Plan for the First 50

I found this a couple of weeks ago and meant to blog about it sooner. Seeing as I am tired as all heck from the mini vacation I just took, here’s what I quoted earlier.

The problem with trying to think in terms of “how do we get to $10 billion in revenue in 2050” is that you lose sight of the fact that your resources are very limited today. Staying focused on earning the first $50K of revenue allows you to concentrate your resources on a very well-defined short-term goal.

Startups are lucky if they have more than a few pairs of hands to help them get the product to market. They’re even luckier if they have help bringing in the first paying customer. A startup doesn’t have the luxury of wasting time and energy on activities that don’t directly result in driving the first dollar through the door.

Finding office space, creating an org chart and writing a 5 year marketing plan may seem like a necessity to meeting your long term goals, but none of those things will matter if you aren’t able to bring in the “First 50.” The greater your ability to focus on short-term achievements, the greater your likelihood of surviving long enough to make larger accomplishments.

$50K is a great first milestone, because let’s face it – if you can’t get such a small amount of revenue through the door, who really cares if you’ve got fancy business cards, a nice office and the perfect 401(k) plan?

Source: Go Big Network

We’re quite focused now on finalizing our presentations and fortifying it with the various statistics we’ve known anecdotally. The first 50 is definitely in out sights, is it in yours?