I recently shared my thoughts on the value that investors offer aside from investing capital and the importance of founders building relationships with investors early. You want those relationships to be healthy, which I believe includes their being bidirectional. I discussed this in more depth with a founder and was asked how someone new to entrepreneurship can add value to a relationship with an experienced investor. It was a great question.

Founders often have deep knowledge in their space. They’re on the front lines, so they can spot trends and challenges before others are aware of them. They may notice that an early company is gaining traction before that becomes apparent to anyone outside the space. While it might not seem like it, all this industry knowledge can be valuable. Sharing it is a great way to add value to your relationships with investors.

Founders are constantly learning. (To build their company, they must.) Investors are too. They’re learning about new problems that they can help great founders solve. Helping investors (or anyone for that matter) learn about your space quickly can be a great way to build a bidirectional relationship.

Over the years, I’ve been humbled. I used to think I was superhuman—capable of doing anything. Now I recognize that I’m not good at everything, nor do I have the experience to navigate certain situations. I’ve learned to ask for help. Learning from the experiences of others has been invaluable in challenging times. If I’d done it more in those early years, it would’ve saved me tons of time and energy. I encourage early founders to learn from my experience.

Learning from others isn’t a one-time thing. It requires investing in and maintaining relationships. I’m a big believer in healthy relationships being bidirectional. As an early startup founder, it doesn’t feel like you have much to offer people who are sharing their wisdom with you. That may be true, but you can do one important that they’ll appreciate: close the loop. When you ask people for help or advice, follow back up with them to let them know the outcome. Good, bad, or ugly. They’ll appreciate the effort.

I sometimes fall short, but I do my best to close the loop. I appreciate and respect other people’s time, and I make sure to thank them when I close the loop. Simple to say, simple to do—but powerful. It will strengthen your relationships.

I few months ago I rejoined Discord. (I tested the platform years ago, but it didn’t resonate with me then.) Discord allows users with different interests to create communities on the platform. It offers a variety of features and ways for users to interact, but I mainly use the chatting. I was looking to get better at one of my hobbies by connecting with people I could learn from. I read about a private Discord server (i.e., community) and decided to check it out.

I got invited to the server and found what I was looking for and more. I was a novice among experts in this community. I was surprised by the amount of knowledge and information that was flowing freely. People were transparent and highly engaged in the conversations. Some even collaborated and pooled resources to solve really big problems, sharing their findings with the community. I now check it every day.

My experience got me wondering how many others were finding community through Discord. I dug a little and learned that Discord raised $100 million this summer at a $3.5 billion valuation. At the time, it was said to have 100 million active users (monthly, I’m assuming). The company was recently rumored to have 120 million monthly active users and to be finalizing another round of funding at a $7 billion valuation. I think it’s safe to assume that people are finding community there and investors are taking notice.

I shared my musings on rethinking and creating community the other day. I believe community is a big opportunity for 2021. Discord’s traction demonstrates that people are looking for community. The growth of this sector may change, but I think people will continue to seek new solutions to this problem.

Amazon announced an initiative to offer free cloud computing training. Its goal is to help 29 million people globally grow their skills in cloud computing by 2025. I got really excited when I read about this. Cloud computing is exploding. I believe it will continue growing for the foreseeable future. Amazon will provide knowledge and training (free of charge) and help many people excel in this emerging industry rather than watch it from the sidelines.

I recently talked with a close friend about declining industries and their impact on my hometown and similar communities. When a dominant industry declines, its workers often have trouble finding employment because many players in that space are downsized at the same time. They may not have the necessary skills for roles in other industries with comparable pay. They end up taking jobs that pay less, which has a ripple effect on the local community. Over time, this has a negative impact on all aspects of the community and is hard to reverse. Communities once dominated by the steel industry but now struggling are an example.

Our economy is changing faster than ever. We’ve seen revenue redistribution and other factors accelerate growth in some sectors and bring others to their knees. The pace of change highlights the need to help our workforce adapt. That’s why I got excited when I read about Amazon’s initiative. I like its approach and hope that others replicate it. It will help many people if more growing industries have the foresight to invest in skills training early. I also hope that we provide more support and resources to aspiring entrepreneurs to accelerate new business creation. These two things will provide the foundation local communities need to continue thriving and adapting to our changing economy.

