✍️ Essay
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Intermediate
This essay gives you a clean, three-part test for a timing bet: is the enabling technology actually ready, has customer behavior actually shifted, and do the unit economics actually work now (not on a projection). It is the difference between a tailwind that is already blowing and one you are hoping will start. Use it to pressure-test your own "why now" before you write it into a deck.
Startups and Timing: On the "Why Now" for New Businesses
From Wing Venture Capital by Tanay Jaipuria ~10 min read
- Break "why now" into three checkable conditions: technology readiness, customer behavior, and economic viability, and be honest about which are real versus assumed.
- Ideas that failed before (Webvan, Kozmo) often were not bad ideas, just early. Study why the earlier attempt died and whether that specific blocker has actually cleared.
- A real tailwind shows up as present-tense evidence you can point to, not a future event you are counting on happening on schedule.
