Seen.
The Egg or the Chicken?
A company we’re working with is hitting 40-50% growth.
They have a dilemma. Do they let sales drive operational growth, or should they grow the operation first and then win the sales?
There are different schools of thought.
An old adage states there are few questions in business for which “more sales” is not at least a reasonably good answer.
Equally, if you build it, they will come…
And although it could be argued that your answer depends on your product, service and market, we’ve found every business seems to ask themselves the question at some stage.
So if you’re stuck with this question, you’re not alone. We wonder if the solution is, in some ways, what clever business people really mean when they talk about “strategy”.
Read.
The Twig or the Tree?
This article shares Elon Musk's two rules for learning anything faster.
Whilst always a bit sceptical as to whether Mr Musk would personally recognise many of the musings attributed to him, we liked this one.
First, grow your learning like a tree. Start with the trunk, then the branches. Learn the fundamentals before progressing. Avoid detail before you understand what it means.
Second, you can’t remember what you can’t connect. So as you progress into the detail, make sure that it connects with what you already know. Doing this makes learning stick.
Founders often find they need to learn first and learn fast. We hope this helps.
Learned.
The Path or the Plan?
One of us was finding it difficult this week to switch from working to a plan to reacting.
Whilst some people prefer working in a planned way, and others to be more impromptu, we think things are beyond that now.
Constant, unpredictable change is a textbook way to induce stress. We don’t think anyone enjoys being constantly thwarted in every goal they set to achieve. It seems to be happening to a lot of founders at the moment
Maybe we need to shift our mindset into being navigators rather than goal-driven performers?
A navigator knows what the destination is but is more concerned with the direction. Obstacles prompt recognition that their purpose is to find a route around them, so they can keep moving in the right direction.
Things are tough out there. If you’re someone leading through it, whether you consider yourself to be doing it well or doing it badly, we salute you.
And finally.
We're enjoying everyone's kind feedback about #founderhacks.
This week we had a great idea - and perhaps a way to nourish your relationships during these troubled times.
If you think someone you know might enjoy what we're doing why not forward them this email?
Tell them you'd also like to chat with them after each #founderhacks, so you can each share your own seen, read and learned (we do it in 20 minutes a week).
Let us know if works out?
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