The SaaS industry does not slow down for anyone. For entrepreneurs, the growing market poses multiple challenges and just as many opportunities while moving forward. Every step leads into more expansive territory. The only thing the industry doesn’t guarantee is certainty. But if you don’t make bold decisions, you’ll be left behind with another opportunity lost.
As a SaaS founder, you are standing on a wave of constant innovation. To keep up with it, it’s time to develop a ‘Bias to Action’.
Choosing Action Every Time
One of Amazon’s core principles is to have a ‘Bias to Action’. They value calculated risk and speedy decision making for growth.
It is always better to turn to action instead of waiting for the right time (which may never come). So when you are faced with a situation where you can either wait and watch, or act, you should choose to make a move. You are at the helm of a growing and dynamic market. So, at every crossroad, your next step should be towards charting out an innovative path.
At the same time, bias to action does not mean moving impulsively for the sake of it. You need to know when to take action, and whether the decisions you are taking are leading you in the right direction.
A Purposeful Focus On Success
Start by visualising the future you intend for your startup. Ask yourself – Is my decision taking me closer to my goal?
When you take action, you should always be looking at improvement, for innovation. A simple shift in mindset may be all you need to gain advantage in the market. Once you start taking purposeful action, your energy can be focused onto the decisions that matter most.
Working towards the growth of your business should be exciting. You have toiled to build a startup and every step forward is a personal victory for you. To feel that joy in moving ahead, your startup also needs to experience a cultural shift in mindset.
Towards an Action-Oriented Workforce
A company is the sum total of the people working there. To truly experience the effects of Bias to Action, it is important for all your employees to shift their mindset. A founder alone cannot make a difference at an organizational level.
Instead, every employee should be able to adopt a bias to action as a personal value they follow while carrying out their role in the company. Employees look up to the actions of their leader. So lead by example. Every time you take a decision with a bias to action, point it out and explain what you did.
Your team should be encouraged to make decisions from that entrepreneurial perspective. To create a safe space for your employees, reward them for the process and not the outcome. Innovation does not come without risks, and setbacks should be met with a learning attitude. Not every decision will work out and your employees should know that that is okay.
In fact, there should be a penalty for not taking action when the opportunity is presented. It is important to keep reiterating why making an active choice is so important so your culture shifts to be more action-oriented.
The ‘40-70 Rule’ of Decision Making
So, how does one know what’s enough information to start acting? After all, there’s a thin line between ‘acting early’ and ‘acting hastily’.
Colin Powell’s ‘40-70 Rule’ is the perfect aid in this decision-making process. While making a decision, you should have no less than 40% and no more than 70% of the information you need to take some action. Don’t take action if you have only enough information to give you less than a 40 percent chance of being right, but don’t wait until you have enough facts to be 100 percent sure, because by then it is almost always too late.
There is no certainty that you’ll always make the right choice. But, you should be able to do a lot more with the limited information that you have. In the end, bias to action is about taking those leaps – aiming for more with what you have.
