Five founder mistakes that slow growth down
And how to avoid them
Hi there,
I have gotten to work with and speak to a LOT of founders.
I honestly love founders: they have had the guts to go out there and start their own business. They are often full of energy and an incredible vision, taking a huge risk with their business.
But what makes them incredible, can also be their achille’s heel. That endless energy causes them to do things that aren’t great for their startups and negatively impact growth.
So here are five common mistakes I see that result in their growth slowing down:
1. Saying yes to everything
All new features, platforms, channels, etc. Yes, yes, yes.
The end result?
They stretch them and the team too thin doing a bit of everything but nothing well. This means nothing really works exceptionally and growth slows down as they or the team does their best to juggle everything.
2. Focusing on features over benefits to customers
When I ask “Why did you start your company?”, it’s often because they had a need or saw it. They get caught up on the features they felt made their startup different for them or that close friends rather than the actual benefits their customers want.
I really encourage founders to spend time speaking to customers to really understand what they are trying to achieve and what benefits matter to them.
I have a short course that will teach you step-by-step how to do this including templates and exact questions available here.
3. Wearing too many hats
Like I said, founders work fricking hard - too hard. This is not me encouraging the honestly toxic hustle culture, but the opposite: it’s ok to need / ask for help. Waiting too long can be detrimental to your growth.
Take customer care, wait too long, tickets go unanswered, customers wait too long and you miss out on sales. I appreciate a full time hire might not be an option, but a few hours a week for an area that isn’t your key area of knowledge can go a long way energy wise to help you not stretch yourself too thin.
4. No structured system for things
Some founders are more the creative type whilst others the data-driven type. For those that are more creative, structure doesn’t always come naturally. But that lack of structure can cause chaos. It isn’t just your time but often a team.
The lack of processes and documentation leads to time that should be focused on growth being on: chasing you via email, trying to find key documents or data, and understanding what was done in the past.
Processes and documentation for experiments are so important, but easily underestimated.
5. Focusing only on small optimizations
Rather than looking at the bigger picture. Look I get it, I have a business. I see one small mistake or potential improvement. I have to do everything to stop myself jumping on it. But small optimizations lead to small growth in a startup.
It can be scary testing something completely different in terms of messaging, creative or approach, but it is what moves you forward.
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Recommendation
One diagram I have shown founders over and over again is from The Big Leap.
Credit: Gay Hendricks
We have different zones where we spend our time, when you are good at many different things like founders it is easy to spend too much time in the Zone of Competence and Excellence rather than their Zone of Genius.
The result? You get stretched too thin and those areas are eating your energy up.
Reducing those areas and spending more time in your Zone of Genius not only makes them happier but also will positively impact your organisation.
I’d definitely recommend checking out the full book to learn more.
Also an announcement that the Woman in Experimentation Community have reached the finalist stage of this year’s Experimentation Elite awards for the category of Community Award!
Thank you so much to Trina and Lucia who have been my partners in crime on ideating and growing what is such an incredible and supportive community.
In 20 days, we will be holding our first annual Convert x Women in Experimentation Summit.
A free, online summit built on the premise of hearing diverse voices in the growth, CRO and experimentation spaces.
Here’s what to expect:
Frameworks to use right away, authentic connections, and a huge haul of freebies…this summit gives you everything you need to progress in your experimentation career.
10 (live) unique talks that you’ve not seen at other conferences.
Delivered by a diverse panel of speakers from 4 continents.
Branding yourself in CRO: soft skills AMA with Alex Birkett & Allie Decker.
Guided networking with Daphne Tideman and Tiffany Fortune.
Chance to be featured by Convert.com.
Remember, it is completely free to sign up and we would love to see you there!
Not sure what area you need to work on? If you have a team (even a freelance one) take some time to get feedback. I did this recently with a founder and we reviewed from both sides:
What was working well
What could help us communicate more effectively
What we felt the other person should focus on more
What we felt the other person should outsource / spend less time on
It was a super insightful conversation, one I plan to keep having every quarter to help both of us collaborate more effectively,
Daphne