Today marks the end of my thirty-ninth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week thirty-nine:

• Community – I miss seeing people in the Atlanta tech community. I’m looking forward to the day when we can interact in person safely. Community will be top of mind for me and many others in 2021. If working from home and other habits become the norm, people will be seeking community more than ever. I view 2021 as a time that offers a unique opportunity to create and rethink community across in many sectors, not just tech.
• Working smarter – I spent time this week thinking about what I want to improve. I thought about what was and wasn’t working but realized I do better when I begin by defining the end goal. After I did that, it was easier to see what activities were misaligned and start figuring out what changes to make. I’ll keep doing more of this over the next few weeks.  
• More deals – Last week Microsoft announced the acquisition of Slack. This week was busy for IPOs. Doordash debuted Wednesday and Airbnb debuted Thursday. Investors are bullish on tech companies and are paying high premiums for high growth. I expect this trend to continue with more large deals announced before year’s end and maybe into Q1 too.
• Weather – Last week I shared how the cold weather negatively affected me. It warmed up this week and we had more sunshine. My productivity and mood were noticeably better. I know there’s lots written on this, but I’m still amazed to observe it in myself.
• Chapter 2021 – 2020 will end in two-and-a-half weeks. It’s been a wild year, and I’m looking forward to turning the page.

Week thirty-nine was a reflective week. Next week is the last full workweek before Christmas. I’m looking forward to it being both productive and reflective.

I’ll continue to learn from this unique situation, adjust as necessary, and share my experience.

Over the last decade, there’s been a tremendous amount of progress toward creating a sense of community in the tech scene. Physical spaces, accelerators, and programs provide it in many cities. I watched this evolution in Atlanta and personally benefited from it. Being part of this community changed the course of my founder journey and opened my eyes to lots of things.

Today, I connected with a founder who’s trying to build community in a nontech industry. He moved to Atlanta a few years ago. When he looked for people in his industry, he found that he couldn’t easily connect with people or find a space where they could work and learn from one another. I immediately understood his problem and his vision for solving it. He’s trying to create a community for people like him.

This entrepreneur is on to something, and I’m rooting for him. After our conversation, I realized there’s a larger opportunity to solve this problem in various sectors. The pandemic has changed and will probably continue to change how we work. And in so doing, it’s allowing us—in fact, compelling us—to rethink how we create community. After quarantining for months, people are actively looking for ways to be apart of a community in new and different ways.

In industries in which community existed, now’s the time to rethink it and shape the future of the sector. In industries lacking community even before the pandemic, now is a great time to fill that gap. I see a massive entrepreneurial opportunity to create value for others by creating community. That will mean different things in different sectors. I’ll be excited to see the various ways founders solve this problem and bring people together!

Today I had a conversation with a founder and one person from his leadership team. He isn’t looking for funds. He presented at an event I participated in and we connected afterward. He’s built a product and a team and has paying customers. They’ve built a real business and are trying to figure out how to scale. The conversation was efficient. He wanted my thoughts in three specific areas. I gave them, sharing my experiences and opinions. I learned a lot about the company and the founder, and I’m now a bit invested in their success so I want to keep tabs on their progress.

I never raised money at CCAW, so I never thought to build relationships with investors. Looking back, I regret that. Investors evaluate so many companies that they have a valuable perspective. They can help you see around walls and think about things from a fifty-thousand-foot view. The years it took me to learn things the hard way could have been shortened drastically, which would have accelerated our success. I know now that investors aren’t just sources of capital.

After founders get some early traction, they should consider building relationships with investors regardless of whether they plan to raise capital. The knowledge that investors can provide can be game changing. Especially in the early days. Like founders, investors are busy, so be respectful of their time and do your homework before asking for a meeting. If you’ve made sufficient traction, most investors with experience in your space will be willing to give you their thoughts. Of course, some will decline, but remember . . . all it takes is one conversation with the right person to change your trajectory!

