Navigating Uncertaintywhen Launching New Ideas

keithhopper.com/uncertainty@khopper

Uncertainty doesn’t stop success

#1: Know your purpose

#2: Know your risks

#3: Know your mindset

#4: Know how to plan

#5: Know yourself

#6: Know how to fail

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

#1: Know your purpose

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

“We need to stop users from abandoning our shopping cart”

“We want more customers to go paperless”

“Our online advertising rates are plummeting and we need revenue to support content production.”

Articulate a clear problem statement

Knowing your purpose permits different solution approaches

without losing your way.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

#2: Know your risks

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

Desirability(human)

Feasibility(technical)

Viability(business)

Risks hide inside bad assumptions

“Very few startups fail for lack of technology. They almost always fail for lack of customers”- Steve Blank

“There’s one thing that kills startups: not making something users want”- Paul Graham

RIS

K

UNCERTAINTY

Prioritize your assumptions

Test your assumptions

Knowing your risks lets you unravel them early.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

#3: Know your mindset

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

target customermarket needssolution shapecommunication

scalereliability

infrastructurepredictability

safetymaintenance

cost

insightsevidencehypothesesunknownswhat-ifsassumptionssurprises

EXPLORERMINDSET

BUILDERMINDSET

VS.

Knowing your mindset helps suggest the appropriate actions to take.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

*

#4: Know how to plan

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

Take your position regularly and course-correct

VA

LUE

TIME

Re-plan to eliminate diminishing value

Knowing how to plan allows for course-corrections and helps ensure

you hit your destination.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

#5: Know yourself

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

Small teams ensure shared values

Use a learning framework. Be deliberate.

REFLECTIDENTIFY

IMPROVEMENT

ENACT CHANGE

ASSESSRESULTS

When the team knows itself anything is possible.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

*

#6: Know how to fail

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

All startups know disappointment

Anything is possible

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm”

Knowing how to fail ensures you get back up.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

#1: Knowing your purpose permits different solution approaches without losing your way.

#2: Knowing your risks lets you unravel them early.

#3: Knowing your mindset helps suggest the appropriate actions to take.

#4: Knowing how to plan allows for course-corrections and helps ensure you hit your destination.

#5: When the team knows itself anything is possible.

#6: Knowing how to fail ensures you get back up.

SIX SECRETS TO NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

keithhopper.com/uncertainty

'Installation (Banana Peel)', Adriana Lara, 2008