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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy holiday!

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a holiday that’s special to me. When I decided to quit corporate America and start a company, I broke the news to my parents over a Thanksgiving holiday. In the early years, the holiday was an opportunity for me to make progress on big projects. Eventually, though, it dawned on me what a terrible way of doing things that was, and I began enjoying the day with people I loved.

Unplugging was something I struggled with for a long time. I was worried about failing, so work issues were always racing through my mind. I eventually realized there weren’t many weekdays when I could mentally disconnect and learned to set work aside when they came around. Thanksgiving was definitely one of those days. I also found it to be a great time to reflect and give thanks for everything that had gone right that year.

Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy your downtime with people you care about!

I was talking with an early entrepreneur, who asked a great question. “What’s the most meaningful thing you gained from your journey that you least expected?” Now, I admit . . . I was totally stumped. I needed time to answer. I wanted to think about it so I could give an authentic response. Toward the end of our conversation, it came to me: friends who understand me and experienced the struggle too.

Being an entrepreneur is hard. You’re trying to do the impossible with limited resources. You’re pushing yourself and your team to the limit. It’s not something that most people understand or can relate to. I had a great support system of friends and family before I founded my company. I was able to talk with them about most things in my life. But when I became a founder, that changed. I was experiencing things they hadn’t and that they couldn’t relate to. After a while, I steered conversations with them away from work. My company was an outsized part of my life, so I found myself on an island without anyone to talk to who could relate.

I eventually connected with other entrepreneurs at a similar stage and this changed. All of a sudden, I could talk to people who got it. They were problem solvers facing the same challenges I was, and they had crazy visions that others in their life couldn’t understand. Over the years, those peers became wonderful friends. The friendship dynamics are hard to explain, but because we supported each other during some of our toughest times, the bonds are tight.

When I decided to start my company, I wanted it to be a success and I wanted to enjoy everything that came with it. I achieved success, but the thing that stands out more than that are the friendships I formed with other entrepreneurs. We come from different backgrounds, but we bonded over our shared desire to solve tough problems by building amazing companies. Companies can be bought and sold, but true friendships like these are invaluable.

If you’re looking to do something great (even if it’s not entrepreneurship), consider connecting with others who are traveling a similar road. No matter how great your accomplishments, the friendships you’ll build along the way will be priceless.

Vision is a popular topic in startup communities. But what is vision? How do you know if you have it? In my opinion, your vision is where you plan to go. I think of it as defining your future destination. You know you have a vision when you can describe it and others easily “get it” and can imagine the destination. They get excited about it and all the possibilities that come with it.

Trying to do something great is hard. You’ll get told no. You’ll hear that your idea is stupid. You may even be laughed at. At times you’ll face a seemingly never-ending barrage of hurdles, and some days nothing will go right. These are the days when vision matters the most. Without a vision, you may give into the pain and pick an easier path to a destination that looks like success. But if you know where you want to be and have conviction, your vision will help you navigate tough times. That clear vision helps you choose not the easy path but the path that aligns with where you want to be. That vision is what motivates your team to travel that difficult path with you. That vision is your compass and your confidence when the chips are stacked against you. When times are good, you may get away with not having a vision. But when times are hard, not having a vision can be the kiss of death.

If you’re trying to do something great, consider taking the time to develop your vision. It can be the difference between success and failure!

Last week, I watched my first Verzuz battle. This is a live-streamed event where two artists or producers compete by playing various songs from their catalog. It’s part battle, part concert, part live stream. It started in March as an impromptu five-hour live Instagram battle between famous producers Timberland and Swiss Beatz. Twenty-two thousand people tuned in. It’s since morphed into a sponsored event, and millions tune in to see an epic musical battle. Apple Music and Twitter are now involved via a formal partnership.

Last week’s battle was between two Atlanta rap icons, Jeezy and Gucci Mane. I live in Atlanta and I’m a huge hip-hop fan, so I was eager to see it. I didn’t know what to expect since it was my first. It blew my mind! The two rappers performed their songs on stage in a back-and-forth battle that was well-thought-out and sequenced like a concert. But the songs were chosen in real time as the event unfolded. Each rapper would pick his next song on the basis of what the other had just performed. The result was an energetic event that was the pandemic version of a live concert. It was great.

