How to Evaluate New Opportunities

By Poornima Vijayashanker

Each week, people reach out to me asking me to evaluate a new opportunity or proposal they have for us to work together. I set aside sometime to entertain these requests that come in through a number of channels: social media, referrals, and sometimes face-to-face meetings. While I’d love to say yes to anything that sounds interesting, I’ve learned that I need to say no in order to focus and have the freedom to welcome and evaluate opportunities I truly want.

Most recently, I took a call with a founder. I took the call because it was a chance to meet someone new, he was highly recommended, and I was genuinely curious to learn about what he was working on to see if I could help in anyway. Half-way through the call, he cut to the chase, and said that he was looking to bring me on to lead engineering management. I thanked him for reaching out, and told him that I wasn’t interested because I am very happy with my current job. I knew the opportunity wasn’t right for me, because I know what I want and don’t want.

Be clear about what you want to do.

At the end of last year I sat down, took stock of the business, all the experiments I had run the past year, what I did that was successful, and what I did that I really loved doing. When I looked into the intersection of success and loved doing here is what emerged:

• Speaking

• Teaching or Mentoring

• Writing

Within each of these categories the topics were varied: marketing, recruiting, engineering, product development, company formation, and entrepreneurship. The specifics didn’t matter. What matters was that I found joy and success in some particular activities.

When it comes to public speaking, I can honestly say I love every step of the process: from writing a speech out, to rehearsing it, delivering it, and even getting heckled on stage!

I crave the process, and I just cannot get enough.

So if someone comes around and offers me an opportunity where I’d be spending less than 50% of my time doing any of these 3 things, I know that I have to decline it.

Iron out any ambiguity.

I know: gaining a level of clarity is hard and takes time. If you’re not sure what it is you love to do, that’s OK. Know that you can also do the converse. But, you must at least know what you HATE to do. (I’m not talking about the love-hate balance from last week, I’m talking real hate-hate.)

Start by finding out exactly what people are looking for you to do, not just the goal or the carrot they’re dangling in front of you. Have them be as explicit as possible. Ambiguity only leads to mental anguish! If you have even an iota of doubt, iron it out.

Before I say yes to or even evaluate opportunities, I make sure I understand the specifics and even assess people’s level of professionalism. If I find that they stand me up for meetings, give me the run around on a decision, or are just flat out rude, I thank them for their time and move on.

I’ve coached a number of people who initially said yes to an opportunity only to regret their decision weeks, months, or years later. I have them trace their regret back, and what they uncover is usually a point where they didn’t take the time to understand expectations or the nature of the work they’d be doing. I also discover that their judgment gets clouded when they are overcome with a sense of urgency, either by being put on a by a tight deadline, needing to pay the bills, FOMO, or wanting to settle, thinking that nothing better would come around. If they had just taken a timeout or slept on it, they would have realized that it wasn’t the right decision for them, or it would have caused them to have doubt and ask some follow up questions.

Too good to be true?

You may be presented with an opportunity that you feel is EXACTLY what you’ve wanted, which is great news!

So why haven’t you taken it?

Well you’re probably thinking, “It’s just too good to be true!” “I don’t deserve it…” “I might not be able to live up to people’s expectations.”

Huh?!

Someone offers you something and you turn them down? If you’ve combed the fine print, played hardball with them, and now it’s time to sign on the dotted line, then sign on the freakin’ dotted line! Too often we trick ourselves out of taking opportunities even after we’ve put in a great amount of time and energy into evaluating them.

I have officially run out of fingers for the number of people I have recommended and referred to amazing companies, only to find out that they backed out in the end because they were “not ready”. Don’t worry, my feeling weren’t hurt 🙂

If you have an ailing parent or child, I get it. But barring life circumstance, take it!

Yes, there will of course be other chances to evaluate opportunities that come around again and again, but readiness is an illusion and a great excuse for fear. The reason we’ll never be fully ready is because every opportunity has a level of uncertainty and some setbacks. So if you know you want it, you can visualize what success looks like, then go for it!

Remember, it’s OK to be unsure about new opportunities. You might not know exactly what you want, but if you know what you don’t want, that helps. The key is to be honest with yourself about your needs, and to also not stand in the way of your own success if the opportunity truly is something you’ve been wanting.

I’d love to hear about the last time you said yes to an opportunity, how did you evaluate it, and how did it turn out? Let me know in the comments below!

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