Leading a Company to Success
“A recipe to success does not exist, and if anyone claims otherwise – I would be very sceptical” says expert Nick Boucart.
Many startups and SMEs come to sustAIn.brussels hoping that, we as experts, have a secret recipe for overnight success that can be applied to their business, but we don’t unfortunately. The reality is that no company is the same, therefore requiring different advice and solutions to bring their ideas to fruition.
We sat down with Senior Advisor Software Engineering & ICT expert, Nick Boucart from Sirris, to ask him what exactly leads a company to potential success and what we do to help companies reach their potential at sustAIn.brussels.
Your Key Milestones
There are a few key milestones that a company must hit in order to show their potential:
First, you must have the right problem-solution fit. As Nick puts it: “Not all ideas are good. I have five ideas before I take my shower in the morning, it doesn’t mean I’m rich.” So, assess the problem, think about whether it’s worth solving, and whether it is common enough among your target audience. If your problem can be solved by a simple training or consulting, it might not be worth your time building software around it.
Second, build your consumer. Get to know some people or companies that are really interested in what you're doing and get them to become your lead users/customers. Ideally, together with them, you will co-create the actual platform. Once you have a few users, you’re able to adapt and mature the product based on the demand, then you might be able to tackle your next big milestone, which is product market fit.
The next big challenge is then scaling. The question here lies in assessing whether you can find more of your target customer, or whether you can find a few companies or organizations that are tackling this niche already.
The Human Element: Two Factors Beyond the Product
Although all these milestones are crucial to proving yourself to be on the right track, it is not only about the product. Indeed, Nick believes that this is as much about the people behind the idea than it is about the idea itself. He affirms that he has an awful lot of respect for people who want to try to build a business. But being an entrepreneur is no easy feat. Your people skills are just as valuable and salient as your ideas. You need those skills, not only to work productively in a team, but also to be receptive to critique and input, and be open minded to changing parts of your idea. “And as long as that is the case, I can work with them”, affirms Nick.
But even with all these achievements, sometimes it might not be enough, proven by the 70-90% of startups failing according to Harvard Business School. You can work as hard as you want, but “you have to have luck”, says Nick.
While Nick was working at EMC in the early 2000s, they had a new technology that was functional but performing modestly in the market. Then came the dot-com bubble burst and the Enron scandal, which led to new legislation requiring companies to archive their emails in secure, tamper-proof vaults for seven years. Their product already had features that aligned well with this requirement, so they simply added a compliance layer on top. That made them the first to offer a dedicated solution, and their sales exploded overnight.
It was a fortunate coincidence, but they happened to be ready for it. If that law hadn't passed, or if it had come a year later, the outcome could have been completely different.
“Success is like the multiplication of a thousand factors. If all the numbers are good, but there's one zero in there, it's zero”, says Nick.
That’s why people like Nick, at sustAIn.brussels, are there to help you and to bring some structure to an inherently chaotic and roller-coaster-like journey. Our experts act as mirrors and soundboards to remove at least one more zero from your list.
Thus, if you’re in the process of building your business, make sure your focus lies on your problem-solution fit, figure out your consumer by building your platform around them, and don’t neglect your people skills. Most importantly, be patient, the right time will come, but be aware and be prepared, as that day can come at any moment.
After all, an overnight success only takes 10 years.
🖊️ Alexandra Osinsteva
Leading a Company to Success