In my previous life, the one where I didn't work for a growing startup, "good enough" was a statement of submission, a phrase used by the quitter and the unaspiring. It certainly wasn't the mantra of the winner or the battle cry of success. I was always ashamed to dismiss an effort as "good enough" even if I truly believed it was good enough.
And then, welcome to the life of the practical! An existence where "good enough" is not only accepted, but enocouraged. It seems no one understands the philosophy of "good enough" quite as well as the entrepreneur (except maybe the U.S. Marine Corp, but more on that later), because without it a startup never gets off the ground. If the "perfect" startup does get off the ground, like the infamous online grocer WebVan, which raised $375 million making it the second most funded e-tailer of all time, it loses all agility and can't change its strategy in response to market realities. It may not have been as obvious to Louis Borders as it was to the rest of the world that guaranteeing a 30 minute delivery window and trying to efficiently stock fresh produce was unprofitable, but he could have at least tested a "good enough" strategy before ordering a billion dollars worth of infrastructure.
Just ask Frank Cheng, Indiana entrepreneur and CEO of OBS Medical, how he expects his emerging business to compete with the big guys. (of if he's unavailable, just watch his video)
I still find it hard to disassociate "good enough" from its negative connotation, even if I do believe in its philosophy, so I offer you another phrase from the U.S. Marine Corp: the 70% solution. Take this bit of advice from a fantastic Forbes article on the management wisdom of the Marines:
How often do we admire an entrepreneur's ability to just pick a direction and run with it? I believe it's their most distinctive quality.
