Focus on the monkey

This is the first in a series on applying lessons from startups to other domains. 

At GoogleX, there’s a saying: focus on the monkey, not the pedestal. Solve the hard problem first. If you want a monkey to recite Shakespeare on a pedestal, should you spend more time training the monkey or building the pedestal? The answer seems obvious. Train the monkey. But when starting a company, identifying the “monkey” isn’t so simple. Success requires a product people are willing to pay for (product–market fit, or PMF) and a way to reach them (go-to-market, or GTM). So which one is the monkey, PMF or GTM? 

The success of Listerine is an instructive case study. Originally developed in 1879 as a surgical antiseptic, Listerine was later pitched to dentists for oral care and became the first over-the-counter mouthwash in the US. For decades it was marketed for everything from gonorrhea and sore throats to dandruff and even cleaning floors. But sales struggled. Then in the 1920s, Listerine was repositioned as a cure for “chronic halitosis,” also known as bad breath. By framing it as a medical condition, the product shifted from a nice-to-have to a necessity. Ads played on social fears, warning that bad breath could prevent people from finding love. Within seven years, annual sales rose over 50x from $115,000 to north of $8 million. Same product, new GTM, exponential growth.

I learned a similar lesson the hard way with my startup. While running for my local school board, I discovered a “novel” campaign strategy using friend-to-friend outreach. Despite being outspent 30:1, we won the race. We turned those insights into a product that spread to thousands of campaigns nationwide. While the business was profitable, without an effective GTM strategy, growth stalled. 

Our initial plan incorporated a two-pronged approach: create a viral loop with campaigns referring other campaigns and sell through political consultants. Unfortunately, campaigns rarely referred across geographies, making national growth slow and costly. Even though our products worked better, consultants made more money with less effort selling direct mail and digital ads. The deeper issue was that the industry lacked a trusted source for discovering the best tools. This gap has caused many in the industry to struggle with similar challenges. After several pivots, we concluded that the best path forward was to sell the company. 

This same pattern shows up in many other domains. For the last 11 years, I have had the privilege of serving on the board of Think Together, an education nonprofit annually serving nearly 200,000 children. Our Orenda Education consulting division has helped several districts in California dramatically reduce and in some cases nearly eliminate the achievement gap. I thought we had found the solution to our nation’s education challenges. Just give Orenda more resources, and the model would spread. 

Growth has been strong, but not transformative. The lesson was familiar. Even with a great product, we lacked a scalable GTM. Scaling required more than a solution. It meant reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right message. Today, in addition to providing the best coaching and guidance, Orenda is equally focused on GTM. We’re testing a wide array of approaches to accelerate impact. Now that we are focused on the monkey, I’m optimistic we will have a breakthrough.   

When I was younger, I thought success meant finding the “big idea.” Experience has taught me even the best ideas stall without the right GTM. More often than not, the real monkey isn’t the product. It’s how you bring it to the world.

Sangeeth Peruri - Jack of Many Trades, Master of None
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