You just aren’t that big
What happens when you try to fit into shoes that you haven’t grown into yet
There comes a point in your journey of building a business, a startup, starting a side hustle that you realise you fucked up. Fucked up is way too strong here but behind the scenes, we’ve been working on our structure, positioning, how we are perceived and where we want us to be in a few years time. And it hit me like a lightbulb. I’ve had a few instances of this over the last few months (brain is working on overdrive) and everything makes sense. We started Nine Thread Studio just a short 7 months ago but we were trying to shove ourselves into shoes that aren’t ready for us yet. And this is the framework we are testing out with startups so they don’t make the same mistakes as we have.
The Why/What/Where Stage
Really imaginative name as you can see but rather than try to fluff it up and add our own twist on it (which we will down the line once we’ve proven this), I’m keeping it simple.
Over the last few months, I’ve reached out to many different people in the branding space, accelerators, consultants, and investors to get answers because without real answers, all you have is information. I wanted to really know what separates the startups that make it vs the ones that shut down after two years.
It’s an answer that’s been shoved down our throat over and over again but it’s a story (shock). But not necessarily in the sense of a story having a start, middle and an end but more so on how it maps to the startup journey. I’m using startups here because this is our target audience, but I realised that this could 100% apply to anyone that wants to build something.
Think of the startups that hit the jackpot. Airbnb, Slack, Stripe, Revolut, Bytedance (as we know it, Tiktok). They didn’t focus on features, they focused on telling the right story at the right time.
Let me break down real quick what we are building:
Why Stage
What matters most: Idea, the mission, the people building it.
In a world of AI and the barrier to entry to build something is as low as it can get, your product isn’t what makes you stand out. I feel like before it used to be but the pace of technology and AI has changed the game.
If you’re raising funding or trying to get your first customers to buy in, claiming your next best thing since sliced bread (Irish sayin’, if you know you know), people will see right through it.
We need some evidence, proof, credibility to back those claims and this is where a lot of businesses float in dangerous water. I actually think we floated too close to the danger line and that’s why I’m pulling it back but thats another post for another day. The best thing you can do at this stage is tell the story on why you got started, the mission behind it, why is it needed right now and why are you the right person to build.
The story of belief is what matters here.
What Stage
What matters most: Retention, traction, potential, results.
You now have the support, you need to change from talking the talk to walking the walk and we mean literally. Lots of customers or followers doesn’t equal hard cash or loyalty. What’s worth it at this stage is whether those very customers would come back again and again.
Look at the retention numbers, not followers. The story you need to be telling is the outcome for the people that use your product. Be specific, be niche and I know you’re probably thinking but Niamh if I go niche, I’ll lose all the other markets we want to approach. It’s not the right time.
Secure one group of the market and once you conquer that, you can expand. I don’t need to tell you that speaking to everyone means you are speaking to no one, you know this already.
Get specific on the one person, one problem, one outcome.
Where Stage
What matters most: The category you want to create for yourself, the scale.
Airbnb didn’t compete with hotels, they created a category called homesharing. Stripe is aiming to be the GDP of the financial infrastructure. This story is about the movement, the feeling, the space you want to create and this is where go big or go home stands. Do this too early and you risk sounding overly arrogant or inflated because the reality doesn’t match the story.
When you start out and especially if you feel extreme passion for what you do, you’re going to want to lean more into the mission. I’ve learned time and time again, the mission is nice for people but it doesn’t get people to act. Each stage of the story framework needs to get people to act at the right time.
Mission gets people to care. WHAT gets people to buy. WHERE gets people to believe you’ll change the industry. But you have to earn the right to tell each story.
We made a mistake (the reality of building something)
If you’re a business owner or startup founder reading this, you’ll know how it feels when the penny drops. You realise the reason things aren’t working. That happened to us at Nine Thread. We started seven months ago and even though in my head, I’m 5 years ahead thinking about how we want to conquer the space so we can help build the next generation of startups, we’re not there. And that’s it in real time.
We were leading with the where stage of our story but we haven’t yet earned the right at the table just yet. Some people are pulling up a seat but until you earn the right, then it’s not earned.
So we’ve been going back to the drawing boards again and asking ourselves, what story do we want to tell for the next 3 months while we continue building? What can we tell over the last seven months that really shows why Nine Thread Studio was born. We’re still in the why stage, building that credibility, that authority and backing ourselves that we have what it takes.
That’s not to say that we’ve not had so many amazing opportunities and clients come to work with us. It’s been the most intense learning experience for us as two founders who don’t live in the same country, working on different time zones, and trying to build something that is new for both of us.
The fear of not being taken seriously or when you are too vulnerable and open is something I think a lot of business owners feel because we’re consistently told to shut up until we’re over the hurdles. But the reality is, the struggles and challenges never end, you just get better at handling them.
We’re excited to see what these next few months look like with this new direction, more clarity on our story and testing this out with upcoming webinars and workshops because we know what we have is something great (staying humble and all that) but if there’s anything I can say about us two is that we don’t and won’t stop. Because boldness is part of our DNA.
Until next time amigos (I’m learning Spanish so hasta luego!!),
- Niamh, the purple strategist