The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture

Your second conversation with a potential hire should feel a lot more interesting than your first. First impressions count for a lot, but if you can’t continually build on that energy, the relationship isn’t likely to have legs beyond the initial spark. I call this kind of fire-starting ability aligned dynamism, which is when ideas vary but energy

The only “sustainable competitive advantage” in business is self-awareness.

The problem was simple, but the solution was anything but. After several fits and starts, lessons learned the hard way, and five years of bootstrapping (building a business that relied on revenue rather than venture capital), we built a multifaceted business. The Behance Network grew to enable more than twelve million creative professionals to show

The absolute best hook in the first mile of a user experience is doing things proactively for your customers. Once you help them feel successful and proud, your customers will engage more deeply and take the time to learn and unlock the greater potential of what you’ve created.

Ben breaks up every period of his company into chapters, each with a beginning, goal, reflection period, and reward. For example, a few years after the business was founded—once Pinterest’s website had a loyal and rapidly growing base of users—the company embarked on a new chapter to “become a mobile service.” At the time, Pinterest was known mostl

Across so many teams I’ve worked with, I’ve marveled at just how quickly an idea takes hold when someone proactively does the underlying work no one else clearly owned. There is rarely a scarcity of process or ideas but there is often a scarcity of people willing to work outside the lines. Those who take initiative to contribute when it wasn’t thei

Your second conversation with a potential hire should feel a lot more interesting than your first. First impressions count for a lot, but if you can’t continually build on that energy, the relationship isn’t likely to have legs beyond the initial spark. I call this kind of fire-starting ability aligned dynamism, which is when ideas vary but energy

What should you celebrate? Progress and impact. As your team takes action and works their way down the list of things to do, it is often hard for them to feel the granularity of their progress and you need to compensate. Celebrate the moments when aggressive deadlines are met or beaten. Pop champagne when the work you’ve done makes a real impact.

Sound judgment, achieved through aggressive truth seeking, is your most differentiating and deterministic trait. Despite all the hard work you do and the good luck you garner, you can lose it all with a tainted decision—and compound your outcome with an enlightened one. It’s all about being honest.