Fashion to Figure is a very small retailer that recently learned how to apply The Phoenix Principle the hard way (see full story).
When founded, the hard working Harvard MBA behind this start-up locked-in on what he thought he would need for success. Unfortunately, he was so locked into his business plan that even after he obtained seed funding he lost 9 months trying to open his first store. He kept trying to perfect his execution plan. And his investor walked.
But his investor finally got the founder to wake up, and now he realizes "the biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s not getting everything right as much as fixing the things you get wrong." For this young fellow it took the Challenge of losing his seed money to Disrupt his approach (taught at B-School) and get himself into White Space.
Markets are dynamic. Entrepreneurs jump in because they see opportunities that existing competitors leave available. But capitalizing on an opportunity is not about hard execution of guesses made in the business plan. Execution focus leads to Lock-In and failure. Start-up companies live in White Space, where versatility and agility are requirements for creating a Success Formula which will lead them into the Rapids.
