14 June 2021
This week's additions focus on strategy, founder stories, and mindset, with new digests from Bill Gallagher, Rick Fawcett - Expert EOS Implementer, and Deep Questions with Cal Newport. Highlights include Franchising forced the systemisation five years of bootstrap growth never required Revenue hit zero with COVID — EOS kept the team focused and moving.
Showing 13 digests for 14 June 2021.
Founder interviews
YouTube
Building a remote cleaning franchise from scratch: Neel Parekh on MaidThis
Bill Gallagher
June 20, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Business operating systems
6
Outsourcing & delegation
5
Franchising forced the systemisation five years of bootstrap growth never required
Vacation rental cleaning can't be Uberised — reviews make no-shows catastrophic
Started at 24 with maximum risk tolerance and didn't use it
How EOS Helped a Med Spa Survive COVID and a Devastating Fire
Rick Fawcett - Expert EOS Implementer
June 19, 2021
Case studies
10
Business operating systems
7
Revenue hit zero with COVID — EOS kept the team focused and moving.
A fire destroyed the flagship store; systems meant action began by 9pm.
Every quarter now exceeded targets; fourth location opened despite two crises.
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Creating Art Without Social Media Pressure
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
June 17, 2021
Productivity & habits
8
Deep work & focus
7
Artists can build careers without social media using in-person events, blogging, and direct relationships.
Deploy social media as a professional tool only—schedule posts on desktop, avoid phone interaction entirely.
Define the exact business value you need, isolate that activity, and keep personal use completely separate.
Core Web Vitals explained: what they are and how to optimize them for SEO
Ahrefs
June 16, 2021
SEO
9
Automation & tools
6
LCP, CLS, and FID measure load speed, visual stability, and interactivity.
Use lab tools for fast iteration; field data lags by 28 days.
Core Web Vitals are a ranking tiebreaker, not a content-quality substitute.
How to prioritise people and operations during high-growth scaling
Bill Gallagher
June 16, 2021
Management
9
Processes & SOPs
7
Set company-level goals before cascading OKRs — or nothing aligns.
Context is decisive: someone else's best practice will likely fail yours.
Save novelty for your product; proven basics outperform reinvented operations.
Moderna: How mRNA became the software of life
Business Breakdowns
June 16, 2021
Case studies
9
Business models
8
Unit economics
6
Proven mRNA delivery collapses drug development from years to weeks
COVID vaccine gave Moderna 100% economics; BioNTech split theirs with Pfizer
One platform, 15+ drugs — technical risk nearly disappears after first success
How to make $200,000 organizing conferences as a side hustle
Noah Kagan
June 16, 2021
Processes & SOPs
8
Business models
6
Community building
6
Ticket sales break even; sponsorships are where the real profit lives.
One free venue and one anchor speaker is enough to start.
Sam Parr turned a small conference into an eight-figure acquisition.
Phil Knight and the obsessive decade-long bet that built Nike
Founders
June 16, 2021
Origin stories
10
Bootstrapping
7
Resilience & grit
6
Nike survived seven years of near-bankruptcy before Knight went full-time
Losing your supplier can be the best thing that ever happens to you
Determination beats intelligence — obsessives build what smart people only imagine
Founder interviews
Podcast
How J.J. Abrams builds conditions for creative breakthroughs
Masters of Scale
June 15, 2021
Founder interviews
10
Culture building
8
Business operating systems
6
Structure doesn't kill magic — it gives magic somewhere to land.
Lost was greenlit and fully shot in 12 weeks; don't recreate this.
Diverse, cross-functional voices — not lone auteurs — make great work.
Why 10x thinking makes doubling your business easier
Bill Gallagher
June 15, 2021
Vision & mission
8
Goal setting
7
2x targets keep you tweaking; 10x forces a total rethink
A BHAG reframes doubling as a near-term byproduct, not the goal
Pair the BHAG with a Vivid Vision to own a category in 3–5 years
Resilience & grit
Podcast
Grief and Entrepreneurship: Building Mental Resilience Through Life's Losses
Startups For the Rest of Us
June 15, 2021
Resilience & grit
9
Work-life balance
7
Grief is embedded in entrepreneurship through exits, departures, and failures—learning to process it prevents burnout-driven decisions.
Selling a company creates real loss despite financial success; skipping the emotional work causes months of post-exit disorientation.
Burnout distorts decision-making and requires six weeks of rest to rebuild brain circuitry; use summer for restoration and diverse experiences.
Marketing fundamentals: problem, person, and place in 13 minutes
Noah Kagan
June 14, 2021
Growth hacking
9
Retention & loyalty
6
No tactic fixes a product that solves a problem nobody wants.
Narrower customer definition consistently outperforms broad targeting.
Stop dead channels — 50x the one thing that actually works.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Should you read the news? Deep work, email, and decision-making
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
June 14, 2021
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Take a news break and read Sunday papers instead of obsessive daily feeds.
Email's real problem is hyperactive hive mind—batching fails, you need structural change.
All work thrives on sequentiality and attention: one task fully focused before moving next.