Find Your 9others

Question one, to go with nine others: you need to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Not only will it help you focus on what you should do but also recognize what you shouldn’t.

Timothy Armoo, founder of Fanbytes

Why am I doing what I’m doing? Ask yourself this and, when you have an answer, ask yourself ‘why’ again. Several times if needed. Ask ‘why’ until you can’t ask ‘why’ anymore. What you will find at the end of that journey will be a clear mission.

As a founder, it’s not your job to make everything perfect before launch; that would be impossible. Instead, it’s your job to focus on learning as much as possible about the market and how your product fits in order to inform what you do next. So you gather data, collect feedback and analyse what happens every step of the way. Then you improve. If

As a final word, this isn’t to dismiss high standards. Your standards should still be high, and you should always try to do the best you possibly can. But this is relative to your size, what you’re creating and how you’re presenting it. If you’re showing a paper prototype of an app, then of course it will be simple, but it needn’t also be ugly and

Or rather, curation with the lightest of touches. We experimented early on with complete curation, i.e., bringing together ten people who would all connect and have something in common, but we realized very quickly that it was no more likely to spark interesting things than a more random group of well-qualified people. However, once we have a few s

What do I expect of myself on a daily basis? It doesn’t need to be a lot (in fact, it shouldn’t be), and it doesn’t need to be impressive; it just needs to be honest. What are the things that you know you can do that will make each day resonate so you feel fulfilled?

Have a regular check-in point to meet with key people. Agree on a time/date/location that works and stick to it. It could be weekly, monthly or less often if that suits, too, and it could change over time/with needs.

What 9others does – and what we believe any good sounding board for founders should do – is provide a place where people can both listen and be listened to.

How do I use my time? You can work out if the mission you’ve landed on really is ‘the one’ by looking at what you actually do with your time. For example, do you stay up late working on this mission? Does it occupy your mind on the weekends, outside of traditional working time?