During the show, I happened to notice that 1.6 million people were on Instagram, live, watching it. My jaw dropped when I saw that figure. It’s reported that Instagram live viewers peaked at 1.8 million and 5.5 million accessed the event over all streaming platforms, including Apple TV. Those numbers are insane.

Timberland and Swiss Beatz are on to something huge. In my opinion, they followed the startup playbook perfectly. They noticed a problem (no live performances). They created a quick and nasty MVP (an Instagram live session). They found product–market fit and scaled their solution with partnerships and sponsorships. All in a matter of a few months. They’ve essentially created an opportunity for millions of people to attend a live concert series from their couch. Something tells me Verzuz’s success will force the music industry to rethink live concerts and have a big impact on how we experience live music!

Today marked the end of my thirty-sixth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week thirty-six:

• Thanksgiving rush – Unexpectedly, there was a Thanksgiving rush this week. Many people were trying to meet or wrap things up before next week. Busy, busy, busy! Note to self: plan for it to happen again before Christmas.
• Giving back – I had an exciting opportunity: participating in a feedback session for a group of early entrepreneurs. This group will do well, and I’m looking forward to keeping in touch and helping them on their journey.
• Zoom limits – I participated in two Zoom meetings this week that were four and five hours long. And I joined a few others that lasted an hour or more. The longer meetings were helpful for connecting with people and achieving goals, but they were brutal mentally. I can’t do more than one of these long meetings in a week anymore.  

Week thirty-six was busy. I’m glad it’s over and that next week is a holiday week. Some downtime will be good.

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

Today I had a great conversation with someone from my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I believe there are some first-rate tech entrepreneurs back home who could go far with the right help. This person made me aware of a fund in Baton Rouge that was created to invest in early-stage tech companies. One of its portfolio companies is now publicly traded on the stock market. (An early-stage company achieving an IPO is a huge achievement.)

Today highlighted to me that there’s an awareness problem. It’s difficult for aspiring entrepreneurs to be connected with helpful resources if they don’t know about them. I was excited to learn of this organization in my hometown, but I couldn’t help but wonder why I’d never heard of it before. Since I hadn’t, I’m sure there are entrepreneurs who also haven’t heard of it because they lack the relationships that would have made the connection for them. To be fair, this problem is common in lots of ecosystem, not just Baton Rouge. I see it in Atlanta all the time. Lack of awareness and relationship gaps are high hurdles that can slow entrepreneurs’ progress.

I’m looking forward to getting to know more about the startup scene in Baton Rouge and a variety of other cities in the Southeast. I’m confident that there are brilliant entrepreneurs with interesting ideas who just need a few doors opened for them. I hope I can be the person who does that for some of them!

At the end of each year, I think about what’s important to me that I want to focus on during the next year. I usually come up with a short list of three or four things—some personal and some professional. For each one, I identify the metric that will help me gauge how I’m doing and what success looks like (i.e., a target value for the metric). For example, I wanted to be more intentional about personal relationships in 2020, so I tracked how many activities I initiated with friends and family each month. My goal was five.

I don’t do this in isolation. I do it with a group of entrepreneurs so we can hold each other accountable. We track our goals in a central place and discuss our progress every month. If someone isn’t moving in the right direction in a particular area, we dig into the reasons for that.

When I set my targets in December, I’m nowhere close to achieving them. And I usually have no idea how I’ll reach them. I just know they represent what’s important to me and that I want to improve in that area. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m committed to figuring out how to move the needle through the year.

Today I reviewed my October metrics with my group and looked back over 2020. I had set a few stretch targets that I wasn’t confident about achieving. I was pleased to realize that I’ve achieved each stretch goal, even those that seemed unattainable. I thought about why and came up with a few reasons:

• Cadence – The regular rhythm of revisiting and discussing goals every month keeps them top of mind.
• Accountability – I don’t want to be the slacker in my peer group. Especially concerning goals I set for myself! I push harder so I don’t embarrass myself.
• Motivation – Taking time to pinpoint what’s important is key for me. When I identify the right things, it feels natural to work at improving them.
• Short list – I measure four things, max. I don’t think I’d be able to focus on more than that.
• Balance – Including personal and professional things helps me feel like the progress I’m making is balanced. It’s too easy to do well in one area to the detriment of the other.

It’s rewarding to monitor my progress throughout the year and the positive effects it’s had. I’m looking forward to settling on what’s important to me for 2021 during the holidays.

What about you? What do you want to work on in 2021? How will you measure your progress?