I listening to Gordon Lord at a breakfast talk at Birmingham Science Park, he asked the question : Is it more important to have Direction or Momentum? He stated in his view it was momentum, and as a coach he could develop someone’s direction if they was moving forward. However no momentum is hard to direct.

This got me thinking about business and my own startups. Sometimes its difficult to see if we have any direction and the momentum is all but gone from our sails. Being in a start-up is about getting thousands of things done to achieve one step forward. Sometimes in the dark.

I have always looked at developing businesses which could be faster than others in the market. Software is very hard to patent and therefore the fastest product to market with an innovation gains some market share, do this over an over again and this generates a loyalty, a brand loyalty which many companies would only dream of. It also forces me and my business, to constantly innovate the technology, business model and also the customer proposition. This also ensure we are lean and mindful of our competition.

To do this, I think of my products as they were t-shirts, when every T-shirt is made of the same cloth, but its about the design and how that design gains empathy with the buyer. Why would want to sell only one t-shirt to a person? No one (very little people, anyway) buys the same t-shirt twice, so you must be constantly designing new designs, understanding you target demographic, the up coming trends and hype which you can use to ensure your products benefit from the free marketing and attraction. The portfolio of design capture a market presence which attract browsers, then buyers who virally market your products by simply wearing your t-shirts.

No business knows the direction these trends will take them. Being on trend with a large enough market is the only important factor that ensures growth and success in the t-shirt business.  It’s a design numbers game.

So I have spent the first six months of 2012, getting a business with no direction and no momentum (a bootstrapped start-up) to a place where it has we have 10 brilliant people creating, new game titles, new brands, building associated products and services which people throughout the world will play, interact and engage with for many years to come.

Now all I need is a little more momentum towards the direction of launching one of our titles for me to say we finally have true business momentum. I guess then we can look at the direction travelled and ask if we need to pivot.