They key to any successful start up or project is your teams overall velocity.

I’m not talking about sprint points or story planning or any of that agile project management stuff. I’m talking about moving forward with goals and deadlines and keeping the ship moving across the water. Developing the product, customer retention, customer acquisition, pipeline funnel optimization, spilt testing, etc.

If you and your team don’t keep your projects velocity at a consistent rate you’re destine to sink and the project and its idea will go with it. AKA: Your company will fail.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Watch this video of an ATV hydroplaning over a lake (yes, I’m serious, do it):

I’ve seen this stuff in person, its real. The ATV is your team and your project. When the velocity is good and fast you’re moving towards your next destination (the land). If you get there, good. If you slow down, you sink and the project is done. You can also sink once on land. If you get off the ATV and walk away, you’re leaving the project to slowly wither away and rot. This can happen when teams have key members leave. At that point the waters get real rough because an unknown future has suddenly come to fruition and doubt starts to creep in. The thing to remember is that you need to keep the velocity going at all costs. It may slow down a bit, but you must keep the project moving forward. You may have run into a roadblock during development and you get depressed or realize the competition has beat you to the punch, whatever, but you must keep the project moving forward. You may run low on money and have to cut back your hours so you can do some consulting. Thats ok, but you must keep the project moving forward regardless. Bring on more help, offer equity to new members/etc. At all costs you must keep the project moving forward.

Because if you don’t keep keep the project moving forward … the project will fail.