more time and money therefore stressing a startup’s finances to a much greater extent. If the hardware startup is a B-to-B business, then add in the slowness of big-company customers and things become very challenging!
So, with Uniqarta I’ve come to the conclusion that right now I need to compromise my views on focus and broaden our market engagement. This means exploring multiple technology partnerships, multiple market segments, and multiple customer types—all in parallel. This certainly stretches the team in supporting these various engagements, but I believe it will shorten the time to our market entry with adopting customers. It will also strengthen our position by generating multiple options.
The early results are very positive. In December and January I stepped up my outreach to new potential partners and customers and we now have a much fuller and broader pipeline. I am also encountering unexpected linkages and introductions leading to some very interesting opportunities. In many respects, this is the same dynamic I experienced with my personal networking upon leaving Analog Devices (see Done Deal, Nov. 2013). By casting a wider net I am uncovering opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t have,
But this can’t go on forever. Our small team can’t support an infinite number of customers and market segments. At the right time, we’ll need to narrow our focus back down. It’s a matter of balance. The trick will be to determine the right level of focus at any given time as well as the selection of where that focus should be.