management, time-management, leadershipI keep reading advice that if you want to make it you need to focus on one idea and let go of the rest. This way you can devote all your energy towards one goal and the chances of success increase dramatically. This sounds very nice and logical, however I feel like I could pursue two ideas at the same time.
Reading stories like Elon Musk is CEO of 2 companies definitely makes me think about how good those advice really are.
Should I go for it?
Depends on your situation.
Yes, Elon Musk is heavily involved in multiple companies. But he was a multi-millionaire before he got involved with those companies (and remember he didn’t found Tesla, he was a series A investor and didn’t become CEO until 2008). Companies that have now have many thousands of employees. Musk has a lot of resources to hand to deal with the day-to-day tasks, leaving him free to focus on strategy. Musk isn’t trying to “make it” — he’s made it. Long before he was involved in Tesla & Space X.
That’s not the typical situation for the average startup.
There you have very limited resources. Time, money and people. If you split those over multiple projects, then you reduce the chances of any one of those projects succeeding.
It sometimes makes sense to explore multiple assumptions at the same time, because making the wrong bet and having to back-track and start again can be more expensive than exploring two options at the same time. But that’s something where you’re very explicitly weighing costs and benefits — not a generally “good idea”.
To switch back to Musk — if you look at his early career you’ll see him focusing on one project at a time, and using successes to roll on to further work (Zip2 -> X.com -> PayPal).
Work on multiple companies simultaneously.
I personally think it’s unrealistic to only focus on one company at a time. The formal term for focusing on multiple things at once is called “portfolio diversification.” My grandmother called it: “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.”
Think of each company as a small bet. You are betting your time that the company will be a success. Most companies/startups fail. Therefore, you increase your odds of one paying off when you spread your bets around.
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