The concept of “starting before you’re ready” is definitely one of the biggest contributors to the differences in success between a fast moving entrepreneurial business and an ageing large corporate company.

These older, larger, companies become obsessed with research, planning, modelling and process design as they try and develop what they think is the perfect product for a new market or geography. I think about this way of working as “chasing the nirvana” and I believe it wastes enormous amounts of both money and time and that a “learning on the job” approach is actually a much cleverer mentality and way of launching something new. Also once they have then spent a year planning something alongside a large amount of investment and expenditure it is then very difficult for them to go back to their senior management after only a few weeks or months to say they got it wrong and they need to make some expensive changes and scrap loads of things they developed thus slowing things down even more.

In my experience it is very difficult to understand all the dynamics and factors involved with launching a new venture when you are about to set out and it’s very likely that you will have to alter nearly every element of your plan once you are up and running. This might mean changing your design, the market sector you have tried to attack , the best supplier for your products, your pricing strategy, your marketing message or one of many many other elements.

As we have launched new divisions and entered into new geographical markets we have moved to a more trial and error approach where we know from the start that many things probably won’t work perfectly. This means that we are also ready to change things quickly and keep modifying our ideas which we think gives us the best overall chance of success.  Hence getting your project going faster and starting to engage with customers as soon as you can, even if you feel you are not quite ready should be prioritised versus too much preparation. Obviously you need to make sure you have the business basics in place, ability to invoice your products and collect money from the customer, but most of the sales and marketing elements should be left flexible and not overworked so you can shape these once you properly start to understand the market.

Many graduates leaving business school tend to be in over-planning mode ( I call them the spreadsheet kids! ) and I see it as my job to try and add a bit more trial and error to their way of thinking so I can help them become a little more entrepreneurial and faster at delivering new products and services for Radius.