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

• Hybrid college class – This week I presented to an entrepreneurship class at a local university. I attended virtually, but the class was hybrid. Some students were in the classroom (with masks), and others joined in via Zoom. It was interesting to watch. I’m wondering if the hybrid model will be the norm for undergraduate courses.
• Holidays –I noticed that people are talking about holiday plans and scheduling things is becoming more difficult. I think people are beginning to go into holiday mode mentally. This year has been rough, and I imagine lots of folks are looking forward to the holidays more than ever.
• Strengthening teams – I’m thinking more about how teams can build bonds and rapport while everyone is working from home. As I wrote yesterday, I think random unplanned conversations strengthen teams way more than people think, and they’re nonexistent now. It feels like the missing link in this work-from-home world. If this problem is solvable, it’s a massive opportunity.

Week thirty-five was pretty calm and uneventful. I guess I’m starting to adjust my pace to holiday mode too!

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

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

• Election – Keeping up with the election cut into my productivity quite a bit. Looking forward to a decision so we can all move forward. I foresee Atlanta being on more people’s radar because of its outsize influence on this election.  
• Work-from-home posts – These posts began as a way for me to document working from home during a pandemic. They’ve morphed into more of a weekly reflection. I get more out of this habit than I originally envisioned and really enjoy it. My daily posts cover the last 24 hours, but I’ve benefited from reflecting on my week as well. Numbering the weekly reflections has helped me appreciate how much time has passed. I’ll continue doing these posts even when I’m not working from home anymore. Look for them to be renamed in ’21.

Week thirty-four was an interesting one. I’m ready for the election to be over so I can get back to focusing on other things.

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

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

• Election – Next week’s election is top of mind for me (and many others. I’m encouraged by the high voter turnout so far. More people are exercising their right to vote, which I love (regardless of their views).
• October – The month is over tomorrow, and it’s been a whirlwind. I’ve settled more into my second act as an investor and started to get into a groove that works for me. I still need to work on lots of things, but October was better than September.
• Points of failure – This week, many in Atlanta were without power because of Hurricane Zeta. It disrupted things, for sure. I’m now wondering how working from home and more points of failure at each worker’s home (e.g., power outages and internet connectivity issues) are interacting. Working from home is here to stay in some form, I believe, but large companies will be thinking about helping their teams mitigate these problems as much as possible.

Week thirty-three was a good week and October was a good month. Looking forward to finishing out the rest of the year strong, safe, and healthy!

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

One of the most difficult things any early founder has to deal with is transitioning a team member. I struggled with it and every founder I know struggled with it at some point. Early teams are close knit and can feel like family. Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years that may be helpful:

• Everyone knows – When someone isn’t pulling their weight or they’re struggling to keep up, it’s not a secret. Especially on small teams. Most people won’t say anything to the founder, but they’re thinking about it. A players want to work with A players. A C player can pull down the productivity of the entire team. No one wants to give 100% if they know others give only 70%.
• Company needs evolve – Companies go through growth stages just like people. What’s needed to be successful changes with each stage. Someone’s skills may be great at stage one but insufficient at stage two. It’s common for people to outgrow a company, and vice versa.
• Trust your gut – With every person I’ve transitioned, I knew long before the day came that it would need to be done. Most founders say the same thing. I often waited quite a while to make the change, which was a mistake. It wasn’t good for the person or the company. It’s better to rip the bandage off and allow people to find a role (internally or externally) that sets them up for success than to allow them to continually fail.
• One step ahead – Founders are captains of a ship. They should be looking far out and adjusting course to reach the destination while avoiding icebergs that might sink it. Staying a step ahead can give your people the opportunity to grow their skill set before they’re needed (if you tell them what skills they need to work on). Or it will give you time to find someone with the right skills for the role.

What I’ve said doesn’t apply just to non-founders, but to founders as well. Companies can outgrow the skills of their founder. Founders need to be self-aware and constantly working to make sure their skills match the company’s needs. When people see founders working to make themselves better, they tend to want to do the same.

People are critical to the success of any company and you should always treat everyone fairly and with dignity. Early founders need to realize that keeping someone on too long can harm them, not help them. It’s terrible for their confidence to continually fail. Transitioning them to a role they’re better suited for may be painful in the short term but it will set them and the company up for long-term success.

Friday marked the end of my thirty-second week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week thirty-two:

• Pitch events – This week was busy because of events. Techstars, Venture Atlanta, and others gave companies opportunities to pitch to investors and the community. I wasn’t able to attend everything, but I enjoyed what I did make it to. These events are a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to introduce their companies to a wide variety of people. Lots of companies present when they’re raising capital.
• Outlander event – Our team is working hard to bring interesting events to the Southeast. We have some great stuff in the pipeline. I’m excited about our pitch competition for female founders. Can’t wait to see what problems they’re solving.
• Progress – I couldn’t make progress on everything on my list this week. I guess that was to be expected because of all the events. I’m looking forward to getting back on track next week. I’m going to try Jean-Michel Lemieux’s “1, 3, and 5” approach.
• Relationships – Relationships came to the fore this week. I helped a few connections with projects they’re working on, and others did the same for me. Healthy relationships are bidirectional, and I enjoy helping others however I can. It’s great to see someone become successful and know you played a small role in helping them get there.

