Strategize not to fail vs. Strategize to win?

Do you think start-ups should have a strategy not to fail vs. a strategy to win?

Weird way to look at it.... I know. Founders want to win and create the best product they can, however, how about creating something that just doesn't lose? I believe there is a difference.

In light of scarce resources (i.e. lack of funding, staff, etc.), start-ups should think about how they attack their business.

When reading the 37signals book, I think the strategy not to fail is inherent within some of the advice they shared.

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The strategy not to fail could be looked at like this (source: 37signals):

- Stay flexible by reducing obstacles to change. Lower your cost of change.

- Don’t worry too much about the finite details of your website at this stage (i.e. font size, the perfect shade of green, etc.). Get it out there and start using it.

- Don’t think about problems that you don’t have right now.

- Build a half product that is kick ass. Pare features down until you have the core product.

- Only add what matters and leave out the rest.

- Say no to features. This helps in building that half product that is kick ass. You never want to be in the position where you’re taking away a feature from your customers. Steve Jobs quote “Innovation is not about saying yes to everything, it’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”

- Only implement the features that your customers keep asking for…not the little ones.

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The strategy to win could be looked at like this (opposing the points above):

- Being extremely focused and not anticipating change.

- Making the perfect website and spending too much time on the details

- Preparing for problems you don't have at the moment, but, that you think you might have later on

- Building your entire product before a single user or customer has seen it or used it

- Including all of the bells and whistles, even if they're not a core function of your product

- Saying yes to too many features

- Implementing not only the features you're customers want, but, all of the other ones you can think of

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Having said this, I'm not claiming any particular strategy is right or wrong.

I'm just curious to hear whether you may look at your start-up like this?

Do you strategize not to fail at your start-up?

I credit this topic to my co-founder, Justin Lee.

Cheers,
Andre

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