A startup’s most precious asset is its founders. And everyone’s most precious asset is our time. Thus, a startup’s most precious asset is its founders time.
As simple as this may sound, its implications are not always straightforward. What’s more, founders time provide a clear framework that can serve you well in most of your decisions. Let me provide some examples.
– Team: Will this new hire be able to take over a number of tasks from you? Do you trust her enough so you won’t need to monitor her after a while? Is there a cultural fit, i.e. can you communicate easily with her?
– Product: Will this feature help you attract and serve more customers faster? Or will it make things more complex instead? Does it serve your vision, or is it a temporary workaround? Are you spending so much time explaining it, or does it resonate with everyone?
– Clients: Will this new client bring more value to the company than the time it will take to serve her? Will she provide for learnings that are critical for your targets, or are they irrelevant instead?
– Operations: Are you building on a recipe that can be put to work many times again in the future? Or are you working on one-off processes that won’t be used ever again? What is really less expensive if you take time into account?
– Investors: Will this investor act fast enough, does she respect your time? Will she help on a number of things that can save you time? Can you build a transparent relationship with her, rather than wasting time to maintain this relationship?
The list goes on, yet it should be by now clear. More often than not, when startups are faced with a decision, you’d rather aim for making the most out of founders time.
After all, it is time that makes our world go round and I do hope that this short post was well worth of your time ;)