Many of today’s entrepreneurs live by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s now-famous motto: “Move fast and break things.” Zuckerberg intended for this to inform internal design and management processes, but it aptly captures how entrepreneurs regard disruption: more is always better. We raced to put our products into consumers’ hands as fast as possible, without regard for the merit of—and rationale for—offline systems of governance. This is increasingly untenable.
The Era of “Move Fast and Break Things” Is Over
Here’s what that means for VCs and entrepreneurs.
January 22, 2019
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Summary.
Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst argues that the era of “move fast and break things” is over; that in the wake of the Facebook scandal, the public is less tolerant of tech startups that ignore the societal ramifications of their innovations; and that VCs should analyze not only for market size and product viability, but for whether founders show sufficient foresight and concern about the unintended consequences of the ideas they are pursuing. Instead of just “minimum viable products,” today VCs need to screen for “minimum virtuous products.” The author offers eight questions to help VCs identify entrepreneurs who can meet this evolving need.