About the only time I will willingly run on a treadmill is if I’m on a business trip in a strange city, staying at a hotel that has one of those tiny ‘workout facilities’ that has two treadmills, a stationary bike and a multifunction nautilus machine, and it’s too late/cold to get out for a run.

I like running – and have been doing more of it recently. I love analogies that involve sports or driving, so here goes. This week I went for a quick run around 5.45pm on the streets of San Francisco and it made me think of why I like running on the streets among people, cars and buses instead of in a gym on a treadmill, and why that reminded me of what we are doing in our startup company world.

Urban running is a contact sport; you are in the mix and have to pay attention not to get hit by a car, run into pedestrians or cyclists. It’s nice to add your own soundtrack to things and listen to music, but you have to stay pretty aware of your surroundings. You can’t tune out and watch TV while you run. Also, running is one of those things that both tires and energizes you, seemingly a paradox. And of course, like many runners I find it boring to be in one place all the time – much better to run with a goal, seeing your progress in real terms not just a clock and a counter. Keeping score is great, but it’s cool to see and “feel” progress as well as measure it.

So don’t build your system in isolation; go ahead and get out into the world – as a company I like being in the market, understanding how things work and what doesn’t work. We want to use the technology we build and prove to ourselves we can use it to make money before we go out and try to convince other people we can improve their process and help them make more money. The market we play in is bigger than we believe, and competition is not as bad as we think it is – there’s lots of room and even if the street I’m running on is busy, I can usually switch my route slightly and go another way. I don’t have to limit myself because a sign says “20 minutes max at peak times” for the treadmill.

And never forget: the fact that you are running at all already puts you ahead of 97% of everyone else, whether it is outside in the cool, damp air or inside in the heated gym on the treadmill…