The team at NextMileIoT and I, via through, are collaborating on a series of blog posts we’re calling “Getting Digital Back to Basics”.
The first installment - A Decade of Fatigue is now up at the NextMileIot blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Side quests, vanity projects, and theoretical adjacencies led so many businesses astray … OEM suppliers building marketing websites for customers, pure professional services companies making connected products, and full app builds to automate events that only ever happened once….while attempting to establish some new digital toehold, many businesses forgot which side of the Pareto Principle to invest on.”
Check it out, all feedback welcome as we prep the next installment.
Now, For Starters,
A decade ago, my friend Jamie once asked me why I referred to my most ambitious efforts as “projects” not businesses, or even products.
“Cuz they haven’t earned it yet.”
(yes, I also have a habit of anthropomorphizing my ‘projects’ - typerighter.com’s first name was ‘Dwight’, and my team used it regularly).
By ‘it’, I meant these efforts hadn’t yet achieved the intersection of overwhelming demand and revenue indicating the pull of product-market-fit. As such, I was constantly mindful of how and where to invest in them, continually listening for subtle signs of demand and the path to break even. Otherwise, yes, I was hesitant to overinvest.
Product - Sales = Waste
Maybe my ( hesitation | pragmatism | experimental mindset | lack of faith ) was the problem. Maybe these projects would have taken off and become wildly successful businesses if I had;
incorporated them in Delaware,
trademarked their names,
secured a board of directors,
pursued venture funding,
and bought cases of swag.
However, over-investing can comes in many forms;
in product engineering,
in branding,
in business administration,
in marketing,
in fundraising,
in conference attendance,
in commitment.
“Their destination is a clearing in the forest that looks like a landing strip. But the only airplane present is a full-size wooden replica of a light aircraft. On one side of the strip lies a control tower made of bamboo. On the other sits a satellite dish built of mud and straw. Undeterred by the apparent lack of any actual aviation technology, some of the men light torches and place them alongside the runway. Others use flags to wave landing signals. Everyone raises their gaze to the sky in anticipation. They wait. But the planes never come.” - Dimitris Xygalatas
The other day, as I packed up from a quiet day at a coworking space I overheard:
“Do we have branded golf balls?”
“Do you think it will bring in customers?”
Swag, especially lazy, low-quality, swag, is easier and cheaper to acquire than ever - RedBubble, CafePress, Shutterfly, just to name a few - will happily put your logo on anything you desire for a very reasonable price. Maybe once, when it was difficult to meet minimum order requirements swag signaled a successful brand. Today, however, it just signals someone knows how to navigate CustomInk.
I know of one organization with a habit of acquiring new swag at the drop of an embroidered hat; finish the sprint? here’s branded-water bottle, start a new one? here’s a ball cap, internal re-org? time for new hoodies!
The abundance of swag for such ephemeral projects led me to the principle, “Swag is for paying customers.”
Swag is to help your customers make referrals for you. It concentrates their brand impression in that moment in something tangible. Swag is a “thank you” for taking the journey with you, and a celebration of how you helped them.
I appreciate and cherish the enthusiasm that can’t fathom a project failing, can’t imagine us shutting down. But, the tagline of this newsletter is “The important stuff early-stage entrepreneurs too often leave until it's too late.”, So, maybe we should, at least consider for a moment, how we’ll feel about the swag if we prematurely reach the end of the road?
Will we consider it money well spent, a representation of the tribe we served well, a symbol of the improvement we made in the universe, or will this coffee mug immediately absorb all our frustrations with the organizational decisions that should have gone another way, and the affiliation is a diaspora of grief.
“The beautiful branding made it feel and look like a really well put together company….after the company filed for Chapter 11…employees discarded Katerra-branded items everywhere…people didn’t want to be reminded” - https://www.theinformation.com/articles/so-your-startup-died-what-do-you-do-with-all-that-swag
Since we started the email with a high-profile collab, we should at least consider another option is to go all-in and make swag our product.
Huge Thanks to Casey for sending over a thread of fantastic example (and framework) for quality customer swag.
https://twitter.com/Kazanjy/status/1522970058988736514?t=LrXoVlVNtChc5L8Wwgko_w&s=09