Think like a Founder - Important Habits You Should Adopt
If you are launching a new venture, starting a side hustle or thinking about making a big shift in your life then you are probably considering what it takes. What does it take to start something new? What does it mean to your life to commit to building something and succeeding?
I have been a founder many times over the past twenty years and I surround myself with the best founders, business builders and leaders out there. There are some things that business founders do that I think are imperative to your own success if you are starting something new. Here’s a breakdown of what I think founders do that other people should adopt when building something.
1. Obsess
There are problems everywhere. That means that there are solutions waiting to be turned into money everywhere. My favourite founders choose to work on problems that they are obsessed with.
Talented people can work on just about any problem and can likely make it a success of some kind. But it’s when founders obsess over the problem or the solution that they really turn up the heat.
It’s perfectly OK to obsess for one day a week or one hour a day. Your obsession can start out slowly and come up in a nagging sort of way. If you are obsessing then you want to work on the business or venture wholeheartedly. If you’re obsessed with food and eating the right kind of fuel, you’re likely to be a fit and healthy person. If you don’t really care too much about what you eat and how it affects your training then you’ll probably struggle to get into the best shape of your life.
The best founders obsess and that’s a good place for you to start: What are you obsessing over and is that what you are working on every day?
2. Focus
You can’t build multiple side hustles at once. You think you can. Other’s will tell you they did. You’ll really want to but you shouldn’t.
Saying “no” is an indication of obsessive focus. The more you say no to, the more you can focus on the thing you are obsessed with.
If you try to take on every opportunity then you’ll lose out on all of them instead of capitalise on the most lucrative or unique one.
Start saying NO more often, even if it feels like you might be losing out on something.
If you consistently feel like you’re losing out then maybe you’re working on the wrong thing and it’s time to rethink your obsession.
3. REVENUE
Early on in a startup or side hustle every action should lead to revenue. If it isn’t something that will take you a step close to earning money then it shouldn’t be your focus.
Sales and revenue matter more than just about anything else.
This means that if you need your product to improve to make a sale, then that’s a focus. If you need your YouTube channel to hit 100 000 subscribers before revenue, then that’s your focus. Figure out what your triggers are for revenue and then double-down and focus, obsess on hitting revenue.
4. Deliver
Don’t faff around trying to make whatever it is you’re working on perfect. PERFECT DOESN’T EXIST. You are never going to get to perfection and if you think you will, you’re in lalaland and need a hard reset in your thinking.
Stop. Assess what you have. Launch. The first thing you launch is never going to be the best version of your vision but at least it’ll be out there in the world. Deliver something to someone and listen to what they have to say. Put your work out into the world, it only counts when other people can use and critique it.
Many have said it before me: Ideas are fucking worthless, execution is everything.
5. Listen
It’s easy to start something new or make a change when it’s just you on your own. You essentially run your own little dictatorship of one. You decide what to build. You decide when to build it. You decide how it works, what it costs, where it lives and when you make changes.
Then you launch.
And then everyone has an opinion.
It’s difficult to take on every opinion you hear but the best founders listen and know how to curate who they listen to. You can’t take on everyone’s opinion but often when users are telling you something it wont just be one person with one opinion, it’ll be multiple users reporting the same feedback and that’s when you listen and then follow steps 5 and 6 below.
Build, launch, listen, iterate, adapt.
6. Iterate
The first version of whatever you’re selling is going to be good enough to get out there but not good enough to use forever.
Deliver the next feature. Add the next service. Upgrade the product. Listen to feedback (see point 6) from customers and implement the most relevant and practical suggestions.
The faster you can create a flywheel of iteration the better your product will be and the happier you’ll keep your customers.
Build something. Release it. Gain customers. Watch how they use your product. Listen to their feedback. Build the next version. Release it. Repeat.
That’s a simple flywheel that most founders I know use.
7. Adapt
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson’s famous quote applies to the start of something too. If you think you know how people are going to use your product you are sorely mistaken. You have no idea what’s coming at you until you release your baby into the wild and see if it can survive as you planned or if you need to adap, change and rethink the plan.
This is why point 4 above is so important. You have to get over your need for perfection. You need to overcome your fear of what other people say. Founders don’t give a shit what their critics say. They build, deliver, release, listen and adapt.
If you are afraid of making small tweaks, tiny pivots and slight adjustments as you go then you’re likely going to cling on to a sinking ship and drown.
Obsessing is great but do not obsess over the perfection of your initial idea or product. Be prepared that whatever you are building or launching is going to change, even slightly, over time.
8. Be You
In a world of infinite information and personality-overload it’s very easy to find someone to copy. We see the success of the Kardishians of the reality TV stars of the people who do nothing, contribute nothing but have a personality and we think we can do what they did.
You can’t be a better version of Kim Kardashian than she can be. You can’t be a better version of Casey Neistat than Casey. You can’t beat Jordan Peele at his own game or take Trevor Noah on at being Trevor.
But you sure as shit can beat them with your own brand of insanity, skill, dedication, obsession and focus. You can beat anyone in the world at being the most version of yourself that you can be. Founders know this intimitaly and it’s a hidden super power. Everybody reads about Steve Jobs being an asshole and the founders I know who tried to be like Steve - even I did for a brief and devastating period in one of my businesses - suffered greatly because we’re just not built like Steve was.
You need to figure out who the fuck you are and want to be and then you need to be that person as much as you can be.
Be yourself, relentlessly. It will pay off.
