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Committing to a Long Tail of Consistency
Why short-term efforts tend to have a low likelihood of winning.
Matthew Kee
January 26th, 2024
We’ve talked in the last five newsletters in this Inflection Point Series about ways to leverage in the market, in a customer, in the product, in the and in a technology.
I want to end cap this series with the theme of what makes inflection points even possible in the first place. That is, a 1) thoughtful strategy and a 2) commitment to a long tail of consistency on the right activities.
I say this because some startup founders tend to approach startups like the following story…
I read a story once about a person who just turned 18 years old and a family member encouraged them to buy a lottery ticket because they were now legally able to do so. Not thinking anything about it, that single lottery ticket led to $48 million jackpot!
For whatever reason, we are drawn to such dreamy scenarios - let me get the jackpot without putting in any of the work. Phrases such as “get rich quick” or “just go viral” are cop outs for the actual work that is required to be successful.
We want the output, the payoff, without the input.
Sometimes I remind myself of the tweet of former Twitter Founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, the day that Twitter IPO’d…
✅ As it relates to inflection points, are inflection points random?
For the most part, no. The startup intentionally designs them.
Are inflection points hard to achieve?
Not as hard as you would think.
What is the prerequisite?
A thoughtful strategy and 2) commitment to a long tail of consistency on the right activities. ✅
In this newsletter, I want to show the importance of how both of these play out to create the likelihood of an inflection point happening, rather than waiting on a prayer for something spectacular to happen without these two components.
I want to demonstrate this in light of two examples in our portfolio: Midwest Games and Octane Coffee, although this commitment to a long tail of consistency in the right activities is not unique to these two and are present in all 17 of our portfolio companies, they are top of mind examples that I have.