Knowing When to Ask for Help in Your Startup
I had a great networking meeting yesterday along with Tami Forman, the CEO of our non-profit affiliate Path Forward, and Joanne Wilson, my board co-chair. It was a meeting that Joanne set up that the three of us had been talking about for over a year. Joanne made a great comment as we were debriefing in the elevator after the meeting that is the foundation of this post. Tami and I shaped her comment into this metaphor:
Finding wood to help start a fire is different from pouring gasoline on a fire
As an entrepreneur, you need to constantly be asking for help and networking. Those meetings will shape your business in ways that you can never predict. They’ll shape your thinking, add ideas to the mix, kill bad ideas, and connect you to others who can help you in your journey.
But you need to have a good sense of who to meet with, and when, along the way. Some people, you can only meet once, unless they become core to your business, so you have to choose carefully when to fire that one bullet. Others will meet with you regularly and are happy to see longitudinal progress. Regardless, being clear on your ask is critical, and then backing up from that to figure out whether this is the one bullet you can fire with someone or whether it’s one ask of many will help you figure out if you should push for that networking meeting or not.
Why?
Because asking someone to help you find wood to start a fire (the early stages of your business) is different from pouring gasoline on an existing fire (once you’re up and running). If you’re in the super early stages of your business and looking for product-market fit, you won’t want to meet with people who aren’t conceptual thinkers, who aren’t deep in your space, or who might only see you once. Maybe they can help you brainstorm, but you’ll find better partners for that. They might be able to provide concrete help or introductions, but you’re probably not ready for those yet. It’s a waste of time. You need wood to start your fire, and people like this aren’t helpful scouring the forest floor with you to find it.
However, those people can be fantastic to meet with once you have product-market fit and are deep in the revenue cycle. You have clear demonstration of value, customer success stories, you know what works and what doesn’t and why. You can have short, crisp asks that are easy for the person to follow-up on. They will be willing to lend your their name and their network. You have a fire, they have a cup of spare gasoline, and you can get them to pour that cup on your fire.
The judgment call around this isn’t easy. Entrepreneurial zeal makes it abnormally comfortable to call on any stranger at any time and ask for help. But developing this sense is critical to optimizing your extended network in the early years.