Entrepreneurs Collapse The Wave Function

I’ve come to a satisfying analogy when it comes to an important core-skill of entrepreneurs.  True entrepreneurs collapse the wave function.

I am a physicist by training.  But long before I ever studied Physics at the University of Leeds I was gripped by quantum mechanics.  The picture of the world painted by quantum mechanics, and verified to incredible levels of precision, is famously counter-intuitive.

In quantum mechanics everything exists in all possible states at the same time.  One represents everything, even the reader, by a “wave function” which takes into account all of these possible states.  It’s only when one takes a measurement that anything takes on a single observable value.  This observation itself “collapses the wave function” from a particle being in all possible states simultaneously into being in one specific observable state.  The example ofSchrodinger’s cat is often trotted out here, the poor beast trapped in a box, subjected to a random event that can either kill or not kill the cat, causing it to exist in a peculiar limbo until the box is open and the dead/notdead cat is observed.



As we work on the rapid iteration of AppWhirl, in six broad cycles making up two core themes - optimizing for virality and optimizing for economics - it occurs to me just how much uncertainty entrepreneurs juggle with.  I have to manage this complex picture when presenting to prospective investors.  The further out one goes in the strategic plan, the more uncertainty there is, because with so much uncertainty there are many many branching points in the decision tree.  This leads to quasi-chaotic levels of uncertainty.

Non-entrepreneurs, coming into start-ups from the safer environs of “big-corporate” are often paralyzed by this.

Again I use a physicists understanding of the word chaotic - as in complex systems.  And in complex systems there are still often broad patterns.  Chaotic is not the same as random.  It’s these patterns those much-maligned VCs attempt to discern from the countless pitches they endure day-in day-out.  More importantly true entrepreneurs have vision, they see these patterns, identify the trend lines, ride on the tides of the future.  This is why it is so important for an entrepreneur to have big picture view, a deep understanding of where the space in which they are iterating is going.

One thing that concerns me about some folks practicing the “lean startup” approach, as we are at AppWhirl, is they seem to conflate lean startup with small ideas.  FNACs.  Lean startup doesn’t mean small vision.   It is merely a set of techniques and methods to manage the uncertainty and de-risk the business prior to ramping for scale.  Identify the product/market fit using rapid iteration and robust customer development.  Where appropriate focus on the viral coefficient and generating a viral feedback loop.  Ensure your economics work - first in principle, then in practice, finally at scale.

As one looks out to the future, and how one’s product will impact the market… as we look out from AppWhirl at how our vision can change the world, disrupt a multi-billion dollar industry, and build a company that truly matters on a global scale… the further out one looks from today the fuzzier the details of that future are.  The wave function that represents the evolution of the company stretches out.  I can see where it goes, broadly.  M y job as an entrepreneur, as founder & CEO, is to keep options open through cycles of iteration.  Don’t assume I am smarter than the market and instead listen to what customers are saying.  But when the time is right it falls to me to collapse that wave function.  Fast.  To make  a decision.  To settle on one path to the future for one particular milestone.  Then to start all over again.  Make sure my feet are still firmly on the ground then look ahead again, where once more the uncertain, fuzzy path reaches out to the horizon.

Employees and investors are not subatomic quantum particles.  They need to exist with a degree of certainty in order to gain confidence in your vision and your ability to deliver on it.  Don’t sweat the decisions you’ve made.  Look up and see how many more are in front of you on the tree of possible options.  If you don’t get one right the opportunity will be ahead to course correct.

But you cannot keep all  your options open forever.  You have to make your path.  You must keep collapsing the wave function.

It is what makes life what it is.