You Don't Need to Do It All
All entrepreneurs know that there is always more we can do.
More customers. More products. More ideas. More opportunities.
The challenge is figuring out what actually matters.
Early on in our career as software entrepreneurs, we needed to attract developers and raise enough money to cover our operating expenses. Those became our priorities, and we put our resources behind them.
That taught us something we carried forward: focus isn’t about having less to do. It’s about knowing what matters most and making sure everyone knows it.
Why This Matters
If everything is a priority, nothing is.
A founder can chase a new opportunity while the product team works on a new feature and sales focuses somewhere else.
Everyone is busy. But they are not moving in the same direction.
I (Mike) have always said: you need to be able to name your top priorities. If the founder can’t, the organization won’t know what to focus on either.
Focus the Company
Our priorities changed as Buddy Media changed. What mattered when we were getting the company off the ground was different from what mattered as we grew.
The point was not to follow the same plan forever. It was to keep asking: What do we need to accomplish now?
I (Mike) have always had a lot of ideas. My natural state is pretty unfocused. Having a short list of priorities gave me something to come back to when everything else started competing for attention.
I (Kass) was focused on making sure we actually got those priorities done.
You don’t need to do everything.
You need to know what matters most and go after it.
A Question to Sit With
What are you doing right now that is taking you away from what matters most?
Love,
