An important piece to building in public is transparency. Of course it’s natural to want to share the highlight reels. Whether it’s a curated personal social feed, a business profile on LinkedIn or website content, it’s easy to share the good. Rough patches or forks-in-the-road present unknowns. Posting them for the world to know can be uncomfortable, particularly in business. But if you’re aiming for authenticity and #buildinginpublic, with all the good, also comes challenges.
Acknowledging and learning from detours or pauses that arise in business, particularly a start-up, takes a good helping of patience and generous pairing of commitment and vision. It’s a balancing act. Over the past couple of months we’ve been met with the unexpected here at Awesome API.
A Change in Leadership
Our Managing Partner, Stephen Lytle has left us, and we wish him the very best. In his absence we have been left with unique and interesting opportunity ourselves. In a similar position, most start-ups would have to scramble to find a replacement, but as a Lincoln Labs company, we’ve been able to easily lean on others to keep AAPI moving forward, experimenting, and reevaluating without finding an immediate replacement. Instead of being discouraged, we’ve used this time as an opportunity to “play in the sandbox,” so to speak.
Yes, we’ve looked at what’s working and what could improve. Beyond that though, we’ve given the product and the direction of the brand space to see what the best next step may be. Maybe you’ve encountered situations like this before? You’re focused on a direction or a particular outcome, and while focus and perseverance are positive attributes, at the same time it can obscure the potential of other opportunities. This “pause in the sandbox” wasn’t a stoppage of work, it was actually quite the opposite. It was more a time that opened up our perspective. It encouraged us to innovate further, reflecting and refining the product and the team.
Our full direction and focus is still evolving but we’re energized by the awesome offerings we’re bringing to clients and the industry.
Encountering a reroute, or time that feels like you’re stuck in neutral can be difficult to navigate, particularly in a culture of hustle and hype. Instead of fighting it or forcing it, embrace it and see what you can learn from it. There are lessons in every situation and circumstance.
“Innovation distinguishes between the leader and the follower.”
Steve Jobs
Fitting because our corporate culture is built from leaders. This is why we can see one leader’s departure as an opportunity for others to shine and our product to evolve.