En Route to Saenthood: #14 A Big Mistake
This series is about what I’m learning, observing and experiencing while building my startup Saent (pronounce “Saint”). The good, the bad and especially the ugly, each time in under 500 words.
My new home for the coming weeks; Brooklyn, New York (USA).
I’m not writing this from my regular desk, kitchen table or coffeeshop in Beijing. No, this comes from my temporary new home for the coming weeks: Brooklyn, New York.
Most people equate the USA with success. Once you’re headed to the great America for business, things must be going well.
Yet I’ve made a mistake.
I knew from the get-go my trip across the Pacific was a bit of a gamble. Here was my ideal scenario:
- Get in touch with investors in the USA throughout May. They might not be that interested initially but…
- On the 26th of May, we’ll launch our crowdfunding campaign.
- We’ll blast through our funding goal and investors will start calling us.
- I’ll be in the USA and ready to meet them!
There’s nothing wrong with the above plan. Everyone on the team was confident we would make the launch date, give or take a few days. It turned out there was one thing we overlooked…
Indiegogo still had to review our strategy.
They came back with an unexpected recommendation: to have at least 25,000 email addresses on our mailing list before launch. At the time, we were at 1,600 contacts…
Of course I had already booked my Airbnb apartment and a not-flexible flight ticket. Total cost? $4,000. To cancel was not an option.
Almost 5% of our entire first investment spent on this trip. What to do?
My instinct was to start mailing everybody I know in the USA; try to setup as many meetings as possible and make the most of the trip.
Then I went back to the question which has guided me well throughout the past year. A simple one, yet not easy to answer if you think it through. I ask myself this at least once a day:
What is the most important thing I could be doing right now?
Not the most urgent thing.
Not the first thing that comes to mind.
It’s about finding that activity which really moves the needle. The one that fits the 20 in the 80 / 20 rule: 80% of results come from 20% of your actions.
Making the most out of the USA trip by frantically setting up all kinds of meetings seems the right route. But if you truly think it through, that’s operating from a “sunk cost” perspective: I’ve spent money on this trip, therefore I need to make the most of it. But is it really the most important thing I could be doing to move Saent forward?
I believe the answer is no.
The main priority is still getting to those 25,000 email addresses. Once that’s done, I can work on setting up meetings with potential investors here. So no crazy scramble through my contact list for now. Instead, I’ll fill the days with digital hustling for emails and the evenings with networking events.
Wish me luck!
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