Week thirty-two was full of events. I’m looking forward to putting my head down and focusing next week. My goal is to wrap up a few big things before the holiday.  

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

Today I attended Venture Atlanta. It’s the first year they’ve done a virtual event, but I was impressed. One of the conversations I enjoyed was with Jean-Michel Lemieux, CTO at Shopify and former VP of engineering at Atlassian. Shopify’s platform has made it easier than ever for small and medium-sized business to have an e‑commerce presence. It’s grown tremendously during the pandemic as traditional businesses look for ways to sell online quickly. Jean-Michel shared a few great things:

• Shopify’s leaders realized they couldn’t recruit the talent they needed in Ottawa, Ontario, from tech havens like San Francisco. They opted to hire young and focus on developing talent quickly. They’ve been intentional about connecting their junior team members with more experienced people in the local community from large tech companies like Blackberry and Nortel. And they’ve gone as far as hiring full-time coaches to ensure that the team has the support it needs to develop quickly.
• Jean-Michel begins his week by figuring out what his “1, 3, and 5” are. What’s the one thing that has to get done this week? He won’t leave the office until it’s been completed. What are the three things he should be able to get done? What are the five things it would be nice to get done? If the top thing gets done and some of the should-get-done ones are addressed, it was a good week. Anything more is a bonus.
• He allows zero meetings on Wednesday so he can have an entire day to focus.
• Figure out what’s unique about your location or city. When you know, leverage it. Lean into it. Don’t try to be like other cities. Create your own identity by playing to your strengths, not comparing yourself to others.

Jean-Michel has hit the start-up lottery twice by working in senior roles at two of the larger publicly traded tech companies outside of Silicon Valley. He shared a ton of nuggets, and it’s clear from today’s conversation that he’s a talented person. I’m a fan of Shopify and will be excited to see how it continues to help small and medium-sized businesses thrive digitally!

Today I attended Atlanta’s Techstars Demo Day. Techstars Atlanta is a partnership between Cox Enterprises and Techstars. These demo days are held in cities all over the world and historically they’re hosted by each city’s local Techstars accelerator. Accelerators are three-month programs in which entrepreneurs receive “funding, mentorship and access to the Techstars network for life.” Because of the pandemic, all 2020 demo days are virtual (I’m not sure if virtual attendance used to be an option). These virtual events are a great opportunity for people to learn about new companies that are solving problems in interesting ways.

Techstars accelerators give entrepreneurs access to a lot of really smart people—including past and present entrepreneurs in the Techstars network—who can help them fast-track their progress and otherwise support them. Demo days are a great way for entrepreneurs to get introduced to customers and potential investors.

Feel free to check out the latest Atlanta Techstars cohort (and pitches) here.

Friday marked the end of my thirty-first week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week thirty-one:

• Month seven – Hard to believe it’s been seven months . . . but it has. Writing these weekly posts has been a great reminder of how much time has passed. I’ve settled into working from home at this point, but the lack of separation can still be a challenge. My workday wants to creep into the evening. I’m actively trying to consistently end it at a certain time.

I was happy with week thirty-one. I was more intentional and managed my time better, which helped a lot.

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

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

Email management – I’ve written about my struggles with email here and here. This week, I began using Superhuman. So far, I like it. I’ve even gotten to inbox zero, which is a big deal to me. I’m not familiar with most of its features yet and I’m looking forward to learning more about them in the coming weeks. I hated responding to email from my phone, but Superhuman has changed that. I’m now aiming to handle most email by phone.

Next chapter – I caught up with a few founder friends this week. The next chapter was on the minds of a few of them. It seems that this is the season for people to ponder what they’ll work on next. I shared my experience—as I’m happy to do anytime—and I hope it was helpful.

September reflection – September was a month of transition and lots of new things. It was a bit hectic and, at times, overwhelming, but energizing as well. I’m looking forward to settling into my new normal in October.

Week thirty was a good week. The pace felt right and I have a better handle on things. Next week will mark seven months of working from home, which is hard to wrap my head around.

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

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

• Time management – This week I focused on being proactive about what I spend my time on. I noticed a big difference. I didn’t get as much done in certain areas, but overall, I’m happy with my progress.
• Podcast – I was invited to participate in a podcast this week. I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into (this was a first), but I accepted. The moderator made me feel comfortable, and the other participants were great. We talked about mentorship, which I’m passionate about. A terrific experience!
• Students – As I said in a recent post, I really want to help entrepreneurial students reach their full potential. My earlier post led to a great conversation with a student today. I’ll continue looking for ways to help students.  

Week twenty-nine was a busy one (this seems to be the norm). Looking forward to refining how I organize my work next week.

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