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- 💡 Ideas Don't Build Startups
💡 Ideas Don't Build Startups
👉 Founders that distill the signal from the noise, pivot at the right time, and can execute are winning.
Egemen Eres
September 18, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
👋 Hi there - it’s Egemen. Thanks for reading this edition of Scalable.
Ideas don’t build startups. Execution does.
It's a common pitfall I've seen many founders get lost in.
They pitch their idea, claiming there's a solid case behind it, and then they can’t (or sometimes won’t) get from point A to point B for whatever reason.
When this happens, I often see founders distracting themselves with irrelevant bullshit to the point where they eventually stop caring about solving a problem.
They do endless benchmarks with other platforms every other week, make impulsive decisions to pivot the product direction almost randomly, and ultimately lead the startups to fail before getting even one customer through the door.
If that sounds like you, no worries, I know it’s tough to focus amid everything going on.
Take a few minutes and read this. Let’s go back to the fundamentals.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:
💡 Spotlight: Outseta
🧠 Deep-Dive: Execution Beats Everything
🗺️ Method: Product Identity Exercise
⚾️ Catch: Global Venture Capital Outlook
☝️ Scaled This Past Week: Tabby
💡 Spotlight: Outseta
Outseta is a membership software platform that "gives no-code creators the tools to monetize their website, SaaS product, or online community in minutes.
I’ve recently discovered them, and I gotta say - I’m a big fan of platforms who are ambitious enough to go for a fully comprehensive one-stop shop offering.
One of the coolest parts is you can integrate with or without code.
👉 Perfect for early-stage businesses that want to streamline without juggling a bunch of different tools.
🧠 Deep-Dive: Execution Beats Everything
One of my guilty pleasures is being a fanatic of Shark Tank.
Honestly, I am a fan of the show in every aspect.
There’s something incredibly exciting about seeing entrepreneurs from all walks of life pitch their ideas in front of some of the most successful business minds in the world.
The raw energy, the creativity, the tension—it’s a perfect reflection of what the startup world is really like.
Kevin O’Leary, or "Mr. Wonderful," stands out - I love the guy.
He’s brutally honest, which makes him such a great investor.
He’s there to get to the truth of whether a business will succeed or not.
No BS, the ultimate capitalist. 100% a cold-blooded shark. I came across this short video that he clipped on his Instagram page the other day:
If you ask me, unless you are reinventing the wheel (aka going full blue ocean), your idea is just an idea - don’t get married to it.
Trust me, the chances are, your startup idea is not even unique, and someone else is doing very similar things somewhere in the world.
Nobody will steal your startup idea. But someone else can out-execute you.
Great ideas are a dime a dozen. Executional skills - you can’t find them anywhere. They are so hard to find. To find a CEO, man or woman, that can actually execute, and knows how to pivot, and knows how to distill the signal from the noise… That’s one in a hundred, maybe one in a thousand people.
Successful startups are built by people who excel at solving one specific problem.
Focus on progress instead of perfection. Your startup idea should solve one single problem in a simpler, faster, cheaper way.
Prioritize fast delivery, be laser-focused on solving a specific problem, and set achievable small goals. Stop distracting yourself from what goes on elsewhere.
Take Dropbox for example.  When it first launched, it wasn’t packed with features. It simply solved the problem of sharing files across devices. That simplicity allowed them to scale fast. | Or Airbnb as an example.  In the beginning, their one goal was to help travelers find a place to stay, and homeowners rent out extra space. It wasn’t about experiences or flights—just solving one core problem well. |
Take these two with you:
✅ Execution isn’t about doing everything at once—it’s about doing the right thing now, and doing it fast.
✅ Actions > Words. In the end, ideas don’t build startups. Execution does.
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🗺️ Method: Product Identity Exercise
Michael Houck is one of the reasons that motivated me to start Scalable. I’ve been following and even applying his content for a couple of years now.
One of his favorite quotes is the one below.
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Your product should help people save time by:
- reducing costs and/or
- increasing revenue.
In my observations so far, startups that can identify their products by 2-3 words have prevailed over the others.
Some examples:
Fast IT infrastructure: NordVPN - Global internet accessibility
Fewer repetitive tasks: Zapier – Workflow automation
Time to market: Webflow – Fast website launch
Higher quality copywriting: Grammarly – Automated writing improvements
Make more money: Paypal – Accept payments globally
Standardized commercials: Salesforce – Streamlined sales processes
Follow this methodology around your UVP / USP. Identify what your product does (aka what problem it solves) in 2-3 words. That’ll give you some clarity.
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⚾️ Catch: Global Venture Capital Outlook
Bain & Company recently published a status quo analysis on the global VC landscape.
It reveals some interesting insights. Check out the full report!
In generative AI, foundation models, and development tools continue to attract the most funding.
Corporate VC participation grew marginally in Q2.
Seed includes angel, preseed, and seed rounds; early stage includes Series A and B; late stage includes funding rounds Series C or later and private equity rounds; private equity rounds refer to investments by private equity firms or hedge funds in a late-stage funding round, typically upwards of $50 million; late stage excludes Stripe's $6.5 billion funding round in the first quarter of 2023
👉 Take this away: the average deal size has been on the rise, comparatively, throughout the past couple of years.
Seed and early-stage deals appear to have the highest momentum. What a time to build.
👋 I help early-stage founders launch products and get customers:
🎙️ Grab Some Time With Me | 🛒 Go to Scalable Template Store |
🤝 Check out Scalable partners | 📰 Read Scalable.News for more |
📨 Keep in mind - you can also reply to this email, I read every reply.
☝️ Scaled This Past Week: Tabby
Founded in 2020, Tweeq was one of the earliest electronic money institutions licensed to operate in Saudi Arabia.
Hosam Arab, CEO of Tabby, explained that while Tabby will continue to team up with other companies to manage savings and investments, the company’s platform will serve as the gateway for these services.
👉 The startup and investment scene in the KSA gets more and more intriguing every single day - one to watch out for!
How much did you enjoy this week's post?PS: It's a safe space 🤞 |
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