All I Really Need to Know About Startups I learned from D&D, Part I
Like many others that somehow stumbled into the technology business, I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as a kid.
In D&D, one of the things that you do when creating your character is roll dice to determine the physical and mental capabilities of your character, based upon six attributes. To do this, you roll a six-sided die (i.e. 1/2 of a pair of plain ‘ol dice) 3X, yielding a score between 3-18. In this way, you’re essentially playing craps at the Genetics Casino, and your character turns out to be the winner or loser. The attributes are:
- Strength
- Intelligence
- Wisdom
- Dexterity
- Constitution
- Charisma
Even though I haven’t played in over 20 years, it just dawned on me the other day that you could evaluate a startup using these same six criteria. Plus, a startup is already somewhat of a roll of the dice to begin with. So, here is a walkthrough of the six character attributes from D&D, and how I see them mapping to the characteristics of a startup:
- Strength: In the game, this refers to the physical strength of your characters. In a startup, Strength is the “bang-for-the-buck” that your product/service delivers. A strong offering can go so far as to alter the very market in which it competes. A weak offering wilts to death quietly in the corner, unnoticed by the marketplace. In both cases, Strength helps open doors.
- Intelligence:
In the game, this refers to the raw intellect that your character possesses. In the startup world, this refers to how well your company understands the problem that you are addressing and the markets that you serve. - Wisdom: In the game, Wisdom measures your character’s insight and perceptiveness. In the startup world, this refers to your ability to make sound judgement calls. In particular, I believe that startup Wisdom is all about picking the right problem to try to solve. Set your sights too big, and you end up trying to “boil the ocean” in vain, such as having a grandiose mission to fundamentally change the way people shop for gasoline. Set your sights too small, and you end up niche-ing yourself to death, such as aspiring to be South Dakota’s leading source for Officially Licensed Leonard Part 6 merchandise.Those problems that are “Big enough to be interesting, but small enough to be successful” are the domain of the wise entrepreneur.
- Dexterity: In the game, Dexterity is a measurement of your fine motor skills. This comes in handy when dodging arrows or picking locks. In a startup, Dexterity is a measure of your ability to adapt to change, as dictated by your customers, competitors, or in some cases, your better judgement.
- Constitution: In the game, this refers to the health and vitality of your character, and it contributes to the amount of beatdown that your character can sustain before assuming room temperature (i.e. running out of Hit Points). In startups, Constitution refers to your ability to repeatedly take on challenges and overcome adversity in a sustainable fashion. While financial health is the obvious analogy in startup land, I also believe that the robustness of the founders’ relationship is the other key aspect of having a healthy startup constitution.
- Charisma: In the game, this refers to the physical attractiveness and persuasiveness of your character. Characters with strong charisma are better leaders, and can influence fellow travellers, townspeople, and even some adversaries. In a startup, the firm’s measure of Charisma is not solely on the shoulders of shiny fast-talking sales folk, as there aren’t enough Herb Tarleks to go around (be thankful for the small things in life). Rather, the Charisma of your startup is also measured by the attractiveness of your message, the attention to detail in your product/service, and the polish and consistency of your marketing collateral. Oh, and having a decent looking and informative web presence ain’t a bad idea, either.
The nice thing about this model is that it provides a handy list of characteristics that are somewhat familiar to a decent number of people (particularly in the technology space), as the game has been around for decades. I don’t think that it’s too much of a stretch to say that these attributes, given the proper mapping from role-playing game to business, could be used to drive a MECE-esque qualitative analysis of a startup.
Tune in next time, and we’ll take a look at a couple of hypothetical startups, and see how they’d stack up in D&D-speak.