Scotch to Shots for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are customer focused. Entrepreneurs are innovative. Entrepreneurs are agile. Entrepreneurs are flexible. These attributes are useful through the full life-cycle of a product / service / organization. However, entrepreneurs seem to use them only in the Introductory Phase of a Life-Cycle.

Why?

In the Growth Phase, managerial skills are the key to success. Entrepreneurs are often poor managers. They tend to dislike left-brain activities. These activities lack the intoxication of RISK.

Assuming they survive the Growth Phase, what next? They enter the Maturity Phase where hanging on to plateau volumes is a challenge. While entrepreneurs are good at strategy, they tend to lose interest in the business while living on a plateau.

This is when they are glad to get rid of their business. They appoint cost accountants and other advisers to define a value and find a buyer for the business. The entrepreneur moves on to new opportunities directed by the customer.

This has always existed. In the past, since life-cycles of single product organizations ran into decades, the drama was not visible. Today, the life-cycles are so short that organizations introduce new offerings on a monthly basis Some even plan their own product obsolescence.

In the past entrepreneurs nursed their Scotch. Today they have shots. Life-cycles are crashing.