Amazon and Conor McGregor have a lot in common ...

What can MMA teach us about building a strong brand?

I've always been a fan of action sports and martial arts. I have been practicing mixed martial arts (MMA) for some time, and it seems to me not only a very complete and challenging sport, but also, and despite what can be seen from the outside, an environment of great camaraderie, and full of applicable lessons to different aspects of our lives. Now, I admit that an MMA gym is the last place I would have seen myself learning about positioning and branding. It may be thanks to my incredibly talented and dedicated coach (Oss Paco!) And my obsession with the startup world, but no more than two or three training sessions went by without me finding a teaching or representation that was useful for my professional life.

As I just said, if I start to analyze in detail, the teachings are many, but without further ado, here are some of them:

1. If you are not standing firmly, you cannot hit effectively: In a fight, the position of the body is very important, and a firm posture not only helps the fighter to be better prepared to receive attacks but above all to launch more effective shots. Translating this to the business world, a brand with a solid identity and a solid base is in a better position to take hits and execute commercial actions, than one with a diffuse positioning.

2. A weak position (or positioning) translates into a direct advantage for your opponent: As in the previous point, in combat, an experienced opponent who can "read" the counterpart, can take a lot of advantage against a weak position. The same happens with brands, in a highly competitive market, a brand that reveals its weak points in terms of positioning is opening the door for any competitor to use this disadvantage to their advantage.

3. Without a clear objective and an effective distance, throwing shots that do not "land" only generates fatigue: During an MMA fight, when a fighter begins to throw shots in the air that do not reach the opponent, it can be seen as an effective measure to keep the other fighter away, but the reality is that in a short time this generates great physical wear and tear, which immediately translates into a weaker guard and slower movements. Many startups suffer something similar, when they rush to launch their campaigns and actions without having a goal or a clear strategy, like the aerobic capacity of a fighter who throws punches in the air, the budget of these companies begins to run out without solid results. , along with the team's expectations.

4. Keep your eyes open at all times, and your gaze on your opponent: By nature, it is very common that when we are about to receive a punch to the face, we close our eyes. But if we analyze professional combat, these athletes keep their gaze steady and focused on the opponent all the time. Controlling this reflex is something that is worked on over time and it is not easy at all, but it is a key factor that every fighter must master. In the same way, entrepreneurs often, when unexpected results begin to emerge, have this reflex of "closing their eyes" to the problem, something similar happens to us when we are absorbed by day-to-day tasks, which lead us to lower our sight and lose focus in the long run.

5. If you don't manage the intensity, you won't last many rounds: When I started training, I remember that at the time of the ground fights, both when I saw that I had an advantage over the rival, and when it was noticeably inferior, I did not realize it and in In the heat of the fight, I was losing control of my intensity. This, when both fighters are beginners, means that the fight ends when one of them gets tired and makes a mistake, but when fighting with someone more experienced, at the end of the fight, they can be seen much calmer, without losing their breath. . And the key is to know how to control the intensity, and to use force only when it is necessary. Let's pass this to the business world, how many times did we lose focus and deviate from the plan to focus on beating the competition at all costs? 6. It is always good to know the strengths and weaknesses of the rival, but knowing our own first: MMA emerged as a sport that sought to measure the most effective fighting styles, and although today's athletes have a lot of handling The most complete and diverse of combat techniques, analyzing the opponent and drawing a strategy based on the weaknesses and strengths of each fighter is still key. Even so, it is useless to analyze our opponent in detail, if we do not know our own abilities and weaknesses in depth. In today's increasingly competitive markets, it often happens that we get carried away by what other brands do or don't do, entering an unnecessary competitive game. Instead, focusing on knowing and exploiting our strengths, and above all on delivering customer value, can make a big difference. 7. Commitment and perseverance are way more important than "innate talent": How many times has it happened to us to see someone start in a sport or activity and say "it is in their blood"? Well, that was not exactly my case when I started training in this sport, on the contrary, it was quite "hard". But it was at-will and commitment that I improved day by day (I trained 3 times more than some colleagues), and although I still have a lot to improve, it is clear that commitment and perseverance are paying off. Taken to our stage, many of the great companies that we know today, if not all, are the fruit of the dedication and persistence of their founders. Many of the famous entrepreneurs were not characterized by technical knowledge or expertise, but by their perseverance. Brands such as Airbnb, Uber, or Shopify, exist today thanks to the insistent dedication of their members after hearing the NO from investors dozens of times.

8. Tired warrior, dead warrior!: My coach usually says this after an intense aerobic session. And I did not pay much attention to it until in combat I began to notice that most of the defeats and submissions were due to mistakes made due to fatigue and physical exhaustion, and it is that due to more knowledge or experience, in the face of a similar level, the that gets tired, loses. Passing it to the entrepreneurial world, I would add the variant "Relaxed warrior, dead warrior". How many large firms do we know that went from leading the market to being forgotten due to lack of innovation? And on the contrary, how many small startups that entered markets dominated by large companies managed, thanks to their constant focus on innovation, to surpass these big names? (Blockbuster, Netflix sends you regards)