– Background – The S:C (Simplicity to Complexity) Ratio
– 80/20 Rule for Products
– Less is More; More is Difficult
– Don’t Think Too Much. Stop Chain-Thinking!
Background – S:C (Simplicity to Complexity) Ratio
Complexity drives me crazy. My philosophy has always been to move as quickly as possible and the only way to do that is to practice the art of keeping things simple.
I have found that if an idea is incredibly complex, it inherently requires more time to develop and is harder to explain to customers, users, partners, employees, etc. And if customers, users, partners and employees have a hard time understanding or explaining the idea, then it will eventually fail. So, don’t kill your idea with complexity.
This “keep it simple” discipline was easy to practice when I was younger. Because I was not tainted by previous experience, everything naturally started out simple. For example, Starting Point’s (Startup 1.0) user interface was very similar to Google’s user interface in the sense that it was a very simple, plain web page that had one search box and a button to search.
As I grow older, I find that it is more difficult to adhere to this discipline. The more I learn, the more I feel compelled to apply ALL of my learning to new projects. Whether it be product development, marketing, sales, negotiating or raising capital, I find myself trying harder to not get bogged down with unnecessary details. Instead, I try to forget everything I know, wipe the slate clean and take a fresh, clear approach to improving the S:C ratio (Simplicity to Complexity). Finding simple solutions for solving complex problems is increasingly more difficult as the complexity increases, but if you achieve a high S:C ratio, it will be exponentially rewarding.
“80/20 Rule for Products”
I believe that 80% of the market will only learn, understand and adopt 20% of the features and functionality in your offering. The remaining 80% of the functionality will address very specific needs for the remaining 20% of the market.
For example, how much of the total functionality of Microsoft Office do you know how to use? What about your friends? Your kids? Your parents?
In general, startup companies that are in emerging markets should be focused on the former — and should worry about the advanced parts of their offering later, when the market matures. At L90 (Startup 3.0), we developed an online advertising product (called adMonitor) that delivered emails and digital advertisements for blue-chip customers such as Microsoft, Visa and AT&T. We developed the product, took it to market and acquired 3,000+ customers in less than 3 years. While our competitors had hundreds of engineers focused on developing more complex bells and whistles, we had a fast-moving, killer team of 12 engineers focused on simplifying our product. We were successful because our product had, by far, the highest S:C ratio. It was quick and easy to set up, had an extremely simple-looking user interface and was very easy to use. Our “keep it simple” strategy enabled us to move faster than our competition, and more importantly, enabled our customers to move faster than their competition.
“Less is More; More is Difficult”
Think about successful products and services such as the iPod, eBay or Google. Their strategy was to provide very minimalist, easy to use products and services. Many of their competitors tried to beat them by developing more feature-rich offerings. Apple, eBay and Google focused on perfecting the core functionality that 80% of the market experiences during every use, while their competitors simply confused their users with more clutter. More complex clutter can also be thought of as “more rope to hang yourself with.”
At StrongMail (my current company, Startup 5.0), using those same principles, we recently launched a product called Message Studio which takes very manual, complex email integrations and workflows and simplifies them with an easy, point and click graphical user interface. The first thing people say when they see it is “wow, that looks so easy.” The reason being is because we took user interface styles that people are generally familiar with already (concepts similar to Microsoft or Apple products) and applied them to what used to be very complex email workflows. As a result, this kind of customer reaction has stimulated rapid growth for our company.
In today’s complex world of technology and buzzwords, simplicity puts the user’s mind at ease, gives it a rest and makes them feel refreshed.
“Don’t Think Too Much. Stop Chain-Thinking!”
Spending too much time over-thinking things will lead to complication. People often spend too much time on the methods and lose site of the results. If you find yourself saying things like “and, we can also…” or “but, what if…” — these are common phrases involved in what I call “chain-thinking” — just stop!
I found the perfect video illustration of what I am talking about. It is a video spoof on what the iPod packaging would look like if Microsoft designed it.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
(The video is less than 3 minutes long, I definitely encourage you to watch it.)
Get your offering in your customers’ and users’ hands as quickly as possible.
Try this:
1. Listen to yourself explain your offering to your user (pay attention to how you describe it – does it sound simple to you?)
2. Watch them use it (do they struggle without your help?)
3. When finished, ask them to explain it to you (does it sound simple when they describe it?)
In general, make sure that your offering is:
– Simple to Understand:
If they can’t understand it, they won’t use or buy it.
– Simple to Use:
The quicker they figure out how to use it, the quicker they’ll buy it and the quicker they’ll be able to show it to others.
– Simple to Promote:
It needs to be easy for other people to explain. You need other people talking about your offering to generate buzz, awareness and scale.
– Simple Looking:
Perception is everything — if it looks easy, then it is. The marketing and the product itself should look simple. You should make it easy for your customers to buy (i.e. no complex contracts or pricing schemes) or adopt (i.e. no complex sign-up processes.)
For more information on this topic, a friend and colleague of mine, Peter Sealey, wrote a book called “Simplicity Marketing.” Peter is an adjunct-professor at Berkeley and Stanford, was the former Chief Marketing Officer of Coca-Cola, President of Columbia Pictures and has been either on the board or has served as an advisor to my past three companies. Peter and I share very similar philosophies on “simplicity” and I believe that his book says it well.
“Keep it Simple” has been my #1 golden rule. I believe it has been the single greatest contributor to the success of all of my companies and their respective products. My next posting will be about the second greatest contributor: “The Kool-Aid Test.”
Next on Deck: The Kool-Aid Test: “Why do I need anything? Why do I need yours? Why do I need it now?”
