The number one thing that kills a startup organization is a lack of focus. There are many different opportunities available, and the first inclination is to try every one of them, but without proper focus managing the obligations becomes a hindrance.
This is a continuation of the interview with Keshav Pingali that we first wrote about in Saying No to Opportunities with more of Pingali’s thoughts on startup life.
Time is our most precious resource; we can't waste it by throwing new ideas at a wall just for the sake of seeing what sticks. Instead, a startup must understand a market, identify gaps in that market, and understand how those gaps can be filled with their product or service. That's when a startup can genuinely start exploring different avenues for growth.
Entrepreneurs are naturally pulled in different directions and must resist the pull to enter other markets or industries and stay focused on their vision. In Katana Graph’s case, we examined the business problem of data from many different angles and decided to solve the problem of data for businesses by creating the Katana Graph Intelligence Platform. We began by understanding the most significant challenges for enterprises using data and set out to create a solution to relieve those difficulties.
Next, we expressed to our investors that this was something worth pursuing over another opportunity we could have opted to pursue instead. To do that, we had to show that the market was big enough for us, and in what ways we differentiated from other product offerings. This resulted in funding for development, throughout which we articulated why Katana Graph is an excellent solution for the established problem.
Entrepreneurs are often aware of what has been termed “shiny object syndrome” yet are often still prone to chasing the latest emerging market or technology that hits the press. However, at Katana Graph, our philosophy is to say "no" to the other opportunities until we thoroughly investigate and understand the market needs. But, in the end, success will depend on one’s ability to make the tough calls and stick to them. To do that well, a deep understanding of managing the product and a commitment to one’s vision are of the utmost importance.
At Katana Graph we chose to focus on fusing graph technology with machine learning to build a platform for high-speed computing on massive graphs, using very large clusters of computers. Unlike the graph database companies that have been around for a decade, our roots are in high-speed analytics and AI, although our product’s capabilities can perform standard database functions, of course. We developed a scale-out high-speed graph computing platform by integrating innovations from the high-performance computing world with recent developments in graph analytics and machine learning. The resultant computing platform interoperates with our graph database system, providing a single platform for high-speed querying, analytics, machine learning, and AI on massive graphs and massive clusters.
Whether structured or unstructured data, Katana Graph can greatly improve the insights and opportunities uncovered from your organization’s data. Click to schedule a meeting.
Get to Know Katana Graph
We thrive on testing new and diverse ideas.
Katana Graph was born of cutting-edge research and scientific rigor, and these beginnings have a powerful effect on who we are to this day. We’re devoted to problem solving, and are relentless in our pursuit of more effective and more efficient solutions to real-world challenges. Continuous improvement is the very foundation of our success.
