For the first 4 years of SyncOnSet (we're in year 6 now), we chased binary goals. Our success, we thought, depended on closing a huge studio, network, or partnership deal that would immediately bring us to profitability. Part of this was driven by our business model: we started as a data business that almost by its nature relied on an all-or-nothing approach.
Those years were incredibly stressful. Each quarter we set goals on a studio or network that we had to close. Those goals would be missed and we'd go about setting new binary goals for the next quarter, and the next. Experimentation should be part of every startup, but with binary goals there are few lessons that can be taken from a failure or success and applied to the next goal. It's much easier to pin point why something didn't work as well as expected than to pin point why something didn't happen at all.
We set binary goals for our personal lives all the time. "I need to lose 20 pounds, so I'll go on a juice cleanse or another diet of month" Or "If I find that perfect significant other, everything will change: I'll have someone to travel with, go to shows with, cook with - it'll be a completely new me." But when you don't achieve the full 20 pounds within a week or find that perfect match after a couple months of searching, you go on to the next diet (or none at all) and create excuses for not doing the other things that make you happy in life.
At around the 4 year mark, SyncOnSet had made incredible progress gaining adoption - we were being used on over 50% of U.S. television productions. Yet, we were very far from profitable and we realized that those lightning-in-a-bottle deals were not in the near horizon. So at a critical moment, we ditched all of our goals of closing mega deals and focused on breaking-even from selling a bunch of smaller individual projects. This required us to make incremental improvements to average contract values, conversion rates, growth in accounts, and make smarter decisions on keeping costs in check. We no longer gave ourselves the excuse that spending a lot on senior hires or consultants was justified because a huge contract was just around corner. Every board meeting since has been uneventful - as we report on x% increase in accounts or x% improvement in our sales process. Nothing surprising. But after 2 years, those small incremental improvements added up - and we succeeded in our goal and then some.
Ditching the binary goals at work almost immediately made my job a lot more fun and stress-free. It takes the uncertainty out of the day-to-day and allows you to see the small improvements.
It took 4 years of running a business to realize the perils of binary goals. It has taken me even longer to realize this lesson applies to my personal life even more.