Startup Philosophy

I believe every successful sports coach has a philosophy…a way they play the game. John Wooden, Pete Carrol, and Johan Cruyff have published theirs.

I believe the same goes for building companies. The best founders have a philosophy for how they start companies, build teams, and deliver long term results. Yvon Choinard comes to mind.

I’m 17 years into developing my own philosophy. It’s still functional in nature as I figure out the pieces. But I’m constantly working to make it better. Rather than hold on to it, I’m publishing it for others to use. Winning markets is hard. Building teams gets easier as you develop your own way.

I believe the world is a better place if more, well run startups can be created.

My Tools

These are the tools I always come back to in breaking down problems and setting a clear direction.

  • POD – promise, offering and delivery.
  • Customer Journey – how to think through before, during, and after.
  • The Brief – how to make and launch anything
  • Messaging – architecture for how to create external messaging.
  • Quadrant – finding a clear space you can win.
  • Market – finding your tidal wave.
  • Eras – how to win markets in distinct phases.

My Teams

Everyone has their own way of runnings teams, this is mine.

  • Functional – how I run teams.
  • Who Owns What – how I organize teams.
  • Compensation – philosophy for why and how to pay a team.
  • Offsites – how to develop your team.
  • Playbook – everyone gets a printed copy, it gets updated annually.
  • Project To Hire – how to hire and get it right.
  • Trimesters – the cadence by which we run a company.
  • Workouts – weekly 1:1 sessions.

My Process

This is the process i use from $0-50M in revenue.