I initially wrote this article at Case Entrepreneurs and am reposting it here.

I used to find this fun?

For several years I studied jujutsu. One of the things I remember most about my teacher is that he would often say, “Simple things aren’t.” At the time, I was listening to him in the context of jujutsu, where the performance of seemingly simple techniques concealed the layers and layers of subtle complexities. For example, I spent a great deal of time practicing ukemi, which from all appearances looks like falling down and doing summersaults. Little kids can do summersaults. Heck, I am pretty sure my cat does them on an irregular basis. Nonetheless, rolling around on the ground has many subtle nuances such as what parts of your shoulder and hip touch, what, if anything is in your hands and so forth. It takes a lot of practice to fall down the right way. Another example is forming a fist and punching somebody. I imagine humans have been balling their fists up and punching each other since the moment we stood upright. However, to form a fist just right, to line up your wrist with the elbow and shoulder, then to rotate your body, move your feet, and even to breathe just right; throwing punches is serious business. I would tend to think that most martial artists and boxers would likely feel the same way; or else everybody would be awesome at boxing. And, for those who are lovers and not fighters, just think about how simple it is to hit a golf ball. I mean, right, all you have to do is swing the club and hit a stupid little ball.

Dreaded Five Forces?

In business school we learn several frameworks; Porter’s Five Forces, Porter’s Value Chain, McKinsey Value Chain, McKinsey 7S, Marketing Mix, 4Ps, 5Cs, SWOT, and a multitude of things that can be described as the something-something matrix. These are relatively simple things to learn and to subsequently apply to established companies. Fill in the blanks. At the next level of understanding, it is not necessary to fill out the framework blanks each time, but rather to think about the frameworks while analyzing a business case. Arguably, a final stage of learning the frameworks is to ignore the frameworks. Sometimes they can be constraints limiting the variables and concepts that are considered; think outside the box, if you will. One of my strategy professors called the Porter’s Five Forces the Dreaded Five Forces; a zillion MBA students can do a Five Forces analysis, but it takes a little more work to think beyond it. As I noted, these frameworks are straight-forward and are relatively simple to use when applied to existing companies. You can Google-up what Google is all about, and then fill in the blanks. Most of us “get” what Google is all about.

Here is how that simple framework thing, isn’t: Start a business.

Recently, I began to work with a business accelerator to start my own business. At first I was loathe to use the frameworks (as some of my former classmates would not find surprising), but I concluded that these frameworks were developed for a reason; time to use my MBA education. Then things got difficult. When your business does not actually yet exist, one does not simply walk into Mordor do an internet search to find information. To really articulate your value proposition for each market segment, describe revenue streams, who exactly are your customers, competitors, collaborators, what is the internal rivalry, and how much power do your suppliers and buyers have, and so forth – all for something little more than an idea is a very difficult exercise. Uncertainty and ambiguity make otherwise seemingly simple tasks less simple and more complicated. For instance, just determining what it is you need to know and what questions you should be asking is a challenge.

As students, all too often we may learn something and subsequently become almost blasé users of that knowledge. At times, it is easy to dismiss things as being too simple to be of value. But, how many times have you fouled up a complex mathematical operation all because you forgot to carry the one (or any other elementary level mistake)? Chances are if things may seem to be too simple, then perhaps you have not yet been challenged to really understand the nuances of your knowledge.

Simple things aren’t. Especially for entrepreneurs.