Yesterday, I shared what I learned from Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. I don’t watch much TV, but this was an insightful series. Today I’ve been thinking about Bill’s “think weeks.” He regularly spends a week alone in a cabin reading and thinking. The quietude and stillness give him an optimal environment for his best thinking, allowing him to distill things and solve complex problems.

Bill’s intelligence and ability to rapidly comprehend things have been remarkable all his life. (His siblings, coworkers, and wife all confirmed this.) And they’re at their highest level when he reduces his activity level and just thinks.

I started to wonder what environment allows me to do my best thinking. I usually need to get in the zone to think about complex things. Big blocks of time let me do that, and then I can concentrate and make significant progress on a problem. Once I see progress, I get excited and want to keep going. Interruptions or lots of activity around me are disruptive, so I try to be somewhere quiet and still when I need to get in the zone. I’ve also learned that writing helps me make connections and solve complex problems. It forces me to organize and communicate my scattered thoughts in a way others can understand.

This year has been challenging, to say the least. Like everyone, I’m ready for it to be over. In tough situations, I try to look for the silver lining. I believe life is about perspective and there’s always something positive; you just have to look for it. This year is no exception. Less activity and a slower-paced life because of the pandemic have given me more time to think than I’ve ever had. I’ve accomplished things I’ve been putting off for years (like blogging) and worked through some tough problems. Bill Gates does think weeks. I’ve sort of done a think year.

Bill Gates is a brilliant person who made an impact on society through entrepreneurship and is doing it again through philanthropy. I love learning from the experiences of people smarter than me, like Bill. There’s a lot to be said for his practice of taking week-long blocks of time to think. (If someone of his stature continues to prioritize this, there must be something to it!) I don’t have the luxury of doing think weeks, but I’ll work toward being more intentional about taking time to read and think in the right environment.  

I recently read about a documentary that intrigued me, so I watched it. I love learning about visionaries and their journeys. Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates went beyond the usual biopic. It chronicled the life stages of Bill Gates and provided insights into how Bill’s mind works. Microsoft has had a huge impact on society, so I was curious to learn more about the founder’s mind. Here are some takeaways:

• Early start – Bill began writing computer code in middle school. He wrote code for schools, a local utility company, and others at an early age. By his early twenties, he’d been working with software for a decade. He was hugely successful at an early age, but he’d already put in a decade of work. That’s why he mastered his space earlier than others do.
• Mother – He had an interesting relationship with his mother. They didn’t see eye to eye in his early years and it took therapy for them to improve their relationship. His mother set an example of excellence early on and helped Bill understand the importance of community in the early years of Microsoft. The day his mother passed was the worst day of his life.
• Intensity – His work ethic and personality are intense. He worked crazy long hours, including weekends and holidays, for years. Having a family changed that somewhat. He outworked everyone to keep Microsoft ahead and expected the same from his team, which didn’t always go over well. He memorized license plate numbers so he’d know who was at work.
• Paul Allen – The Microsoft co-founder and Bill met as kids. At Microsoft they were aligned on software but not on other things. Paul had other hobbies and interests, while Bill intensely focused solely on Microsoft. They made a good team in the company’s early days. Their relationship had its ups and downs over the years, but they spoke and patched things up when Bill learned of Paul’s illness. Sadly, they didn’t see each other before Paul died.
• Books – Bill carries around a sack of books everywhere he goes. He’s a voracious reader and processes information rapidly. He reads everything he can that’s about certain subjects or written by certain authors. He’s highly curious.
• Think week – Bill began this habit in the ’90s. He spends a week alone in a small cabin, reading and thinking. He realized that he does his best thinking when he’s in a quiet place. This is when he can distill things and work through complex problems.
• Melinda – Bill and Melinda’s marriage is a partnership. Each brings different perspectives to solving problems. Melinda understands the human element of a problem better than Bill does. Their partnership is powerful and helps drive their foundation.
• Biggest fear – Bill’s biggest fear is that the day will come when his mind stops working.

These are just a few things I picked up on. I learned a lot more. This three-part series goes into detail about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, their work on behalf of causes around the world, and the perspectives of people who know Bill best. I enjoyed this series and see Bill and his wife differently now.

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

• Winter – The temperature in Atlanta dropped quickly this week. It was a reminder that winter is upon us. The cold weather, shorter days, and reduced sunshine will make working from home challenging for me.
• 2021 – I was asked today what I think next year will look like. I had a few tentative ideas, but the truth is I have no clue. Everyone is planning for a year that is so uncertain. I’m hopeful that things won’t get drastically worse, but I’ll have a plan just in case.
• More deals – Last week, I reflected on deal and fundraising activity levels. Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack was another huge tech deal. I suspect we’ll see more big deals announced before the end of the year. I’m starting to think about all the variables driving the flurry of deals.

