Forget Outcomes. Focus on Inputs

Early-stage founders fall into the same trap.

They set output goals:

– "Close 10 customers"

– "Hit $20K MRR"

But here’s the hard truth:

You don’t control outcomes at the beginning of your startup project.

Especially when you're just starting out and you're not even sure what works yet.

At the beginning, everything is a hypothesis.

• Who your customer is.
• What they really want.
• How to reach them.
• What makes them convert.

And guess what? You’re probably wrong on most of it.

So instead of obsessing over the end result, focus on inputs. The things you can control.

You don’t need a 20% close rate.

You need ONE more customer.

You don’t need a scalable growth engine.

You need to start conversations.

Here’s how to evaluate your progress:

• Did you reach out to 20+ prospects today?
• Did you follow up on every open thread?
• Did you create content that earns attention?
• Did you spend 80% of your time on sales, not ops?

Those are real metrics.

Track relevant effort. Not what you are supposed to do as a CEO of a startup. Because your startup needs more customers, that’s it. Everything is 100x easier when you have real sales traction.

Trust that enough of the right inputs will drive the outputs.

Last week, I asked a founder why he wasn’t closing deals. He showed me his CRM. I asked, 'How many people did you reach out to this week?' He said, “Two.” That’s the problem.”

Remember: Before you optimize, you have to validate. You have to maximize every input that you trust will generate output.

Until then, it's just noise.

Stay pragmatic. Stay ambitious.

- Guillaume