Markus Berger-de León
McKinsey commentary
Senior partner
Building a start-up is one of the most difficult things to pull off. But it’s striking from the findings in the survey that when companies follow a specific methodology, there is a clear linkage with success: there’s a recipe, and the data shows that it works. Having this practical guide can be helpful for business leaders, who can often articulate their aspirations well but then have trouble leading the build.
It’s not rare, for example, that in this vacuum, leaders will micromanage the new business team and follow their own tried-and-true practices, which may work well in a corporation but not so much in the start-up world. Or they’ll take too much of a hands-off approach and then be surprised when things aren’t going well. A clear methodology includes a set of hypotheses to validate, a road map, a KPI tracker, and a communications guide—each part of it provides a vital reference point for both the incumbent and the business.