Week thirty-eight was the first week of winter for me. I don’t like cold weather, but I’m starting to adjust to the reality of the next few months. I’m already thinking about spring sunshine.

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

In the early days of CCAW, I often found myself distracted. I call it founder squirrel syndrome. It’s common—maybe, I’d argue, the norm. I poured tons of my energy into things that wouldn’t get me closer to my next milestone. I distinctly remember spending a great deal of time improving our order fulfillment process—which wouldn’t keep the lights on. We needed to get to a certain revenue threshold to be at the cash flow break-even point. We needed paying customers. I should have focused on landing new customers, not making things pleasant for our few existing ones. Over time I learned, albeit in a painful way, and it all worked out.

Early founders have so much coming at them that it’s hard to focus on, or sometimes even identify, what matters most. The early startup days are chaotic. Everything is all over the place. Nothing goes as planned. Constantly calling audibles. Reacting to new information. In the midst of all this, tending to what matters most can be the difference between success and failure because resources are precious. There are only so many hours in the day and dollars in the bank. Use them wisely. Less critical things can be dealt with later.

This is one of the hardest concepts for early founders to grasp and also one of the most impactful. If you’ve founded a company or are considering it, learn to set a few milestones and focus your efforts on activities that help you reach them. If you don’t know how to go about doing this, reach out. Ask for help. Learning this skill early can be a game changer!

Finding a cofounder is difficult, especially for nontechnical solo founders building tech companies. The pandemic has made the task even harder. Hearing so many founders struggle with this has kept it top of mind for me. Here are a few resources I’ve recently heard founders mention when they describe how they found technical cofounders:

• AngelList – A community focused specifically on startups. There’s area place to post jobs. The site’s focus on startups should help in reaching people who want to work with an early-stage company.
• GitHub – A development platform that helps technical teams with collaboration, version control, and a host of other things. A community forum mostly counts developers as members.
• Slack – This is specific to Atlanta (kinda). There’s a workspace for the Atlanta tech community called "tech404." Many developers are in the workspace, and there’s a channel specifically for jobs and another for gigs. I’ve encountered people who are part of the workspace but don’t live in Atlanta. I assume these kinds of workspaces exist in other major cities or regions too.
• Network blast – I’ve heard of founders sending out descriptions of the type of experience they were looking for via emails or texts. Potential cofounders were often suggested by people the founder would least expect to be helpful. You never know who someone else knows.
• Virtual events – This is harder, but I’ve heard of founders attending startup or technical events that offer virtual networking. Events that use platforms like Hopin can give you the chance to network one-on-one with people you might not otherwise meet.

I’m always surprised by the creative ways people connect with cofounders. I thought it might be helpful to share some of these. I can’t say if these will work for everyone, but I do know one thing for sure. If you don’t take action, you won’t find a cofounder. Be action-oriented and creative and you just might end up finding a technical cofounder who complements you.

This problem won’t go away, so I’ll update and share this list periodically. I hope it’s helpful.

Today Salesforce announced the acquisition of Slack for $27.7 billion. The deal was leaked last week, but now Salesforce has officially confirmed it, along with the deal price. The sale is for cash and Salesforce stock. The is the biggest acquisition to date by Salesforce and a huge win for Slack employees and investors. A few quick thoughts on this deal:

• Hot market – There’s been lots of M&A activity in tech over the last few months. I’ve noticed it at a local level with private tech companies at various stages. This deal is at an enterprise level and involves two publicly traded companies.
• Majority cash – Notably, Slack is getting a considerable percentage of the purchase price in cash. It will receive stock too, but more cash.
• Growth strategy – Salesforce has acquired a number of companies over the years, including Tableau for over $15 billion last year and Mulesoft for over $6 billion in 2019. Growth through acquisition is a serious part of its strategy.
• Integration – I’m curious about how Salesforce will digest and integrate such a big deal. It clearly has experience integrating companies it acquires.
• Valuation – Slack didn’t benefit from the pandemic as much as some other publicly traded tech companies that facilitated working from home, such as Zoom. From a valuation perspective, Slack may have seemed less expensive in the current landscape.
• Public – Slack went public in the summer of 2019 and had a valuation of $24 billion after the first day of trading on the stock market. Today’s deal price is 15% higher. Slack was a public company for about a year and a half before this deal was announced.

I’m very familiar with both companies. I used Salesforce heavily in the past and currently use Slack every day to communicate. This is a huge deal, and it will be interesting to see if other big tech players announce acquisitions of their own.

