Why we all need a Plan D (and why I invested in it)
In what is Mental Health Week, I thought it would be helpful to write how having a Plan D can help all of us… not just startups.
Question: when embarking on a ‘new thing’ be it a project, a new job, or even forming a new business what do you imagine the end result will be?
The normal course of action is to form a romantic image of what success may look like. This then becomes the shining light that you work towards; imaginatively, let’s call this ‘Plan A’.
Starting a new job, Plan A may be to give yourself six months to get into the role, then hit it hard for the following six months, followed by a promotion! For startups the typical Plan A is to achieve venture scale as quick as possible with many romanticising about becoming a Unicorn (billion pound pre-IPO company).
Initially the allure of achieving that Plan A is good. It makes us take risks, it fuels our ambition.
However, ask yourself this question… When was the last time something went according to your Plan A?
For me (and many people/startups I talk to) I can honestly say, things rarely, if ever, go to Plan A!
Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. Quite often plans B, C, etc… can actually turn out into something better, more exciting, taking you on a positive journey you never expected!
In Startup Land people love to call this the pivot, and you can see many great examples of this from Slack, to Uber to AirBnB. What they are now is not what they were initially intended to be.
However, these success stories hide a graveyard of many failed endeavours alongside the bones of emotional and mental health challenges many are left with.
I’ve been quite open about the challenges I faced as a sole founder running Motivii, and many people I talk to have been in the same boat. Quite often you can feel that you have exhausted all your plans, with nowhere left to turn to. Trust me… this is never the case!
Let me share with you the process that helped me form my Plan D:
- Get clarity — I first had to think clearly and honestly about where I and the business was. Almost remove the romantic idea of where I wanted it to be, and actually understand the reality of where I was.
- Consider all options — what did I really want, what was the minimum I would accept, was this realistic and could I actually go through with it?
- Form a Plan D — this is where my Plan D crystallised. Something that I could take action on now, goodbye procrastination, hello win!
The key thing in the above process and I can’t emphasise this enough is that you need to talk to people you trust at each of the three stages in order to form that robust Plan D.
I was fortunate enough using the Motivii example to have some amazing people to help me understand my options. Special thanks (in no particular order) to Darryl Bowman, Eamonn Carey, Ed Dowding, Phoebe Hugh, Evgeny Shadchnev, Henry Mason, Georgina Harding, Will Barlow, Charlie Carpenter, Michael Edelstein, Karl Weaver, Neil Jones, William Jameson, Rufus Pearl
Talking to Rufus early in 2020 he was in the early stages of forming an idea to help founders when things haven’t gone to plan. He connected me with some amazing people and also opened up on some options that I didn’t even know existed.
He consolidated this business idea into a new venture, not surprisingly calling it PlanD, which I of course invested in!
Ultimately, the learning I found here is never to feel that you have nowhere to turn. It’s OK when Plan A does not work, they rarely do. Talk to people you trust or to people recommended and explore and invest in your own Plan D.
Check out PlanD.co
