24 January 2022
This week's additions focus on strategy, founder stories, and mindset, with new digests from Founders, TK Kader, and The Daily Stoic. Highlights include Sold his company twice, bought it back both times at half the price Category kings never create new categories — they hack existing ones
Showing 20 digests for 24 January 2022.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Sidney Harman: building a maverick company over six decades
Founders
January 30, 2022
Founder interviews
10
Culture building
6
Sold his company twice, bought it back both times at half the price
Going all-in on new technology early creates multi-year competitive advantages
Reject top-down command; lead as catalyst, first among equals
How to steal SaaS ideas using category hacking
TK Kader
January 30, 2022
Niche selection
8
Product-market fit
6
Category kings never create new categories — they hack existing ones
Budget lives in R&D, marketing, and sales — not HR or ops
Systems of record beat systems of decision on stickiness and valuation
Resilience & grit
Podcast
21 Stoic quotes to guide a better life
The Daily Stoic
January 30, 2022
Resilience & grit
9
Identity & self-belief
8
Goal setting
6
Why the best revenge is simply refusing to become like them
Self-sufficiency beats wealth — want less, depend on nothing
Time and patience are your most powerful allies, not speed
Identity & self-belief
YouTube
Five strategies to nail your performance review
Dr. Grace Lee
January 29, 2022
Identity & self-belief
9
Goal setting
7
Productivity & habits
6
Show ripple-effect impact on revenue, not just task completion.
Partial progress on past challenges still counts — communicate the steps.
Arrive with a post-review action checklist aligned to company goals.
Small process details create better customer experiences
Layla at ProcessDriven
January 28, 2022
Processes & SOPs
8
Customer experience
7
Tiny process details matter more than high-level strategy
A barcode scan replaced a fumbled verbal order number
A handwritten name on a desk turned a generic ask into a review
Leading through crisis: lessons from Planned Parenthood's Alexis McGill Johnson
Masters of Scale
January 27, 2022
Culture building
9
Management
7
Case studies
6
Stop waiting for permission — drive transformation before it's sanctioned
Model fearlessness daily so your team can afford to be fearless
Corporate citizenship means acting on staff realities, not poll-testing positions
Founder interviews
YouTube
What millionaires actually did to build wealth
Noah Kagan
January 27, 2022
Founder interviews
10
Long-term planning
6
Most wealthy people built wealth through one focused pursuit over many years.
Discipline and flexibility matter more than having the perfect plan upfront.
Older successful people are accessible — you just have to ask them.
How to start a business from nothing: an action plan
Silicon Valley Girl
January 27, 2022
Niche selection
8
Motivation
7
MVP & prototyping
5
Start part-time first — only quit your job when traction is real.
Three entry points: solve your own problem, pick an audience, or build content first.
The most passionate founder wins, not the first mover or best-funded.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
How to manage communication, deep work breaks, and career design
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
January 27, 2022
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
7
Ticketing-system thinking eliminates inbox chaos for any team workflow.
Extreme careers like law partner demand trade-offs most people never consciously accept.
Lifestyle-centric planning: design life first, then find work that fits it.
Michael Bloomberg: building a $10B private company from scratch
Founders
January 27, 2022
Origin stories
10
Business models
7
Fired at 39 with $10M, he bet it all on a startup instead
Every news story was a product demo — the media empire sold terminals
Don't mistake your delivery mechanism for your actual product
How to build a culture guide: part one essentials
HR Party of One
January 27, 2022
Culture building
10
Vision & mission
6
Why your employee handbook is failing your team
Five essentials that give employees shared purpose and identity
Working habits to document so new hires don't guess
Founder interviews
YouTube
From PE teacher to ultra running coach with location freedom
KeyPersonOfInfluence
January 27, 2022
Founder interviews
10
MVP & prototyping
6
Content marketing
6
Your coaching IP packaged as a book becomes a client acquisition system
Most runners fail ultras by ignoring mindset, skills, and race game plan
Forced redundancy was the push that launched a location-free coaching business
Nick Muxlow: ultramarathon coach building a location-free business
KeyPersonOfInfluence
January 27, 2022
Case studies
9
Business models
7
How systematising coaching into products unlocks location freedom
Doubling fees by refining your method and positioning
Giving back to community while scaling a global practice
Fractured Search Intent: How to Interpret Mixed SERPs
Ahrefs
January 26, 2022
SEO
9
Iteration & feedback loops
6
Mixed SERPs can span all four intent buckets simultaneously.
Organic results, SERP features, and stability each reveal intent signals.
Match dominant intent; arguing over full categorisation wastes time.
MVP & prototyping
YouTube
Why simple products beat feature-rich ones that don't work
Y Combinator
January 26, 2022
MVP & prototyping
9
Product-market fit
7
Deep work & focus
6
A product with one working feature beats many broken ones.
Validation from investors and press is not product-market fit.
Discipline, not intelligence, separates founders who execute.