Growth is top of mind for most entrepreneurs. When you’re growing quickly, expenses are often incurred ahead of revenue growth. Hiring, special projects, building a product . . . all these things happen before you see additional revenue from customers. For this and other reasons, a high-growth company may be unprofitable. You’ll often hear unprofitability described as investing in growth, and investors may give such a company an attractive valuation.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about growth over the years:

• Messiness – Chaos reigns when you’re growing rapidly. A company growing at a breakneck pace isn’t a well-oiled machine. I like to think of it as a land grab. When growth slows, hone the efficiency of your processes. But while the opportunity’s in front of you, grab as much land as you can as fast as you can.
• Valuation – If you’ve achieved product–market fit, investors will overlook losses for a high growth rate. One hundred percent or more annually—which means you’re doubling every year—is great. When growth is minimal or negative, the valuation will be affected and investors will ask lots of tough questions.
• Source – Understand what’s driving your growth and double down on it if you can. If you don’t know the origins of your growth, you could inadvertently make decisions that hinder it or be caught off guard when it slows down for reasons you don’t understand and haven’t planned for.
• Alignment – When growth is expected to slow or begins to slow, consider adjusting expenses. If you’re no longer getting an ROI on a spend, reduce the spend or transition the resources to something that could provide a higher ROI.
• Expectations – High-growth companies can be caught in a situation where they’re penalized by investors or the stock market if their growth rate slows even slightly. Managing external expectations can become a critical part of managing growth.
• Channel partners – Growth through channel partners is a fine strategy, but I’m a fan of most of your revenue deriving from a direct relationship with customers. You’ll better understand your customers’ needs and a change in a third party’s priorities won’t be as likely to affect your growth.

All entrepreneurs aim for growth, but we’re not always prepared to manage it. These points are just a few things I’ve learned along the way that I hope will help as you think about growth.

Today I had a good chat with a friend about valuations of tech companies. A lot of capital has been raised in Atlanta and the Southeast over the last six months. I’ve read about acquisitions, venture capital rounds, and private equity recapitalizations. Our conversation began with private companies and moved to public companies. Both have seen valuations increase rapidly this year.

One of the points I made was the difference between private and public liquidity. Public company stock shares tend to be very liquid. They can be bought and sold in a matter of minutes. The liquid nature of the stock market means that market capitalization (i.e., valuation) of a company is always—for the most part—known and agreed to by a large pool of people (i.e., the market). The market cap reflects all known information about a company and the macro environment at any given time. A large pool of people reach consensus every day.

Private company ownership usually isn’t as liquid. Most owners can’t decide to sell private company shares and complete the transaction in the next few minutes. It’s more of a process. Parties interested in ownership in the company usually take time to become familiar with the business’s performance and other factors they deem important. Then they agree on a valuation with the owner and a transaction is completed. The business’s performance or the macro environment could change after the transaction, but the valuation of the company is usually pegged at the most recent transaction. And the valuation is usually agreed to by a small number of people.

I don’t have an opinion on the current state of tech valuations. I do think that the difference in the liquidity of private and public tech companies affects their valuations. I view one is a snapshot in time and the other as a daily consensus that incorporates the latest information.

There are lots of other differences between private and public tech companies that I won’t get into. I’m curious to see how valuations of both trend, and I’ll be watching them closely.

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

• Thanksgiving – It was great to have time off. This year has been very unusual and Thanksgiving was no exception.
• Southeast ecosystem – I connected virtually with a venture capital fund and an accelerator this week. Both conversations were enlightening. I’m surprised there’s so much activity I’m unaware of. All signs are that the region is headed in the right direction.
• Fundraising activity –There’s been a lot of fundraising activity in Atlanta in the last few months. Before year-end we’ll see a few more deals. Acquisitions, private equity recaps, venture capital fundraising . . . I’m happy for these founders and their teams. We’re in uncertain times, yet investors are bullish on ownership in private tech companies. I’m curious about what the future holds.

Week thirty-seven was low key. The holiday was much needed. I’m glad I got some downtime and could reflect on the things I’m thankful for. Before I know it, Christmas will be here.

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

Over the last few months I’ve been talking with a founder about a problem I’ve personally experienced. He’s mentioned his solution to this problem many times, and it made me curious. I had some time today and decided to dig in. The founder did a really good job of building an MVP. The product works just well enough to solve the problem—it isn’t completely built out. It requires the user to complete way more steps than is ideal. Despite this and other hurdles, the founder is on to something, and his stats prove it.

He’s been using this MVP to get feedback from customers. He then makes changes based on the feedback. He’s trying to solve the problem in a way that customers see value in. In a matter of months, he’s managed to convince a few hundred customers to pay for his MVP. These are early adopters, of course, but they demonstrate that people see value in the solution he’s created. If his product is improved significantly and some marketing muscle is applied, he could build a massive company.

This founder has done a great job of staying focused on solving his customer’s problem—as opposed to perfecting the solution he thinks they want.

Founders should be careful to not put too much time into over-engineering a solution before putting it in the hands of users. The goal is to solve the customer’s problem in the way the customer wants it solved. The only way to truly know if you’re doing that is to let them test your solution. Once your solution resonates with them, you can spend time perfecting it.