Things changes

This week, I happen to get updated with some companies I used to know before. I thought they were doing not bad. But they’re in a difficult time recently. I hope they can overcome soon.

But the news gets me to think about how things change in business. They may come as sudden, big changes like:

• Your competitor gets 5 million invested money in their bank, poaching your best sales manager, discounting half of the product price, releasing tons of new features, your biggest customers leave for them…
• A new action from the government stops you from selling your products

But actually, the most dangerous changes won’t come that way. They often come silently without any clear reason:

• The market changes. The product today fits, no longer fits tomorrow
• The customers today need these features, tomorrow they like the others
• Your employees are good today. Tomorrow they’re tired, lack of direction, get miscommunicated,… they quit
• ….

Those changes are really scary because they’re too subtle to be seen. It needs to be sensed continuously. And a company can only be good as long as they can “sense” the changes and moves fast enough to adapt to the changes.

I work with some portfolio startups in my firm. I see them release a new important feature, recruit a key position, get a new contract with a key partner, to reach breakeven… There are moments we think “if we do this, we will be all good” but the moment we-are-all-good-now never really comes. There will always be new features to release, new people to recruit, new customers to acquire,…

It’s a war that never ends.

As long as things change*, the company has to keep moving and moving!

*In case you’re wondering if there is anything unchanged, then FYI they just captured the first image of a black hole, which was once considered impossible! Photo above!