The Titanic represents to many of us the iconic tale of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The tragedy is embodied in that instant when The Ship struck The Iceberg, killing over 1,500 passengers and crew—and the hubris of thinking we can build something too big to fail. But while the iceberg may have represented the killing blow, what many do not realize is that the demise of the Titanic was in fact a result of a series of small decisions and missteps across a number of dimensions.
Tales of venture failure also often focus on the defining moment when a lost customer, a lack of investor dollars, or a product malfunction results in the death of a promising startup. But that failure is nearly always the result of a series of errors that were not obvious—problems that lurked beneath the surface—that were a consequence of navigating uncertainty in the early stages of development. These errors take the form of hidden non-financial debts that gradually weigh down the budding enterprise. While financial debts are obvious and easy to measure, the hidden debts we explore are obligations and barriers to success that are not as easy to identify, and an unintended consequence of navigating uncertainty.
This presentation, based on the book of the same name, will help startups and their investors and supporters identify and manage the hidden debts resulting from making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Don’t let the Titanic Effect sink your startup!
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