Building a Business

Inspiration and advice for building and scaling a business

Man this hits so hard. Like many other founders, I used to hire mostly on pedigree (Ivy League degrees and brand name companies) as a proxy for intelligence. Over the past 6 years running @PinwheelAPI, I’ve learned that the most successful teammates are actually the ones who had to overcome hardship at an early age. They don’t have unreasonably... See more

Kurtis Lin x.com

I’ve also learned slowly and painfully that a CEO can add enormous value simply by refusing to add noise. Clarity is kindness, but often feels like inaction to busy people. A lot of CEO work is invisible. It’s pressure management. It’s absorbing emotion without spreading it. It’s knowing what you think and how to say it with grace. It’s carrying

“Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” – Biz Stone

You won’t learn anything unless it hurts your feelings or costs you money.”

The most valuable, highest leverage thing you can do is build a team.
Make the one call that eliminates 100 follow up decisions.
I know there are exceptions to this but to do anything at scale you need to simplify what you are asking from your employees. They need to specialize. Ask them to be very good at one or two things and ignore everything

“Often it's the person who goes the extra mile who comes to the right conclusion. That's grit, it's perseverance, it's determination. It's making the effort. One of the things we emphasize is what do you need to do, what extra steps do you need to take to get to the right conclusion faster than those you compete with. And if you do hustle, you will

The best opportunities go to people whose reputation got them picked before anyone else knew the opportunity even existed.

Small advantages compound over time like interest in a bank account, so being 10% more committed doesn't give you 10% better results; it gives you 10x better results. Think of it like studying: the genuinely curious person will remember and connect ideas in ways that the person just trying to pass will never.

Being all in doesn't just beat partially

It’s particularly tough because it rarely feels like you’re chasing field mice in the moment. You’re busy. You’re active. And in a culture that celebrates busyness as success, it‘s easy to convince yourself that you’re making progress.

But busy doesn’t mean effective. Motion isn’t momentum. A rocking horse moves all day, but never goes anywhere.

So,