During my formative years early in my career, I had the privilege of working at SpaceX during what can only be described as a period of explosive growth. After moving around to many organizations before and since, I can say with confidence that SpaceX is a unique company that has a lot to teach small businesses about growth, an engineering mindset, and success. Although most of us will not be launching rockets into space, there are many lessons that small businesses can learn from SpaceX's success. Here are 5 key takeaways:
- Mission-Oriented Products
- Iterative Development
- Extreme Ownership
- Selective Hiring
- Urgency
1. Mission-Oriented Products
In months- and years-long projects, it can be easy to lose sight of the end goal. During the day-to-day slog, losing the forest for the trees is an ever-easy temptation. Why not build this new feature or introduce a new dish? What harm does a small detour do?
Every day when I work on my own projects, it's tempting to perfect every feature and automate every task. I could spend months on a single feature that could make my product perfect. But SpaceX taught me that the most important thing is to remember the mission. What is the end goal? What is the most important thing that needs to be done to achieve that goal? Everything else is secondary.
For small businesses with limited resources, you simply can't spend millions of dollars or hours perfecting a problem. Unless you have millions in backing by the most understanding of venture capital, you must focus on what's important. Whether it's opening a restaurant, releasing a software product, or setting up a shipping network, the most important thing is to remember the end goal. What is the most important thing that needs to be done to achieve that goal? Everything else is secondary.
2. Iterative Development
SpaceX is famous for its iterative development process. Rather than spending billions of dollars perfecting Starship, they have launched and crashed dozens of prototypes. Though the fireballs and explosions seemed to be hallmarks of failure, the cost of testing systems in flight was actually cheaper than trying to simulate them on the ground. This is a key part of SpaceX's success: iterate quickly, fail fast, and learn from your mistakes.
Our company strives to do the same. Whenever we release a new product or feature, our development and customer support teams work closely together to get feedback from customers. Oftentimes, engineers are directly assigned tickets to fix bugs or make changes based on customer feedback. Since we aren't the end users, it's important to get feedback from the people who are actually using the product.
All companies, big and small, can benefit from an iterative development process. Restaurants can release new menu items and get feedback from customers. Software companies can release new features and get feedback from users. Shipping companies can release new routes and get feedback from drivers. The key is to fail fast and learn quickly.
3. Extreme Ownership
One of the most astounding things about SpaceX is the level of ownership that employees take over their work. When I was at SpaceX, I was amazed at how much responsibility was given to individual engineers. Engineers were nearly fanatical about their work and took pride in every line of code written or part installed. Engineers, managers, and executives were all obsessive over their work and took pride in every line of code written or part installed.
Our company adopts the same philosophy. We encourage our employees to take ownership of their work and take pride in what they do. Regardless of the time of day, we expect our employees to fully "own" the products they work on and take responsibility for their success or failure. We want to treat every product as if it were our own life's work.
Small business owners need to instill this ethic in themselves and their employees. It's not just about working cooperatively towards a common goal; people need to feel that they are personally responsible for steering the ship to shore. This is especially important for small businesses where every person's contribution is critical to the success of the company.
4. Selective Hiring
SpaceX is known for its rigorous hiring process. They only hire the best of the best and have high expectations for their employees. Even for seemingly simple roles, they would rather pass on an okay engineer than hire a bad one. This is because SpaceX knows that every person they hire is critical to the success of the company, even as the company gets bigger.
Small businesses must remain similarly selective, especially when the temptation to grow quickly is high. It is much better to be short-staffed with a team of all-stars than wasting time and effort on a bad hire. They screen candidates not only on technical skills but also on their ability to work in a team, their passion for the mission, and their ability to take ownership of their work.
5. Urgency
SpaceX instills a sense of urgency in everything they do. When I was at SpaceX, the time between the beginning of a project and launch was truly astounding. Deadlines were tight and launch dates were incredibly tight. Importantly, each person felt like their work being completed was mission-critical to the success of the company and mission.
Small businesses need to avoid the temptation to relax after success. It's easy to get complacent after a successful product launch or a successful quarter. But successful companies are always paranoid about the future and always looking for ways to improve. Only when people feel a sense of urgency will they be motivated to work hard and succeed.
Conclusion
My time at SpaceX was instrumental in shaping my career and my approach to work. I learned many valuable lessons that I have carried with me to my own company. Although our payroll product will likely not be requiring any orbital components, I believe that the lessons I learned at SpaceX can be applied to any small business. By focusing on the mission, iterating quickly, taking ownership, hiring selectively, and instilling a sense of urgency, small businesses can achieve success and grow quickly.
