A friend in VC sent me a video this morning and suggested I watch it. It’s a Craft Ventures presentation on how founders should operate during a downturn. David Sacks and Jeff Fluhr do a great job of articulating their perspective on what’s happening in the public markets, how it will affect the venture ecosystem, how it compares to previous downturns, and what founders can do about it.

Lots of takeaways from this presentation are helpful to founders, but Jeff’s glass-half-full perspective stood out. Times may get tougher, but great companies are built during downturns (Salesforce, Airbnb, Amazon, etc.). Capital may become harder (not impossible) to come by, but other things become easier: hiring, customer-acquisition costs, the ability to course-correct with less scrutiny, etc.

Jeff ends on this point: “The world will keep spinning.” I totally agree. If you’re an early-stage founder, focus on things you can control (Jeff shares metrics that founders should watch closely), not the macro environment. Even in a downturn, there’s still demand for solutions that solve problems and create value for customers.

A few weeks back, a buddy shared his thoughts on my posts. He made a great point about being a conduit and how effective that’s been in helping connect different networks he’s a part of. That stuck with me, and I’ve been noodling on it since.

I have lots of interests that most would say aren’t related. Because of them, I’ve built relationships in circles that don’t overlap. I’ve developed great friendships with people in separate networks, which has helped me have a different perspective than many other people do.

Over the years, I’ve found myself being a conduit for people in these various groups. It wasn’t something I put much thought into. I just did it because I felt like good people should know other good people, even if they don’t run in the same circles.

As I’ve been thinking more about the conduit concept, I’ve realized the impact that being a conduit has had. It’s a small sample size, but the results are clear. Bridging different worlds has led to positive changes in the lives of people close to me that I’d never have predicted. They’ve seen things and met people who have, in some cases, had a material impact on the trajectory of their lives.

Being more strategic and intentional about serving as a conduit could help more people. I’m not sure what that would look like or how it would scale, but it’s definitely something I want to do.  

Today marks the end of my one-hundred-eleventh week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week one hundred eleven:

• Atlanta – Lots of people in various circles I’m part of who don’t live in Atlanta are noticing what the city has to offer. Not just in tech and start-ups, but in other aspects of life. I’m not surprised, but it still feels good.
• Seeds – Seeds I planted years ago began to bear fruit this week. This has happened many times before, but I’m still surprised, as it’s unexpected. It reinforces that doing good can lead to something good (even though that’s not the motive).  
• Attitude change – Last week I noticed a shift in people’s attitude toward investing. This week, the stock market continued to be a topic of conversation with investors and founders and in friend circles. I’m continuing to monitor this. Feels like sentiment is changing.  

Week one hundred eleven was another high-activity week. Next week will be a little slower.

Over the past month, I’ve talked to four founders who are looking to hire CEOs to run their companies or who’ve already done it. Two are early-stage; two, later-stage and more mature. This isn’t abnormal. Lots of founders transition away from being the CEO for one reason or another in the company’s life cycle. Some founders even come back and reassume the role.

The early-stage founders’ thoughts around this really struck me. They described hiring a CEO as if they were hiring any other employee. I don’t think they fully understand how hard it is to find the right CEO for an early-stage company and set them up to succeed.

Hiring a CEO for a mature company makes lots of sense. Product–market fit has been achieved. The team is stable. Processes are established. There’s historical data to help inform future decisions. The machine is already built. It may need tuning, but it’s there and working.

Hiring a CEO for an early-stage company is a different story. The pieces to the machine are scattered all over the place, and the new CEO must figure out how to assemble it. It can be done, and it has been done, but it’s harder. Trying to find product–market fit can be challenging if you’re not passionate about the problem or don’t have deep experience in the space. CEOs are the glue holding small companies together, which is hard to do if you didn’t write the blueprint or understand how all the parts work together. There’s usually little historical data, so decision-making can be harder for a non-founder CEO. Most founder CEOs don’t leave in the early innings because everything is going well. Cleaning up someone else’s mistakes is a tight spot to be in.

If you’re an early-stage founder, be mindful of these and other variables if you try to replace yourself.

