How to Make It Big When You’re Small: Mind Over Matter

What’s the difference between hugely successful startups and those that never make it? You might think it was great ideas, but I believe it’s more about mindset.

Here are a few of my favorite company mantras:

• “Done is better than perfect.”
• “Move fast and break things.”
• “Let the customer build the brand.”

All of these philosophies encourage nimble action and engagement over plodding thoroughness and isolationism, and they represent the kind of thinking that goes on at breakthrough brands.

Consider Instagram. In 2010, the company opened with a staff of four, minimal capital, and an audacious vision: to outclass Kodak. Just a year and a half later, Facebook bought the company for $1 billion. Or how about Angry Birds? Created by a small Finnish mobile game development firm in 2009, the smartphone-based battle between animated animals was downloaded more than a billion times in its first three years. There's even a movie based on the game in development.

How do such little companies make such a big impact in a world filled with giant multinational conglomerates? It’s simple: They believe in their ideas and run with them. They don’t wait to make sure every “i” is dotted and every “t” crossed. They get out into the market while the market is ripe for their ideas, and they tweak their products through an interactive process that involves their users — not through years of testing in a lab.

Such methods would never be condoned by the compliance and legal departments of Fortune 100 companies, and that’s why small startups with the right attitudes are often able to make big names for themselves. Here are a few other attributes that can make the difference between success and failure for newcomers going up against the established big boys:

• Courage
• Agility
• Engagement

Let’s start with courage. It’s an attribute that’s essential for making major decisions and taking big risks, but it seems to be in limited supply among major corporations. On the other hand, it’s a hallmark of entrepreneurial firms. Why? Because big companies need board approval to take big steps, and committees aren’t known for their courage.

Next is agility. It’s hard for giants to be nimble, and that’s why they often fall behind when a cool new trend hits the market. Take Lego, for example. Back when I was a kid, I had the awesome opportunity to visit the company’s research lab and drool over the new train that was in development. With great anticipation, I asked when I’d be able to buy it, and I was puzzled to learn it that it’s release was three years off. I wondered how the company could know that far ahead what toys would be in demand, and the answer was, “Because we’re Lego.”

Well, that’s the kind of attitude that eventually sends giants stumbling, which is exactly what happened to Lego just a few years later. The company experienced its greatest-ever drop in sales when computer games became popular, and it took 20 years for Lego to get its act together and cut its research and development cycle to under a year.

Amazon showed a perfect example of customer engagement recently. A parent tweeted their child's wish to be a "fairy panda bear." Amazon's Twitter picked it up and responded to them, asking them to get in touch. A few days later, the child received a package with everything she needed to become the fairy panda bear of her dreams. Kudos to Amazon for being nimble and savvy enough to see the opportunity. 

I often challenge my customers to come up with ways to increase sales without an advertising budget, and that’s when the most creative ideas are born. In companies with money to burn on ad campaigns, that creative engagement can be harder to tap, but it still works.

Procter & Gamble knows this and has put it to work in its disaster assistance endeavors, providing victims of hurricanes and tsunamis free access to washing machines — and free Tide laundry detergent, of course — as well as free Duracells for flashlights, radios and other battery-operated devices that are so critical during long power outages.

In the world of brand marketing, surviving and thriving is more about mindset than money. Remembering that can be the key to your business breaking through to the next level.

About the author:

Martin Lindstrom, a global expert and pioneer in the fields of consumer psychology, marketing, and neuroscientific research, has worked with such brands as McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Nestlé, American Express, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Named one of TIME Magazine’s “World's 100 Most Influential People,” he authored the NY Times and international bestseller "Buyology—Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.” His new book, "Small Data-- The Tiny Clues that Uncover Huge Trends," will be released in February 2016. In November 2015, Martin was honored by Thinkers50 as number 18 of the world's top business thinkers.

Get to know Martin better on Twitter, Facebook or at MartinLindstrom.com