The Power of Being Broke

By Michael Kurley

While running a startup, the primary job of the CEO is to make sure their company always stays afloat–to make sure that in the normal (and not so normal) day-to-day the company can figure out a way to meet each new challenge.

Over the last two years, I have learned something sometimes overlooked, but incredibly valuable. Whenever a company is faced with a challenge that is perceived as insurmountable, it is often the best approach to take a step back and determine if that challenge is really a challenge at all. I know of many large companies that would be fine with throwing money at a problem until it goes away, but this is not a reasonable course of action for a startup. Resources at a startup (financial, human or otherwise) come at a premium, and the ability to be agile and find innovative solutions could mean the difference between life and death.

Whenever a company is faced with a challenge that is perceived as insurmountable, it is often the best approach to take a step back and determine if that challenge is really a challenge at all

This process of evaluating in the midst of hardship has a very potent creative power to it. When we are forced to find a path not often traveled, we sometimes find that the path we were on before was leading us in the wrong direction.

This is certainly true for my company, Soletics.

In reflection, some of the best decisions my team and I have made came in the wake of a lack of funding or other resources—a time when the company was ready (if it could raise it) to spend for the development of something that in hindsight would have been a complete waste of money.

One example came in the winter of 2012, when Soletics, in its infancy, was working to create a solar powered ski jacket that would actively heat specific regions of the body. We had put together a representative prototype, and working with several development firms, had received quotes to turn our prototype into something market testable.

In the grand scheme of things, is your problem really that big, and if so, are there other, more creative ways to resolve it?

At that time, the problem Soletics faced was that of financial resources. We did not have the money to pay for any of the development. This forced the team to consider other options, deconstruct the jacket features into more manageable pieces and determine which feature provided the most benefit. Once we did this, the team learned that the jacket in its current embodiment would not actually have been marketable.

The moral of this goes beyond money. Regardless of whether the problem you face is that of finances, hiring, or getting a big contract, take a step back and give yourself some time to evaluate. In the grand scheme of things, is your problem really that big, and if so, are there other, more creative ways to resolve it?

I would love to hear if you have ever faced a similar situation. Please leave me your thoughts in the comments!

Michael is the CEO and Co-Founder of Soletics, a wearable technology startup based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He is active in the local entrepreneurship community, and enjoys sharing insights and lessons he has learned in the process of turning an idea into a company