Execution is the oft-cited distinguishing factor between a successful company and a failure of a company. It is the magic ingredient that distinguishes between a successful company and a failure of a company. But what is it? Well, here is what I have learned it is NOT:
Execution is not the ability to build and ship a product. Anyone can do that. 3 people have built your exact idea as their weekend side project and think they are going to get rich with it. Their product is probably better than yours: it looks nicer, has better features, and runs faster. And yet they don’t have any users and aren’t making any money off of it. They are not executing well.
Focusing on code development and feature development and polishing your product design is not good execution. It is something that surely needs to be done, but it should be kept to a minimum while you focus on execution. It is entirely probable that most companies that are bad at execution are focusing too much on improving their product.
Execution, to put it simply, is getting people to use the product. That is it. Nothing else matters. Companies that execute well have lots of users. Think about it, can you name a single successful company that doesn’t have users or customers? Good executors focus on gaining users. Bad executors focus on improving their product instead of getting people to use the product. They are putting the cart before the horse.
The very first step in getting people to use your product is to make them aware that your product exists. This is so obvious that many companies forget how important it is and therefore don’t focus on it. They are so busy building and improving and iterating on their product that they forget to let their customers know it is for sale! They don’t market their product at all. Good executors know that this is one of the most important things to focus on, and so they do: they put forth a large percentage of their efforts towards marketing.
The next step in getting people to use your product is to actually get them to sign up for it. Whether that imeans creating an account, signing a contract, or making a purchase depends on what your company is doing. This is commonly called sales and is the very reason that most companies exist: exchange goods and services for money. Good executors make sales. Bad executors don’t. Simple as that.
My personal recommendation, based on my experiences, is that founders and new companies should put about 1/3rd of their efforts towards marketing, 1/3rd of their efforts towards sales, and the rest of their efforts divided up between whatever else that needs to get done. This is a very good ratio of efforts for companies that want to execute well and be successful.
Joe Ryan
Joe is the founder of Creative Ape Studios, a Minneapolis based software development firm that both executes well and builds great software products. From Apps to Investment Algorithms to Websites, Creative Ape will get it done for you so you can focus on execution. Reach out today and lets talk!