Easier Said Than Done - Allo (BeeCanvas)
“Notion almost died in 2015. We were building a product that we thought was cool — not a product that people needed. Our mission was (and still is) to give people the tools to customize their own software, but there was something missing. So my co-founder and I went back to the drawing board.”
- Excerpt from a Notion e-mail newsletter
As obvious as it may seem, this is one of the hardest lessons to learn as a founder – if a business is to grow and succeed, it must serve its users/customers’ needs first and foremost. Alas, even the renowned Notion made this mistake early on in its journey to prominence. The e-mail goes on to detail that it’s destiny changed once the company put priority focus on its user community’s needs, constantly building enhancements and updates in response to feedback.
I had a chat over coffee yesterday with Raymond, the CEO of our portfolio company BeeCanvas (read more about BeeCanvas and its SaaS collaboration tool Allo here). The in-depth discussion of the company’s path ahead led me to notice the Notion e-mail and quote this morning amidst the daily spam. It served as a reminder that, while Allo’s recent major upgrades were driven by their overall ambition and vision (as opposed to unsatisfied users), their wherewithal to drastically reframe their approach and execute on it resonates with the magnitude of Notion’s critical turning point. For this, I am genuinely impressed and am steadfastly cheering them on.
With respect to tactics to beat out the competition, a startup can engage in a head-on approach (battle to the death!) or it can transform their frame of approach. In a head-to-head strategy, a startup can try to build and execute a better product with the same features and functions as competitors, but this is often an insurmountable task akin to David staring down Goliath on the battlefield. On the other hand, framing a differentiated and innovative strategy requires creativity and has its fair share of pitfalls, especially in the absence of proper insight and execution. On that battlefield small, agile startups have the ability and opportunity to adjust their strategic framework, innovate, and execute, but their chances of success lie in their utmost execution capability and speed.
Fortunately, the Allo team navigated this framework shift and approach based on the deep insight it has obtained through the past few years of immersive experience in Silicon Valley, and we fully believe that they have the capacity to effectively execute their strategy.
While details are forthcoming, Ascendo Ventures, too, continues to grow and is reframing its approach to startup investment this year. With all of our portfolio companies, we hope to continually “Ascend” together and build a better future. Please join us along this journey!
