[Guest Post] on Time and Startup Success

by Adam Steinberg, co-founder of startup Transpose.

A few months after selling our company to Silverpop, they asked us to build a series of new products. We were thrilled with the opportunity. We had a backlog of product ideas and we knew they would all be home runs. We quickly launched the first product to much fanfare including issuing the requisite press release. But, guess what? The product did OK. It was’t a disaster, but it certainly wasn’t a home run.

What went wrong? Why weren’t there more sales?

We re-grouped, talked to customers and brainstormed with colleagues. These led to new hypotheses that we used to build the next product which launched a few months later. And, guess what? It flew off the proverbial shelf. What did we do differently? I wasn’t sure at the time. Maybe, we built a better product. Maybe, we did better customer development or had better marketing.

Or maybe, it just took time to figure things out.

Entrepreneurs are Impatient

As entrepreneurs, we’re naturally impatient. We expect results immediately. For the most part, we start a company because we know we can do things better and faster. In my first startup, I expected to launch our product and have hundreds of customers almost overnight. It didn’t work like that. Startup success takes time.

As technology advances, so does the need to be omnipresent online. Digital marketing is becoming an extremely popular way for startups to get off on the ground and reach a wider audience.

In terms of advertising, there’s so many different strategies to building your online presence. Similarly, as an entrepreneur you might have heard terms like ‘pay per click’ and been intrigued by how these services could help your business.

If you’d like to find out more about how pay per click could work for you, the first step is finding a reputable Digital marketing agency. From there you can determine for yourself the best way to proceed. However, take your time in choosing the right agency as obviously this is going to cost you some money so you want to make sure you choose the right agency for you and your company. If your startup is a cannabusiness, for instance, you might want to check out this cannabis marketing guide before making any decisions. It could help you to realise what you need from an agency.

It’s no secret that startups are a grind. It’s a grind to experiment, to launch new features and products, and to try new ways of acquiring customers. These all take time. Good customer development helps to accelerate the cycle but it doesn’t eliminate it.

Additionally, if you’re a budding startup and feel overwhelmed by pressures at work, it may be useful to try using performance management software. Whether you need support managing your employees or planning for the future, intelligent software can potentially help you find better and faster ways to work.

But don’t take my word for it. Every entrepreneur who has had startup success talks about the grind. Dragon Army’s Jeff Hilimire and SaaS expert Jason Lemkin are in different sectors but have similar points of view.

Building a product from prototype to revenue to profitability always takes more time than is originally projected. As an entrepreneur, know that you’ll most likely go through a series of false starts. It’s par for the course. Stick with it. Enjoy the ride.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of the Spotlight series where entrepreneurs share insights from their startup journey useful to other entrepreneurs. If you have startup story to share, submit it here