First of all, I confess to have “stolen” the concept for today’s blog from my friend and peer, Afsheen.  Her blog about this has been percolating in my brain for a bit…I have a bit of a love for metaphor, and so I would characterize the thoughts this way, using the natural world as my palette.

So let us look at the adaptation in the wild… the shark, which was a “start-up” thousands of years ago, has survived changing market environments by being extremely good at its initial business focus of eating, etc.  It has developed the tools to survive in multiple environments, chosen a “market” that is very wide (the oceans), and has shown that it is excellent at what it does, and can weather the changes of environment that have extincted other similar species.

In a nutshell, the shark is successful at its business because it stayed with its strengths and honed those skills. It did not become a platypus – who, while a successful start-up in its own right, has a much smaller niche market environment, and clearly tried to be too many things – it holds its market share tenuously, because if the environment shifts too much, it will become extinct (okay it is meant to be a funny example – my apologies to any platypii or platypus lovers who are offended).

Note also, that for the shark, there are competitor species, who are also equally good at what they do, but they are relative “newcomers”.  The Orca (a mammal) does a darned good job of being a predator – shares the same market environment, and for the most part is successful…just a recent arrival on the market – relatively speaking.

Bringing this back to business, and out of metaphor – a start-up can extinct itself by trying to be too many things at once, and losing site of both its market share environment and what it does best.  It doesn’t mean that it cannot be successful in a smaller, niche environment – a boutique offering – or a specific industry vertical.  But it will not be as pervasive or have the brand identity that a business who focuses on it’s primary offering does, at least until that offering has developed a widespread following and established its credibility.

By trying to meet all the requirements of all customers, the start-up can go from being adaptable to being unfocused, and diluting its own potency in the market place.

As in nature, success is a delicate balance between agility, adaptability, skills and luck.