I was visiting with the founders of a company in the Promus Ventures’ community last week. The KPIs of this company have been growing well week over week until the last four to six weeks where the numbers have started to dramatically increase. There have been continual improvements to the product, but generally they are running the same playbook as before and now are netting more yardage per play. What has changed?
As we dust off the Physics books (remember, “physics is phun”), we all know Newton’s First Law of Motion:
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Momentum measures this mass in motion, and is directly proportional to an object’s mass and velocity (p = m * v). Momentum is a vector quantity, so to properly measure the momentum of an object you must include both of these variables.
Once good founders get rolling, it’s hard to stop the companies they have built. “Mass” isn’t just hiring as many people as you can find to get big (clunky creates friction). “Velocity” isn’t about the entire team working 20 hrs/day to move as fast as possible (forever tired equals more friction). In the absence of friction, an object would continue to move with the same speed and direction forever.
Startups need to continually attempt to remove all friction as possible (lean, mean, fighting machines) on their way to achieving and sustaining momentum. No surprise then to see the products with the most success eliminate a high amount of friction for the user. Great teams eliminate friction internally while building an externally frictionless product.
It’s harder to stop an express train coming at you than a toddler running at full speed. Build mass with smart people who think big and are filled with passion. Gain velocity with product iterations and customer wins, one at a time. Soon you’ll find the momentum picking up, and one day, maybe you’ll be an unstoppable force.
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