Source | www.fastcompany.com | Brian Scordato
Nickelodeon GUTS was a truly great TV show. Airing in the mid-90s, it was basically a kids’ version of American Gladiators in which three lucky kids would compete in a series of physical events, earning points for each one they won. These appetizer events led to the main course, the “Aggro Crag,” an enormous, catastrophe-filled obstacle course shaped vaguely like a mountain.
The faster you got up the Crag (as I would’ve abbreviated it had you asked me to tell you all about the show when I was 12), the more points you earned. It was potentially worth more points than any other event on GUTS. But there was a kicker: If you’d already won events leading up to the Crag, speed was less important. You had time to navigate your way safely to the top.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it’s a great analogy for entrepreneurs to keep in mind: Scaling the Crag is you building your product. It’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be a frantic race to the top. The clock is ticking. But you can add time to that clock by nailing the early stuff–customer, problem, market factors.
