Fact: Startups are starting faster than ever before.
Fact: Startups are disappearing faster than ever before.
While they never told us that directly, this second fact was likely the reason why a couple of the cofounders from a new startup recently reached out to us. Not long into our first chat, they asked, “What would you suggest we do to make our startup last?”
Our short answer: Invest in some old ideas.
“Old ideas? Are your serious? What kind of old ideas?” they asked.
The mother-nature kind. Mother nature has been in the business of life and death for longer than any human-made thing. So, where better to turn for advice on longevity?
Let’s continue by stating a few more obvious things.
Successful businesses are identical to successful biological species in an important way: Both are highly adaptive organisms.
(This is why we feel that more business owners should start thinking about businesses biologically. Thinking biologically simply means that you should seek to understand how successful life forms work.)
Back to startups: when you take a step back and look at famous startups, more often than not, you’ll notice that they think and act biologically.
This is due, in part, to the fact that, in its early days, a startup tends to lack the resources to shape its environment through brute force of innovation and/or marketing. Instead, they have to think modestly and subtly about when and how they can shape (rather than control) their surroundings.
You see, contrary to popular belief, most famous startups don’t really disrupt. They embed themselves or nest into the existing ecosystem. Consider these three startups: Airbnb, Uber, and Facebook.
Airbnb nested itself into the existing capacity of rental rooms, condos, etc.
Uber nested itself into the existing supply of cars and drivers.
Facebook started by nesting itself among university students. At a single university. By modestly offering, to those students, to be a small brush in the creation of their self-portraits.
As your time is precious, let’s wrap this up with one last reason why you should think biologically if you wish to build a startup that just might last.
“What’s that?”
When all of us have so many choices at our fingertips, the most important thing in selecting a you-name-it isn’t necessarily the technical aspects of how it works. Rather, it’s how you feel about it.
To breathe life and to make things that people love, you need to return to nature once again. The best designs in nature are simple (takeaway: refrain from adding what is not absolutely necessary), subtle (takeaway: limit everything to just enough and leave something to the imagination), and, finally, they tend to work without pretense.
“This s*** makes sense. When can you start?” said those brave and open-minded cofounders.