How To Win At Business? Make It Boring.

A week ago, I had lunch with my friend Tristan. He is the founder of &Bam, an exciting startup in the men’s health space.

With its innovative model disrupting a hotly contended category, &Bam has been making waves over the past year.

I asked Tristan how it’s going. He laughed and said: “It’s exciting, but sometimes I wish it was a bit more boring.”

This comment may seem counter-intuitive, but it is insightful.

In a world of shiny things, it’s easy to get distracted by the ‘new’. It’s a hard thing to remain focused on the hard things.

Next week, Heavy Chef is hosting the legendary Dion and Bronwyn at our first Heavy Chef entrepreneur event of the year. The stuff they will speak on is certainly not going to be boring. Our panel will unpack the crazy stuff that’s happening around the world right now. Humanity is currently experiencing a host of mind-bending seismic shifts.

Deep learning. CRISPR. Space travel. Robotics. Artificial Intelligence.

AI in particular is going to steal a lot of lunch from the world’s working population. However, as Louis pointed out in Friday’s mailer on Adaptive Intelligence, there are a lot of roles that will stick around.

Plumbers, therapists, hairdressers, teachers, sports coaches, chefs, electricians and many more.

There will be a lot of room for boring businesses too. Car washes. Laundromats. Barber shops. Doctors’ offices. Retail stores. And so on.

It reminded me of a chat I had with Discovery co-founder Barry Swartzberg some years ago. When I asked him for advice for young startup founders, he said, “Whatever you do, just ensure that it’s repeatable.”

A lifetime ago, I was nomimated to be part of the legendary Endeavor programme. I didn’t make it through to the final selection. However, as part of the initial group, I did get to meet some of the advisors. One was Willem Roos, who started OUTsurance. His advice to us: “Business should be simple. Figure out your point of distinction and then advertise the hell out of it.”

In other words, it doesn’t need to be something bleeding edge. It just needs to deliver on a strong promise - a promise that you feel confident to shout from the hilltops.

&Bam has an exciting offering and an exciting team behind it. Tristan and David are working hard to make their business consistent and predictable.

The world is very unpredictable. There are so many curveballs each day, that a business that delivers a strong product, on time, as promised, will stand out.

What can you do to make your business ‘boring’?