15 July 2019
This week's additions focus on mindset, leadership, and product, with new digests from StoryBrand With Donald Miller, Bill Gallagher, and Y Combinator. Highlights include More than one point per message means people remember nothing. Productivity is an energy problem, not a time problem.
Showing 14 digests for 15 July 2019.
Every marketing message should be about one thing
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 19, 2019
Copywriting
9
Content marketing
6
More than one point per message means people remember nothing.
Extra details open story loops your audience expects you to close.
One message, one punchline — across emails, videos, and landing pages.
Managing energy, not time, to get more done
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 19, 2019
Communication
9
Resilience & grit
5
Productivity is an energy problem, not a time problem.
Wasting energy on things you can't change kills output.
Define goals, then ruthlessly protect your energy for them.
How execution-tracking software helps scale and sell a business
Bill Gallagher
July 17, 2019
Processes & SOPs
9
Management
7
Valuation
5
Documented execution history directly raised a company's PE exit multiple
Strategic priorities consistently lose to daily emergencies without a weekly system
Tying compensation to priority achievement is the fastest habit-adoption lever
Managing technical teams: lessons from IC to engineering leader
Y Combinator
July 17, 2019
Management
9
Delegation
7
Hiring & recruitment
5
Coding your way out of a team problem is always the wrong move.
Removing one toxic person improves team output more than you expect.
Leadership is providing clarity in ambiguity — not a title or charisma.
Productivity & habits
YouTube
How to identify and protect your moneymaker role
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 16, 2019
Productivity & habits
9
Delegation
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Every leader has one role that costs the most if neglected.
Block time for your moneymaker and never trade it away.
Find and defend the moneymaker for every team member too.
Why early startups must do things that don't scale
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
Pivoting
8
Customer discovery
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Unscalable manual work is the only path to eventually scaling.
Skip the handmade effort early, and you'll never get big.
Heavy manual work for first customers is always worth it.
Resilience & grit
YouTube
Irrational commitment as a common trait in successful founders
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
Resilience & grit
8
Identity & self-belief
6
Successful founders share an almost irrational, all-in obsession.
Musk bet his entire fortune on SpaceX — three rockets exploded first.
Focus, frugality, obsession, love: Buchheit's four-word founder distillation.
Customer discovery
YouTube
Founders ignore users and ship too slowly
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
Customer discovery
9
MVP & prototyping
7
Building in isolation instead of talking to real users kills startups
Avoiding embarrassment stops founders from shipping fast enough
Start with a problem you personally have — it's the strongest position
MVP & prototyping
YouTube
When to launch a startup: the quantum of utility rule
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
MVP & prototyping
8
Pivoting
5
Launch the moment one person benefits from your product
Late launches carry risk just as early launches do
Ten people who love it is a perfectly valid launch
Founder interviews
YouTube
How a founder's role shifts from maker to manager at Gobble
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
Founder interviews
8
Work-life balance
6
Maker time is precious early — meetings consume it as you scale
Blank-slate floor sessions: a founder's reset for finding what's next
Losing customer proximity is a direct predictor of founder unhappiness
MVP & prototyping
YouTube
How to decide what to build next: Michael Seibel's product cycle framework
Y Combinator
July 16, 2019
MVP & prototyping
9
Iteration & feedback loops
7
Fast iteration beats predicting the right thing to build.
Ship MVPs quickly, measure results, keep only what works.
Chasing 'home runs' and perfecting each feature causes spiral of death.
Hiring & recruitment
YouTube
Why hiring a "rock star" employee usually backfires
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 15, 2019
High-reputation hires often disappoint — the reputation is the problem
Wanting a rescuer is a trap; no single hire fixes your company
Hire for enthusiasm about your specific problems, not credentials
Resilience & grit
YouTube
How to stop a mistake from defining your identity
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 15, 2019
Resilience & grit
9
Identity & self-belief
8
Absorbing a mistake into your identity causes more damage than the mistake
Viktor Frankl's logotherapy: write out every benefit the mistake gave you
The only bad mistake is one you fail to learn from
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Designing your workday around your chronotype
How I Work
July 15, 2019
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
8
Why most productivity advice fails without knowing your chronotype
Owls, larks, and middle birds each have a different peak window
Block deep work at your peak; dump shallow work in the dip