Start Your Project

When you start anything new, there are forces pulling you in a variety of directions. There's the stuff you could do, the stuff you want to do, and the stuff you have to do. The stuff you have to do is where you should begin. 

Start at the epicenter.

For example, if you're opening a hot dog stand, you could worry about the condiments, the cart, the name, the decoration. But the first thing you should worry about is the hot dog. The hot dogs are the epicenter. Everything else is secondary.

The way to find the epicenter is to ask yourself this question: "If I took this away, would what I'm selling still exist?" A hot dog stand isn't a hot dog stand without the hot dogs. You can take away the onions, the relish, the mustard, etc. Some people may not like your toppings-less dogs, but you'd still have a hot dog stand. But you simply cannot have a hot dog stand without any hot dogs.

And this is as true for software as it is for hot dogs.

It’s easy to get swept up in the details when there’s no incremental cost. If tweaking the colors on your landing page is free, why not experiment? But it’s not free. There is a cost with these actions…your time and your attention. Two things young startups cannot afford to spare.

Which part of your equation can't be removed, your app or your landing page? If you can continue to get by without this thing or that thing, then those things aren't the epicenter. 

This is the approach we took to build Basecamp. We didn’t start with a flashy website or highly-produced demo videos. We needed a place to stash all of our work - the docs, the chats, the to-dos, the schedules - so, every ounce of our energy went into building the absolute best project management software we knew how to build.

Once we (and more importantly, our users) were happy with the software, then we started playing around with all the other stuff to improve our brand, conversion rate, etc. But not one second prior. 

If you’re working on something new, start by finding your epicenter. And once you do, focus all your energy on making it the best it can be.

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P.S. - If you want help focusing on the work that matters, be sure to give Basecamp a try by taking 90 seconds to sign up today