INNOVATION BLOCKERS
ROOKIE MISTAKE # 1 : CODING BEFORE LEARNING
Dickey and Barlow started with a question : “ Why is it such a pain in the butt for urban young professionals to buy , own , move , sell , and store furniture ?” The founders knew from their own experience that professional millennials move often — Dickey moved 10 times in 12 years , Barlow moved five times in six years . After lugging all that furniture around , they realized “ retail had not innovated around the changing [ millennial ] lifestyle ,” as Barlow puts it .
Curious if their experience was indicative of a larger population , they combed through statistics and blog posts from the U . S . Bureau of Labor Statistics , Move . com , Rent . com , Zillow , and Redfin . The data on young urban professional behavior patterns aligned with their experience , giving the founders the initial confidence to go after a North American demographic seeking “ high quality furniture without the commitment .”
For some founders , this data would be enough to build a product around . But Dickey and Barlow understand the importance of putting customer discovery before coding . Before they got into account presentation and merchandise , they used services like Google surveys to help generate their catalog , and they communicated with potential customers through email . “ Learn the things you need to learn before you write code ,” says Dickey , who adds that this strategy is also good use of VC capital .
Dickey and Barlow didn ’ t work off customer surveys alone . They hadn ’ t worked jobs lugging 100-pound pieces of furniture before , so they took the concierge MVP approach . They performed the first 30 deliveries themselves to better understand the pain points in furniture delivery . “ We learned a lot about what matters to customers in the home ,” says Barlow . “ Pre-assembly versus non pre-assembly , how to balance customer expectations with the realities of LTL transport , and potential breakage [ issues ].”
ROOKIE MISTAKE # 2 : TAKING A DIY APPROACH WHEN OUTSOURCING IS BEST
Dickey came from Amazon , the epitome of a build everything in-house ethos , and had to fight his instinct and ego when it came to customizing Fernish software . “ There ’ s an element of pride of work that comes with writing the software yourself ,” he says , “ and an inherent distrust of what others have done if you didn ’ t participate in that process .” So what stopped him from indulging these tendencies ? Knowledge that pride can bottleneck progress and impede rapid growth . “ We needed to be thoughtful about saying , ‘ I don ’ t actually need my engineering team building that ,’” he says .
The founders clarified Fernish ’ s core competencies versus the factors that differentiate them in the marketplace . The consumer “ doesn ’ t care what ancillary software you ’ re using ,” Dickey says . They care that you ’ re providing a good service .
Dickey suggests doing a build / borrow / buy analysis ( or , as they think about it at Fernish : “ crawl / walk / run ”) to avoid the time suck coding can create . Consider where you can outsource platforms , bring in individual advisors or advisory teams , and otherwise keep the focus on necessary competencies .
“ You have to deprogram yourself a little and say , ‘ Where can I be prideful about the quality of my work and do something innovative , and where do I actually just need to grind ?’” says Dickey .
ROOKIE MISTAKE # 3 : SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH YES
Oftentimes the biggest blocker to growth is an entrepreneur who doesn ’ t know when to get out of his or her own way , says Williams , who provides a platform for founders to interact and share ideas at SVB . These founders lack an ability to “ surround themselves with the right people who are willing to check them … when their time would be better spent elsewhere ,” he says . If those checks and balances aren ’ t in place , the likelihood of success is slim .
Founder delusion complexes sink startups . While pride helps entrepreneurs tackle seemingly impossible challenges , it has to be balanced with pragmatism , says Dickey , whether you ’ re talking software development , service development , or other company processes and practices .
ROOKIE MISTAKE # 4 : USING POOR HIRING AND RETENTION PRACTICES
Culture may feel like a fuzzy concept to define , but Barlow notes that it can either stymie or accelerate growth . Barlow and Dickey cultivated 360 feedback loops and set cultural principles and operating values early . They looped the first ten
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