Gregory Shepard, standing on a Tel Aviv beach, uses ocean waves to explain why timing matters for startups. He launched a biotech company and a performance-marketing firm too early, paddling endlessly for waves that never came. The market has to be ready, or even a strong product stalls.
Chapters
So I'm in Israel right now in Tel Aviv, and I was sitting out here on the beach. I'm speaking at a conference out here, and I'm sitting out on the beach looking at the waves. And I'm remembering when I started a biotech company, I was too early. And also when I started a performance marketing company, I was too early. And I'm looking at these waves. You can see. It reminds me of, you know, when you're starting a company that's never been done before, are really disrupting or interrupting something that's already going on. Sometimes if the market isn't ready for you, you're standing out there in the waves paddling like these surfers, really paddling, trying to get the wave, and you're paddling forever. And then finally the wave catches up with you and then you go. It's a good reminder of remembering where the market is before you decide what you're going to do, because it may not be the right time.