§ Business philosophies
Up: § Notes Index
This is my Outline Notes for my overall business philosophies. This note mainly collects up notes related to my overall business philosophies which are written in a way that isn’t Buffer specific, but may of course mention Buffer. Anything super specific to Buffer goes in § Buffer thoughts and decisions. On rare occasions it’ll make sense to put something on both of these lists.
Growth
Long-Term
- ■ Examples of long-term founder led companies
- ■ Shareholder letters
- ■ Don’t get stuck in Scaleup land
- ■ It’s natural as a company to have different seasons
- Our way, not the way
Motivation and productivity
- Left and right sides of the road
- ℘ See Paris First
- ■ How I work - Input, Processing, Output
- It’s best to aim to progress in other dimensions of life throughout the duration building a company
- ■ The value of walking as a founder or leader
- § The importance of publishing, releasing, shipping
- § Being fully committed, or fully uncommitted
Target customer
- I’m more excited to serve small businesses than the creator economy
- My thoughts on incentives for customer research
Purpose
- Founders start a business to have more freedom, and very quickly give up that freedom
- The business enables the passion, the freedom, the art, doing good
- ■ Building a business comes before artistry and philanthropy
- On forming vision, mission, values over years
Leadership, People and Culture
- The companies you're sad to lose people to, the companies you're proud to lose people to
- Consensus is powerful in tiny groups, unproductive in large groups
- Ask Questions rather than Asking For Questions
- Values should drive unique job requirements
- Stipends within organizations
- Oscillating between details and strategy
- ■ Growing as a leader means covering greater distance between details and strategy
- The importance of developing a broader leadership group as you scale
- ■ The CEO role is to be shaped by you
- Managers are individual contributors too
- ■ How hands-on managers need to be is related to company stage
- ■ How to operate effectively with many direct reports
- Patrick Collison and Jensen Huang discussing craft and tenure
- As a leader, sometimes you're ahead of insights and sometimes you're behind
- Achieve the best outcomes by working in and on the business
- ■ Leading through writing
Performance & Feedback
- ■ Give feedback that you know applies to yourself
- ■ I give more feedback when I have space
- You should be proud of the work your team does, but it should not always be what you would do
- § 1-1 meetings
- § Performance reviews
Innovation
- ■ With new innovation, the biggest threat is indifference, not competition
- When innovation happens, it usually happens simultaneously
- ■ Product Market fit is a moving target
Writing
- ■ Evergreen notes as a way to run a company
- It's important to regularly publish writing
- ■ Leading through writing
Advice & Advising
Funding
Stubs
(Note should also appear in a category above)
- ■ Adventure from a business perspective
- ■ Examples of long-term founder led companies
- ■ How I work - Input, Processing, Output
- ■ With new innovation, the biggest threat is indifference, not competition
- ■ Evergreen notes as a way to run a company
- ■ Building a business comes before artistry and philanthropy
Up: § Business philosophies As a leader, sometimes you're ahead of insights and sometimes you're lagging behind. Often as a leader…
Up § Business philosophies Why I’m more excited to serve and drive small business than the creator economy. It’s more fun to be pa…
§ Business philosophies Managers are individual contributors too. They contribute process changes, documentation, strategic plans,…
Up: § Business philosophies It takes years to form strong vision, mission and values for a company. So don’t give up control too s…
Up: § Business philosophies I have found that one of the most effective ways for me to lead as a CEO is to oscillate between being…
Up: § Business philosophies Patrick Collison: Nvidia has a market cap of roughly $2 trillion, and you're now within spitting dista…
Up § Business philosophies These thoughts were inspired by a conversation with Jess about her plans for a Hospitality Included (no…
Up: § Business philosophies The concept that when you come up with an idea / innovation, it's often the case that one or more othe…
Up: § Business philosophies In general, I believe most startups view growth through a “more is always better” lens. However, I’ve …
Up: § Business philosophies - ❝ If it's important, do it every day. If it's not important, don't do it all. - ❝ If you’re not feel…
Up: § Business philosophies - It's important to regularly publish writing - ❝ Usage is like oxygen for ideas. You can never fully …
Up: § Business philosophies So much push to scale up, fire yourself, etc. etc. I subscribe to the concept that a small company is …
Up: § Business philosophies Leveling up is being able to cover a broader distance. Strategy and details. Not stepping out of the d…
Up: § Business philosophies I've become very interested in learning how some leaders seem to operate effectively with a significan…
Up: § Business philosophies Time to reflect, have breakthroughs, growth periods and learning periods. Related quote: ❝ When we tak…
Up: § Business philosophies, § My note taking system Related: ■ Evergreen notes as a way to run a company…
Up: § Business philosophies Related: ■ Don’t get stuck in Scaleup land…
Up: § Business philosophies Related: ■ Don’t get stuck in Scaleup land…
Up: § Business philosophies I’ve long had a walking habit The evening walk - Feb 2013 Dreams come true - April 2013 These days it’…
Up: § Buffer thoughts and decisions, § Business philosophies If I were to rebrand Founder Mode, I would suggest Back To Basics Mod…
Up: § Buffer thoughts and decisions Up: § Business philosophies My personal opinion: once you see a business offering incentives f…
Up: § Buffer thoughts and decisions, § Business philosophies In the early stages of a company (say until around 50 people), you ge…
This is a list of entry points into my notes. These are essentially the hub nodes within the network of my notes. For more on the …
Up: § Buffer thoughts and decisions Up: § Business philosophies I’m starting to reflect on and research annual shareholder letters…
Up: § Notes Index This is my Outline Note for Buffer thoughts and decisions. Relatedly, the § Business philosophies note lists my …