Freedom of Movement
The best founders engage in this loop
Freedom of movement might be the most important startup concept that nobody talks about. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised.
Here’s the idea…
When starting a company, the best founders engage in a tight loop of:
Taking some action in the market (talk to customers, test prototypes, launch stuff), to...
Generate information about what's working or not working, and then...
Use that information to inform decisions and change course if necessary. Then back to step 1 👆
But you can easily and unintentionally break this loop.
All too often, I see founders make a big decision (a corporate partnership, a round of financing, a fixed roadmap, an oversized bet, etc) that limits their freedom of movement and breaks the loop between steps 2 and 3.
In other words, you get new information, but you can't do anything about it, because you're locked into the big decision.
Before you know it, 3 months have passed... 6 months... and you're no longer building a startup, you're executing a plan. And the plan might be (probably is?) wrong.
These freedom-of-movement-limiting decisions can be tough to avoid because they often look like exciting opportunities.
My suggestion? Look at every big decision through the "freedom of movement" lens. Ask yourself, will this increase or decrease my freedom movement?
If it's limiting, proceed with caution.