thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building a million dollar business from scratch and beyond.
i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.
startups are crazy.
almost feels like you are in different universe every other day, making seemingly opposite statements.
that’s why people might think that the founders are fickle minded and changing all the time.
and all that is…. true.
and the reason is that everything is changing, everyday.
as i grow in my role and learn from it, it comes down to really two things:
stay inflexible on the vision (once set is set)
stay super flexible on how to get there (the steps can change rapidly)
well, in order to achieve this we need to start working not as disconnected team and initiatives but rather a team that is good with change and is rapidly prototyping new business models to test and adapt.
even if we are not a product company in the traditional sense of a SaaS business, it’s abundantly clear to me that we need to act and deliver like a product company.
so here’s what we are doing as a test.
running our business like building a product.
meaning, everything new we do is a version 1.0 - which means that it does not have to be perfect.
it also means no one’s work is their own but a product of the company so anyone can and should be able to find defects in it without hurting anyone’s feelings.
so we are starting to do scrums (at least every month and some teams could do every week, set time to identify deliverables and work for 4 or 8 hours together to deliver it) - in the product world, these are called scrum teams.
we don’t have managers or VPs but rather scrum owners who lead the team of cross function leaders to deliver on a single goal.
this week is our first scrum so will tell you more on it next week.
also, i have personally started to repeat things two sayings:
- we work better as a team.
- we got each others back.
the goal for everyone to know is that we all can trust each other to do the best work and when things go crazy, we need to have each others back and not point fingers.
is this easy?
nope but does this feel right?
absolutely.
running the business like a product, is the first step towards that.
on a personal note, as leader of my family, i realize something similar.
every time, i take my eye of the regular things we do as a family like doing weekly Bible study, Saturday cards, or family dinner time talk, i see everything going sideways.
it literally sometimes take a week to feel like we have no north star and the family is completely burning calories on things that should be solved with simple 2 min conversation.
sounds familiar?
i find the same thing in the business.
picking up the phone and saying, i know you are never late on your deliverables and i am sure this time something has happened - can you tell me how i can help?
instead, in the business world, we slack and wait…
or email and wonder…or sometimes not email at all until the you have a perfect answer..
or wait for the team meeting and put someone on the spot..
or even worse, gossip with others but not with the person directly..
the gift of communication is incredible.
the faster, i have stepped in my life with an apology, and asking how can i help or what’s going on, the better things have gone.
so this thanksgiving, i want to do the same with my family, my friends, my team and you.
thank you for continuing to read and share your feedback.
it’s a journey and having you on it with me is a joy!
this becoming intentional note, started like a product.
it had bugs and even today, there are typos but it’s supposed to be unfiltered.
if i would have waited to get it perfect, i would have lost it’s purpose along the way.
leader point: in business and in life, we are meant to think like a product, never all knowing, always learning and adapting.