10 July 2023
This week's additions focus on strategy, founder stories, and marketing, with new digests from Cameron Herold, Rob Walling, and TK Kader. Highlights include Why a COO asking questions feels like conflict — but isn't Founders waste time on certainty — delegate it, own the risk
Showing 31 digests for 10 July 2023.
Understanding the CEO-COO communication gap
Cameron Herold
July 16, 2023
Communication
9
Management
5
Why a COO asking questions feels like conflict — but isn't
Entrepreneurial CEOs and COOs have opposite cognitive wiring
Adapt communication style, not personality, to supercharge the relationship
Productivity & habits
YouTube
Five productivity habits that actually move the needle for founders
Rob Walling
July 16, 2023
Productivity & habits
9
Delegation
6
Founders waste time on certainty — delegate it, own the risk
Time-boxing beats procrastination on tasks under an hour
One emailable to-do list prevents tasks from disappearing
Three go-to-market tools to mobilize a SaaS growth flywheel
TK Kader
July 16, 2023
Funnels
9
Sales systems & CRM
7
Retention & loyalty
6
Referral pipeline converts at 2x win rate — and most founders ignore it
One tool turns your ICP and manifesto into a live landing page in 90 seconds
Product-led vs sales-led determines which conversion tool you should use
Identity & self-belief
Podcast
Epictetus on preserving character in any situation
The Daily Stoic
July 16, 2023
Identity & self-belief
9
Resilience & grit
6
You sell yourself at a price — know what yours is
The purple stripe refuses to blend in, even under threat of death
Character is built slowly; don't abandon effort for lack of genius
Pitching investors
YouTube
How to craft a memorable, specific elevator pitch
KeyPersonOfInfluence
July 16, 2023
Pitching investors
8
Niche selection
7
Generic pitches score 2/10 — specificity makes you referable
A five-part framework turns credentials into a memorable niche identity
Owning a tight niche can build a multimillion-dollar business
Founder interviews
Podcast
LinkedIn's product evolution: building complex marketplaces at scale
Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth
July 16, 2023
Founder interviews
10
Business operating systems
8
Product-market fit
6
Skills-first hiring is reshaping how 47% of recruiters find candidates
One North Star filters every product decision across LinkedIn's marketplaces
Why great PMs should double down on strengths, not fix weaknesses
How to navigate office politics with a winning strategy
Dr. Grace Lee
July 15, 2023
Communication
9
Conflict resolution
7
The hidden org chart — not the formal one — is where power lives.
Win-win beats compromise: make others feel understood, not just appeased.
Political landscapes shift with restructuring, growth, or crisis — stay alert.
How OpenAI and Airbnb used blitzscaling to win their markets
EO
July 15, 2023
Business models
9
Long-term planning
8
Product-market fit
7
Speed over efficiency is the only play in winner-take-most markets
Launch embarrassingly early — real feedback beats internal intuition
AI creates the perfect blitzscaling conditions: data advantages compound fast
Founder interviews
Podcast
Casey Neistat on purpose, parenting, and creative ambition
The Daily Stoic
July 15, 2023
Founder interviews
10
Work-life balance
8
Productivity & habits
6
Parenthood gave Neistat his ambition — obligation to provide drove everything
Measure every commitment in bedtimes you will miss, not abstract cost
Constraints focus energy: kids made both men more prolific, not less
How to redesign your team meeting cadence for a remote small team
Layla at ProcessDriven
July 14, 2023
Processes & SOPs
9
Management
7
Weekly all-hands meetings silently rot into status-report slogs
One-on-ones have the highest ROI — cut everything else first
Remove managers from performance reviews to unlock honest feedback
Resilience & grit
Podcast
Stoic practices: anticipating the worst and staying intellectually humble
The Daily Stoic
July 14, 2023
Resilience & grit
9
Identity & self-belief
6
Stoics rehearsed bad outcomes so shock never paralysed them
Early competence is dangerous — quick learners skip fundamentals
Treat knowledge as always insufficient; there is no graduation
Founder interviews
Podcast
M&A strategy, competition, pricing, and open source at dbt Labs
Lenny's Podcast Product Career Growth
July 13, 2023
Founder interviews
10
Business models
9
Pricing strategy
7
Inflict pain on potential acquirers — then stay friendly to keep doors open.
dbt won by making SQL practitioners into data engineers overnight.
Ship before it's ready — tech debt only exists when people are using your product.
Long-term planning
YouTube
Growing a business during a sales slump with international expansion
Neil Patel
July 13, 2023
Long-term planning
9
Unit economics
8
Prospecting & outreach
6
New markets start at $0 — any deal beats a shrinking domestic base.
NP Digital grew international revenue 74% by opening nine regions in five months.
Repeated promotions at competitor firms beat interview self-promotion every time.
Common mistakes startups make in business plans and go-to-market
EO
July 13, 2023
B2B sales
9
Business models
8
Product-market fit
5
Pain without urgency kills startups — customers must buy now
Product-market fit is not enough; go-to-market fit is the missing link
Heroic founder-led selling never scales; repeatable process does
Contracts & agreements
YouTube
Non-compete agreements: what employers need to know
HR Party of One
July 13, 2023
Contracts & agreements
9
Hiring & recruitment
5
Overbroad non-competes invite lawsuits more than they offer protection.
Three states ban non-competes outright; state law varies widely.
Strong candidates may walk away rather than sign a non-compete.