I attended Collision with Scott last week – an action-packed conference brimming with interesting start-ups, investors, and media relations folks in Downtown Vegas. Paddy is the force behind the global gathering of tech enthusiasts and a force he is – growing the conference from 800 last year to 8000 this year. 6SensorLabs caught up with old friends, classmates, and investors and branched out to meet some really interesting people.
Chatting with investors and entrepreneurs alike, I started to pick-up on an interesting nuance: the use of If vs. When as people discussed start-ups. The investors landed on If. If this wireless technology is created, and created soon, it will massively impact the way we operate. If this algorithm can actually extract all the data from the website in a structured format then the data science implications are incredible. If your portable allergen sensor actually works, then it will be a game-changing concept.
The entrepreneurs were different. It’s not about if. It’s about when. When the team is hired, when the beta units are out, when the presale campaign is a home run, when the product is shipped, when you start to see your product in the wild…
I think about Fitbit. I think about the foam model that transformed into a mass appeal consumer product that’s going public soon. How do you go from foam model to a public company? You are focused on when. The When mentality knocks down barriers that seem insurmountable to anyone on the outside. The “when” mentality can be an obsession. I think it has to be an obsession.
Good investors are in the If mindset during diligence. They should be critical and skeptical. They should look at data to shape their own assumptions and intuition about the team, product, market and product market fit. But, as soon as a dollar is invested, our best investors start talking like the entrepreneurs. They are bought into the singular vision of product realization and help you pave the path to get there.
We are lucky. We have a group of When thinkers invested in this vision and working on Nima. The When is further fueled by the thousands who send us notes of appreciation and encouragement for the work we are doing which will change lives. The When is strengthened by successful product testing, by restaurant dish testing data that validates the need for this product, by the hordes of talented people who want to join the team.
When we get Nima to you, it’s going to change your life. When you are able to know what’s in your food, you will eat with confidence and stay health. When I see a stranger using Nima in a restaurant, I am definitely going to visibly freak out.