Pick Your Battles

I am in deep shit. I have promised the co-founder of W Hub that I would write her an article and I still have not come up with one.
6 hours before deadline. I know what you are thinking. This guy is a procrastinator and he deserves staying up all night to make up for it. The truth is I am no writer. Mind you, I know how to put two words together and I do remember writing a thesis once when I was younger but this is different. This is for a blog. People are actually going to read it. And I am just realizing it now. Shit.  
Well folks, the reason I have accepted to do a piece is because I truly hope it will bring some attention to my startup somehow. Locaclick it is called and we are doing our best to bring you awesome deals 24/7. Locaclick is indeed my baby (an app really) and I have been working on it for quite some time now. I would do whatever it takes to make it successful, including doing the impossible. In this case, becoming a (pseudo) writer for a day.

But there is a lesson in there, kids.

The real question is ‘was it worth my time to spend some good hours writing this article?’. I could have probably put those hours to better use (sleep perhaps?:).

The truth is when you launch a startup you have to pick your battles.

You certainly cannot do everything alas, even if you wanted to. And it would actually be silly for you to always say yes and accept all the (unreasonable) demands the customers are throwing at you… Saying no is the way to go sometimes and trust me, your team will thank you for it and the customers will respect you more for it. Easier said than done… it actually took me 3 years to learn this lesson. Indeed, there is always a constant need to please everyone especially at the beginnings when you have just started something. But that is not how you get approval.

Obviously, I am not saying writing this article was a mistake because it is not.

As a result, I just did not go out today is all (FYI, today is Sunday). Boohoo for me I guess. It is simple math really… what will be the (potential) outcome(s) of my efforts? Launching a startup is already risky enough and a great bet in itself so try and turn all your actions into serious results even if tiny. But they have to mean something; not like the many campaigns I did foolishly for free in the hopes of turning those merchants into partners….  
To be honest, it was an easy decision to say yes. Come on, of course I’ll do it. Anyone would. And what I like the most with articles is that they last. Someone can actually stumble across this article two years from now and it could still help the business. Always think long-term guys!
And since I’ve been given carte blanche to write about anything I want,

allow me to give you my two cents about pitching events.

I did a couple of them a while back and they all left me with a rather unsatisfying feeling. Nobody likes public speaking but that wasn’t why. What I didn’t like was the amount of time spent (weeks really) to preparing for a good 5-minute pitch. Definitely not worth it, in my opinion.

Your time is better spent elsewhere. According to Paul Orlando (co-founder of AcceleratorHK), “pitch events are the fast food restaurants of the startup world. Easy to leave feeling full, but not that nutritious”. Nicely put, Paul.

I invite you all to read his full article here if you’ve got some free time to spare.
That brings me back to my message. It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur, a chef, a bus driver, or a stay-at-home mom; the bottom line is our time is extremely limited. Whatever it is, don’t waste it on some good ‘fake’ ideas (a term I have stolen from the French, apparently some of the most productive people in the entire world. Now I wonder why), tasks that are usually time-consuming and not very rewarding at the end of the day.

Well, I guess I am done here. It was actually quite enjoyable writing these few lines; an element you should always try adding in all the tasks you undertake. Else, why start something?

Written by Michael Wajntal, co-founder of startup LOCACLICK, an app that provides you with cool exclusive deals at your favorite restaurants, spas, gyms and more. To download:
www.app.locaclick.com/michael

Paul’s article:
https://medium.com/@porlando/eradicate-the-startup-pitch-event-dd1a9c714788