Speed doesn't kill 🏎 🚴♂️
I recently picked up cycling as a hobby after many years of being hesitant to do it. And I am starting to enjoy it a lot. Every ride has its unique moments and it is a great way to take some time off the screens. However, as I went on more rides, I started to realize how different riding solo is compared to riding with other people. On one of my rides with two friends, I was slowing the whole group down by doing extra checks on turns and stop signs, after my friend (who was leading the pack) had already given the "all clear" signal. Finally, frustrated, he said something that stayed with me "When you ride as a crew, you have to trust each other and work as a team. If we all try to think and make decisions separately on a ride, we are going to end up being very slow"
The quote above can be applied to almost any group of people working on something together. Duplicating efforts and not trusting your team can be silent killers because they slow you down. This has multiple effects in business, especially startups where fast growth is needed for survival. Paul Graham describes it well in his essay
It's not merely that you need a scalable idea to grow. If you have such an idea and don't grow fast enough, competitors will. Growing too slowly is particularly dangerous in a business with network effects, which the best startups usually have to some degree.
The other problem with moving slow is that some ideas look good on paper, but when you begin executing them, you start to realize all the issues associated with it. Even though you may have thought that you considered all the risks during the planning stage, the reality can be very different. Carl Richards says, “risk is what’s left when you think you’ve thought of everything.” One slow move won’t bring you down but when you compound this pattern across months and years, you end up being exponentially behind.
On the other hand, founders who move fast tend to run into problems faster as well, which means they are able to iterate and solve them earlier compared to competitors. Quite often, these problems were going to come anyways despite all your planning. Moving with speed and momentum helps you get to them sooner.
With all this considered, speed cannot be blind. It should have a sense of direction and a feedback loop to keep you in check. But most importantly, communicate with your team and learn to trust their strengths and work together even when you are working individually!
