Make a Game You Can Win: why 3x growth isn't a failure
Chris Savage of Wistia talks about the slow start to their now 19 year old company, why 3x growth felt like a failure, and how to play a game you can actually win.
Chris Savage and his cofounder have been building Wistia for nineteen years. When they launched their webinar platform a few years back, two customers tried it the first month. Then they churned. The next month, four customers tried it and also churned. He says this looks like failure, but it depends on what you hear back. Crickets mean it's dead. Feedback, even negative feedback, means people care enough to talk to you. And that means you're on the right path.
Chris has felt the pressure of ridiculous expectations. He told me about a time he called 3x growth a failure because he'd wanted 10x. He calls that kind of thinking a self inflicted wound. Most companies aren't going to hit the venture capital jackpot, that whole triple triple double double thing. He says you have to define a game you can actually win instead of playing one designed for someone else's portfolio.
About ten years in, Chris and his cofounder almost sold Wistia. They were working around the clock, running at a loss, and just not having fun. When they realized they'd just rebuild Wistia if they sold it, they decided to fix the business instead. The fix was to pretend they'd already sold it, which meant taking real vacations and delegating more. He compares stress to working out. You need recovery to get stronger.
“You have to reframe the rules so that you can play a game that you can actually win.”
Notes
- When Wistia launched its webinar product, only two customers tried it the first month, and they both churned.
- He once considered 3x growth a failure because his self inflicted expectation was 10x.
- After nearly selling Wistia, he adopted a new mindset: pretend he'd already sold the business, which led him to take real vacations and delegate more.
- He works out every day, believing that managing physical stress increases his capacity for mental and emotional stress at work.