What do successful startups do?

They sell. They obviously do a lot more, but if I had to pick one thing from sparring with startups that differentiates the successful from the less successful then it is their focus on selling. Everybody loves developing the idea, but too many are in my book more focused on the “vanity metrics” that allow you to get in front of investors. The user statistics with the exponential uptake. The customer research that “proves” the business case. They may be, but nothing speaks more clearly to investors than actually having sold your product to someone for real money. I have been fortunate enough to spar with Natalka, the co-founder of the “affordable luxury” brand Naledi Copenhagen. The customer list is impressive and includes royalty (Mary and Marie) and a presidential candidate (not Trump :-P) – who all carry the Naledi bags publicly. Furthermore, Naledi has joint fashion events with e.g. Stasia (haut couture dress designer with an even more impressive customer list). The exposure is there, people see them in magazines, the brand should almost sell itself. Except, as a startup, that isn’t how the world works. The retailers do not see you as the same as their existing suppliers, where they know what to expect, how to order and, not least, how to sell their products. And without being in a physical shop, customers don’t “just buy” your $1.000 handbags. So instead of just relying on the media exposure, Natalka instead sees this as an opportunity to build on and personally spends days with the sales reps at the main outlets (the biggest one is the department store Magasin in Copenhagen) to make sure they understand the products, and know how to sell them. Natalka confirms that this has a direct impact on sales – even more so than the exposure of Copenhagen Fashion Week. The success from one sales channel she can take to others such as Farfetch.com. Actual sales is something retailers and investors understand far better than the promise of “we will totally disrupt the industry”. Naledi has outsourced production, but maintained design, branding, quality assurance and running the Naledi online platform. So the scalability is there as needed, also to convince investors…which ironically hasn’t been the case as expansion has been self funded so far. As a startup, you want to be digital, in the cloud, on a scalable platform, a great brand, fun at the office…all of these things. However, in order to truly reap the benefits of all of these things, you need to sell your product.