I listened to a wildly successful founder give a talk today. He said something that stood out to me: “Don’t take shortcuts to revenue. Stay focused on your vision and don’t sell things that don’t align with that vision.” His startup sells cloud-based solutions, but they did one deal to install their solution at a customer site. The team struggled to complete the project and it took ten times longer than planned. In the end, the revenue wasn’t worth the effort. It was a distraction and the client had a subpar experience.

I approached this in two different ways at CCAW. One worked out well; the other, not so well. At one point, we were overly focused on growing revenue and looked to add products we could easily sell. The problem was that it took a massive amount of effort to retool our systems and processes to sell these items. Our service team wasn’t familiar with the products, so we couldn’t provide the level of service we were known for. And because we weren’t known for selling these items, the added revenue was nice but far from material. We eventually abandoned this product category and were happy we did. It was too far from the core of what we were known for.

Conversely, we listened to our customers repeatedly ask for accessories that complemented our core products. They couldn’t use our products without these accessories and wanted to buy everything in one place. These accessories required some retooling of processes and systems too, but we made the investment. Our service team easily understood these products because they complemented our core products and were sourced from the same suppliers as our core products. These items lifted our revenue and gross margin while making life easier for our customers. We eventually began getting repeat orders from customers looking specifically for these items.

I agree with the founder from today’s talk. Don’t take shortcuts to revenue. It’s usually not worth it. Have a clear vision of what you’re doing and the problem you’re solving for customers. If there are supplemental ways to solve that core problem that align with your vision, consider taking a deeper look. Otherwise, just say no.

It’s often difficult to find the right automotive part at a fair price and get it quickly. That’s the problem we solved at CCAW. One thing we regularly heard customers talk about was installation. Most installs require a professional with specialized tools. We tried to help by recommending installers, but we missed a big opportunity. Customers wanted more than a seamless process for buying the right part—they also wanted a seamless process for getting the part on their vehicle.

Looking back, it’s obvious. So how did we miss it? Easy—we were listening for what we wanted to hear and not what customers were saying. They were clearly telling us about their frustrations with installation, but we didn’t think we were in a position to solve that problem so we didn’t try. It wouldn’t have been easy, but if we had tried, and succeeded, we would have created a massive amount of value for our customers. All we had to do was take a step back and listen to what our customers were telling us.

Customers are the key to any company’s success. Solving their painful problem is how you create value they’re willing to pay for. Founders aiming to build large companies should continually listen to their customers. Understand their pain points. Solve them if you can. If you make this a habit early, your customers will thank you with their wallets and you’ll be on your way to building something big!

My friends and I have been debating how much genetics plays a role in a person’s behavior and decision-making. It’s the nature-versus-nurture debate. We know genetics (nature) determines physical features like height and hair color (with limited exceptions; for example, starvation will affect growth and therefore height). But what about how we think and act? I found myself thinking deeply about this. Naturally, I’m wondering how genetics affects an entrepreneur’s thinking and decision-making.

My friends are evenly split on which has the greater impact. I’ve noticed they agree on one thing, though. None of them think that genetics or environment alone determines how a person’s mind works or how they behave. The combination of the two molds a person, with one having more influence than the other (which one depends on which person you ask).

Bill Gates’s parents were intelligent people, so I assume they passed their smarts on to Bill and his siblings. However, Bill’s early behavior and decision-making were starkly different from those of the rest of the family. He didn’t like to leave his room to engage with the family (or anyone), and he argued heatedly with his mother when she made him participate in family functions such as dinner. Luckily, he and his family were able to work with a therapist, and his behavior changed. He learned to work with others, and he and his mother became very close.

This question is deep and I have no idea whether nature or nurture affects the mental side of us more. However, one thing is clear to me. You can’t control your genetics. But you can (usually) exert some control over your environment. If you’re trying to do something great, surrounding yourself with the right people and the right environments will probably increase your chance of success.

Play the hand you’ve been dealt as best you can by putting yourself in the right environments.