In my last post I referenced some of the stumbling blocks that I have faced whilst building Surple. I want to quickly pick apart these topics and I will be doing some deep dives on each further along on this 30 day challenge.

Excitement becomes reality when...

• You aren't immediately successful

  Success can be measured in lots of different ways but in my experience and the view from most startups is that it is typically based on finances (revenue targets or investment) and product development, both can be key momentum builders. Momentum is a hugely understated thing and I wish I had harnessed it better at times as I feel like finding immediate success is unlikely for most startups. Instead it's about quickly taking the learnings from your failures and applying them where you can to improve. I will be look into momentum as a wider topic in a later post as it also aligns with energy management and is an important part of successful carbon reductions plans too.

• You realise the level of commitment required to be successful

  Getting commitment is also key to success - knowing where people stand and how resilient they are is really important when you are working towards a common goal. It helps to have everyone pointing in the same direction but this is something that you need to be aware of and agree on at the start because it can really derail projects if you lose commitment half-way through. I find it useful to have regular catchups where we discuss our commitments as a founding team and how we are feeling, it often brings up even more interesting discussions as a result.

• External factors make the likelihood of success lower

  The pandemic has proven that nobody is able to avoid external factors entirely. It touched everyones lives in some way and in the UK it has really changed the way that people interact, especially when it comes to business processes and most notably online sales. Being aware of the potential challenges that you could face from external factors and having a plan B (and C and maybe even D) for those challenges most likely to affect you is something we could all be better at.

• Imposter syndrome creeps in

  I feel some level of imposter syndrome right now as I write this post. I don't feel as though I should be sharing 'wisdoms' about business, especially not as a first-time founder, but I'm trying to just 'think on paper' and lean into topics where I feel most comfortable sharing content. I just have to keep telling myself that I would be very interested in hearing from another first-time founder if they had learnings that were applicable to me in the B2B energy management software space (niche I know).

To summarise I would say that turning reality back into excitement can be a real challenge but, if you maintain momentum, get commitment from your team, stay ahead of things with a plan B and remind yourself that your learnings, regardless of whether they are from success or failure will help you to grow, then you should be in a better position than I was at the very start of Surple.

Peter