Obvious to find a thin line connection between any two businesses but as a movie buff myself, I tend to correlate the similarities between the movie industry and start-ups. The idea is core for both, if you can convince a funder with your idea, that’s the start of your voyage.
Let’s see the overlapping things amid both the industries. A step-in director with a story needs to convince a producer to get it produced or he ought to go for a crowd funding. Isn’t it like a start-up founder who has an idea and needs to convince a seed investor or go for a crowd funding? Once the producer is ready, the director needs to screenplay the dreamt story to his best to be a bomber in box office. Similarly, execution of ideas into realistic concept in start-up is more important. If both execute their ideas well, the success is not far. But if they do a poor execution, they tend to lose their career almost.
If a director tastes success in his first movie, he will have producers lined up in the queue. Next, a founder carving himself by thoughts, executions and reaches the targeted market, the next round of funding will be kind of a sure shot.
A director’s background will be different before he directs his first movie. He might have been an experienced assistant director or a newbie who is passionate of movies or he may be a newbie with few short movies in his portfolio. A start-up founder will match each of the criteria. He might be well experienced in a technology / industry / fresh graduate / explorer of his own prototype.
In a reversal concept, if a director fails in his first movie and turned out to be a disaster in box office; how will you predict his future? Either he turns back to his previous career or to write a new story. The first option may work out soon but the second option is harder as he needs lot of time to convince a producer as he doesn’t have a success in his pocket. Similarly, if a start-up founder fails in his idea, he can go back to his previous job or he may have a fresh idea. But convincing the investors is a question mark.
Copy cats are luck spoilers. The copy cats direct a new movie based on the succeeded movie and if luck is on their way, they become a star. Similarly, if some company copies your idea and they are already in a market, you may be lost.
The success of the first movie or the product is not the only criteria for their future. They may still struggle to get their next movie or funding as they will lack convincing factor. The story may be bad or the projection given by the founder may not please the investors. So, first step alone is not important, how you make use of the first step and start walking is more important.
The debut may be an excellent one but only if he predicts the future audiences and caters to their needs endlessly, he will remain in the race. Similarly, the start-ups should forecast the future needs of customers and they need to enhance the product concurrently else it will not sustain in long run.
As a conclusion, to be a Spielberg or a Jobs, it requires a solid foundation with convincing ability and predicting the future better.
