I’m a couple of pages into Guy Kawasaki’s “The Art of the Start”, it’s an easy read that’s giving me some decent food for thought. One of the concepts that I really liked was the idea that some people look through microscopes and some look through telescopes.
In a big company, which has an established product and market share you’re forced to spend a lot of time looking through the microscope, reviewing costs and making sure your getting the best margin possible. In some companies you spend so much time looking through the microscope that you miss out on innovation and a revolution can catch you with your guard down.
In a new venture you spend a lot of time looking through the telescope. Figuring out issues a market might have and developing a solution that starts a revolution.
A great company looks through both and knows when to look through the microscope and focus on moving the needle and when to look through the telescope and build a new product or service that swings for the fences.
It’s interesting to watch companies like facebook and twitter make the transition from telescoping to microscoping. Not always with the best of results. The best and most sustainable companies continue to look through. I think Google and Amazon do a great job of looking through both, developing solutions for problems while focusing on maximising their product that is their cash cow.
I’ve spent the last three years spending the majority of my time looking through a microscope and I’m looking forward to being able to do a lot more telescoping. But that doesn’t mean the microscoping will stop, as we’re going to be bootstrapping and relying on savings and – where possible – grants, I’m not going to have a choice but to focus on the detail. It’s all about balancing the microscope and the telescope.