Someone once asked me what I would change most about my experience in corporate America. I don’t have any regrets, but that question got me thinking. I told them I would be crystal clear about what I wanted to gain from my experience before I started working. I’d then push aggressively (and unapologetically) for opportunities to work on projects or work with people that helped me achieve that goal. Said another way, I’d be clear on what I want beforehand and to be directionally accurate during my time there. I didn’t do that and still got a lot from my experience, but I could have gotten a lot more.

It's hard to do, but if you can be clear on where you’re trying to go (or at least the direction) it has a big impact on your journey. It helps you be able to better evaluate opportunities (does this get me closer or further away from X) and makes it easier for others to help you. The end result is that you’ll likely end up where you want to be in significantly less time.

‍

One of the exit strategies early-stage founders often have is strategic acquisition. This means the acquiring company will get strategic value from the company it acquires—it’s not just a financial buy. Buying a company and bringing its talent onboard is often quicker than building something from scratch. And in some acquisitions, a larger company quickly grows the smaller company’s sales by using its massive sales force to offer the latter’s product to its existing customer base.

These options sound great, and they are—but there’s something lots of founders don’t consider. Often these deals are structured so the founder will need to stay at the larger company for a few years. The founder usually has what’s called an earnout—they don’t get all their money from the deal when it closes; they must earn it over time. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it can be. Especially If your motivation for starting a company was to be your own boss.

If you’re a founder aiming for a strategic acquisition, get a great deal attorney and be ready to hang around for a few years post close!

I connected with someone who’s successful and super busy. During our meeting, I asked a favor. I was thankful that he gave me time on his calendar and had low expectations of his doing me the favor. But I asked anyway because the answer is no 100% of the time you don’t ask. He agreed to do it, but I still figured he wouldn’t.

To my surprise, he did. It took my nudging him a bit, but he came through. We caught up afterward, and I asked him why he took the time to do something for me. I expected some deep reasoning, but it was quite simple. He said most people who ask him for something never follow up. When they don’t, he knows they’re not serious. I took action by nudging him, so he knew I was serious.

My takeaway is that having a bias toward action and following up with people in a thoughtful manner can set you apart. Most people don’t take this extra step to see things through. It’s something simple but powerful that anyone can do.  

As a kid, I had lots of dreams and ideas. Regardless of how bad or outlandish the idea, my mom always listened and encouraged me. She let me know I could do or be whatever I wanted if I set my mind to it and worked hard. Her encouragement during my formative years gave me a solid foundation and the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship (and all my other ideas, good and bad) over the years.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I appreciate your love and support!

The last two years have been interesting ones for companies. Founders who were well positioned for the revenue redistribution did extremely well. Revenue skyrocketed for some of these businesses as customers sought solutions to new challenges. I’ve been chatting with some of these founders. Some of them are starting to see early signs of their customers’ habits changing again. The customers they acquired in the last few years are beginning to redistribute their revenue again.

This poses an interesting problem. These founders scaled up their companies around this new customer segment, which became a large percentage of their overall revenue. Sales, marketing, etc. are all optimized for this segment. They thought their ideal customer profile was made up of these customers because so many of them willingly and rapidly paid for their solutions. Now, they’re starting to see these customers churn as life trends toward historical norms.

These founders have a dilemma. It’s beginning to look like the house they thought they were building on a concrete foundation was built on slow-moving sand. They have significant expenses for the scaled-up organization. Do they redirect their teams to go after a different customer profile? What does the ideal customer profile now look like? How long will it take to redirect the team? These and many other questions will need to be answered by many founders in the next year to eighteen months. I’m curious to see how founders handle this dilemma—I suspect that many will shrink their teams to reduce burn until they have more clarity on these questions.

Today marks the end of my one-hundred-tenth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week one hundred ten:

• Attitude change – I noticed a shift in people’s attitude toward investing this week. The stock market was a topic of conversation with a lot of people, which felt odd. When I talked to other investors it came up, and that wasn’t surprising, but it also came up during a few founder calls and in my friend group, which I didn’t expect. I’m curious to see what people’s attitude toward investing will look like going forward.
• Hustling – I spent this week doing a bit of strategic hustling. It’s always interesting to see how hustling can open doors that you’d never have expected.
• Labor – A friend broke down the current state of the labor market based on his hiring challenges. People think differently about how, when, and where to work. It feels like we’re in the midst of a seismic shift.

Week one hundred ten was a high-activity week. I expect next week to be more of the same.