Short term vision is extremely important to me. I’m one of those people that gets distracted and discouraged quickly. The only thing that keeps me focused is if I know I have paying customers waiting for me. The longer the customer list I create the better I get at staying focused on actually building out my product. It is a constant reminder that people are waiting to use my product and give me money.
Short term vision helps me decide what features I should spend time on. For example last week we were deciding whether we should add sorting functionality. We decided to add this after our launch. We have customers that need our core functionality today.
Short Term Vision helps me pay me server fees. I need 15 paying customers to break even on my server costs.
I have big plans on what our long term vision is but I can’t afford to think about it.
Short term vision helps you launch your product, quit your day job, find your first paying customers, and establish the foundation for your business… so you can one day execute your long term vision!
I totally agree with this!
I hear a lot of pitches and would love to hear more about how they are going to start the business and less about conquering the world.
Hey Steven – thanks for the comment.
As an investor/entrepreneur what are somethings that you would like to hear? For example customer acquisition methods, product strategy, market size, etc?
This is one of my favorite posts. It really resonated with me.
Thanks Robert!
> What’s your short term vision?
Client number 1. Everything else is a distraction and a leak.
I’ve spent years working on leaks instead of projects:
• Ordering business cards
• Setting up a website
• Creating elaborate documents about what I do
• Writing business plans
The only times I’ve ever had success, I’ve ruthlessly focused on one thing: Talking to customers.
No business plan survives first contact with a customer. I might go out thinking I’ll sell Blue Widgets and come home after talking to 6 customers and realize they actually need someone to market Red Widgets for them.
> We have customers that need our core functionality today.
The only way I’ve ever found my core functionality is by ruthlessly approaching customers and learning what problems they are experiencing. Think of it like being a Pick Up Artist for business. Unless I am ruthlessly approaching a potential customer, talking about how my idea makes their life easier, and moving towards a close, I’m not helping my business. I’m leaking.
Kai – thanks for the awesome comment.
I have wasted months building out non core features that I thought would be revolutionary. However, the customer only saw it as a “nice to have” not something that would convince them to sign up for our service. Once we started implementing features that customers actually wanted our sales started to go up.
How do you not lose the long term, big picture? Normally I hear and think of short term thinking as a very bad thing.
Jonathan – I don’t have a problem with having a long term vision. I think every business should have one.
My problem is when the business owner only thinks long term and doesn’t focus on finding customers today. If they have paying customers they will actually be able to stay in business and see their long term vision be executed.
So true! I’ve found that focusing on how I can provide value today has kept me building a more useful product more efficiently and quickly. I think it’s great to iron out the long term vision and philosophy and then buckle down on the short term to really take those important smaller steps towards the larger goals without feeling overwhelmed or lost. Great post!
Thanks Priya for the great comment. Nice work on focusing on providing value today.