The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

By Bryan Watson

The perfect is the enemy of the good. – Voltaire

Far from a sanction of shoddy work, or an excuse not to think things through, Voltaire makes an excellent point that all start-ups should pay heed to. Attaining perfection, be it in a technology or a business plan, becomes infinitely more difficult as you get closer to achieving it.

There comes a time in every start-up’s life where the CEO must decide that the technology is good enough for the market and the business plan significantly addresses the majority of the issues he is likely to face.

At that time the CEO has a choice:

1. Tweak and tune the technology or business plan alone in the basement to make it ‘perfect’ (something I would argue you will never achieve that way anyway…); or
2. Get out there, sell, get the market validation a company needs to grow, integrate customer feedback as you grow.

At some point every would-be entrepreneur must decide to jump into business and make a go of it – and potentially fail. Working to perfect a business plan or technology is the deceptively safe alternative. Why deceptively? Because, in the end, all you have is the unrealised down-side of opportunity cost. I have seen a number of people fall into this trap. Don’t let it happen to you. Get out there, even if what you have isn’t perfect, it might just be good enough to start a killer business.

Angel Summit

Canada is at a crossroads, having to immediately restore employment and economic confidence, while also building the knowledge-based industries that represent our future prosperity.  NACO is working diligently to satisfy these policy objectives by stimulating Angel investment activity throughout the country.

In a continued effort to rev the Engine for Commercialization in Canada, the National Angel Capital Organization will be hosting the 9th Annual National Angel Summit in Toronto, ON on October 14th and 15th. As with previous Summits, this year’s event will bring together Angels from acrosss Canada, US, and abroad to discuss the state of Angel investing and share best practices and network.

Previous Summits have given rise to new initiatives and drawn national attention towards Angel investing.  This year’s event will continue to elevate the importance and necessity of Angel investing in Canada (and abroad) while hosting the premier networking and educational event for Angels in Canada. Visit Angel Summit for details.

Throughout his career, both in Canada and the UK, Bryan J. Watson has been a champion of entrepreneurship as a vector for the commercialization of advanced technologies. Upon his return to Canada in 2004, Bryan established his venture development consulting practice to help emerging-growth companies overcome the barriers to success they face in the Canadian commercialization ecosystem.  Visit Bryan’s blog and the National Angel Capital Organization.