SkellyCEO and Evan Carmichael discuss launching fast with good-enough products and learning from real customers instead of chasing perfection. SkellyCEO argues that A-class strategy with B-class execution loses to B-class strategy with A-class execution. Both stress that belief in your idea and shedding self-imposed stories matter more than credentials.
Am I and/or my big idea good enough? Ooh, am I good enough? What do you think?
I'd say a bit of advice I got, you know, again, I started, I grew up in a family of small businesses, and the great thing about small business, we're street fighters, we're operators, we're out there with customers all the time, and everything you should focus is is actually doing good enough and learning and improving. I would advocate, number one, don't try and come up— back to your first point, really, Evan— with the Holy Grail. Don't worry about perfection. Actually get a business off the ground, engage with customers, get the product out, get the service proposition out, and then learn fast and improve. So I kind of think if you think it's good enough, you're passionate about it, you love what you're doing, and you think there's a gap in the market, go and find out, test drive it with a few friends, could be trial customers, and then you'll find out really quickly whether it's good enough. The rubber hits the road when customers tell you that you've got the best product in the world. Actually, the early customers, again, when I kind of started this business in California, we said the first 20 customers, they've got to be raving fans. They've got to be evangelists. They got to, you know, when you cut into the DNA of them, they got to believe in us because we're there for them, build trust and all that. Because, you know, with all these things, again, with social media, those 20 guys can become thousands of guys and, you know, it goes viral. So I wouldn't worry too much about analyzing again, is it good enough? I'd get into the execution phase and start test driving that. And again, one of the phrases I use around here is, A-class strategy and B-class execution is always inferior to B-class strategy and A-class execution. Get out and find out what works and improve it.
Yeah, I love it. I wanna— I love that. I love that A-class, B-class thing.
That's cool.
I might, I might take that from you. Uh, mindset is super important here. Uh, you have to believe, you know, right?
Believe.
You got to believe that your idea is good enough and Every major breakthrough that I've had in my business career has been because I've shattered a limiting belief that I had. In my first business, it was a biotech software company. I was 19 years old. I was selling to scientists and researchers who were 3 times my age, had PhDs, all these degrees. And the story I told myself was, I'm too young to do this. They're never gonna take me seriously. And as long as I believed that, as long as that was the story I told myself, then it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. That actually happened. And then the shift came when I realized that, hey, I can actually provide value to these people, right? They don't care about my background and my credentials as long as I can actually help them accomplish something important in what they're doing. And like, we all have our own limiting beliefs. We tell ourselves we're too young, we're too old, we don't have the right parents, we don't have the educational background, I don't have enough money, I don't have, you know, whatever excuse you come up with. As long as you believe that story, then it's going to come true. And again, once you realize that that's just a story you're telling yourself and you accept responsibility for your life and not blame the conditions, then you can see a big breakthrough in your business.
