Startups without existential urgency don't win
When I was a twentysomething first-time sales rep in Seattle, our VP of Sales interrupted a meeting and said something that changed how I view and value time.
In the meeting were 10 inside sales reps, all of us with a junior salary and scope. Fifteen minutes in, the VP of Sales abruptly entered.
“How long is this meeting scheduled for?” he calmly asked.
“One hour,” someone said. I don’t remember who. I was petrified.
The VP grabbed a marker, turned to the whiteboard, and wrote “S.O.U.” in big letters. Then, he quickly looked around the room and, under his breath, did some math…
“There are 10 people in this room, and though you’re all salaried, on average, you make $40 per hour. Ten people at $40 an hour. This is a $400 meeting. Are the results of this meeting going to produce more than $400 for the company?”
He pointed to the board. “S.O.U.” [long pause] “Sense of urgency.” and then he walked out.
He wasn’t being rude. He was teaching us the value of time and energy.
He wanted us to use the limited time and energy we had to exceed our quotas and receive our bonuses.
He wanted to celebrate sales milestones with happy hour at the Space Needle and late nights at the Mariners game.
It was the first time I’d quantified the time in that way. It was the first time I recognized the actual financial cost of a meeting.
I’ve never looked at time (or meetings) the same way again.
What existential urgency is *not*
Existential urgency is not panic.
Existential urgency is not fear.
Existential urgency is not “try anything and see if it sticks,” but rather intensely focusing on the few things that, at any given time, will mean death if not prioritized and executed well, and quickly.
Practice pragmatism
My favorite book on startups includes a line I often use: “As CEO, focus on a pragmatic solution for the next 6–12 months of the company’s life rather than the perfect long-term solution.”
Ravi Gupta, former COO & CFO of Instacart, calls it “desperation-induced focus,” noting…
“In my experience, desperation is the single greatest advantage you have as a startup. It takes you down to the lowest level of detail. Desperation inspires creativity and intense focus. It is an essential ingredient to building great products and services.”
After all, startups themselves are an act of desperation.
You are faster than you think
Box CEO Aaron Levie said, “One of the things you learn as a startup that’s super important to remember as you scale is that most things that seemingly should take a week to pull off actually can get solved in a day.”
Stripe’s Patrick Collison has one of my favorite links on the internet: patrickcollison.com/fast
A list of big projects executed well and shockingly speedy. These three made my jaw drop…
Walt Disney's vision for Disneyland was realized in just 366 days.
Apollo 8 was set for a moon mission by NASA, launching 134 days later on December 21, 1968.
Dee Hock had 90 days to create BankAmericard (now Visa) from scratch. He did so, enrolling over 100,000 customers in the process.
“Launching too slowly has probably killed a hundred times more startups than launching too fast,” says Paul Graham.
Existential urgency does not guarantee success. Sand Hill Road is paved with great startups that didn’t achieve their full potential, but I’ve yet to meet a winner who doesn’t have urgency at the core of their culture.