Advice to a friend dealing with their chaotic startup...
Startups are inherently chaotic. No chaos = no opportunity. Startups exist because there is uncertainty, and new things to learn. (1/7) #startup
During a period of rapid growth, all things (structures, processes, etc.) eventually break. Some chaos is self-inflicted, and too much chaos can cause collapse / chronic harm (2/7) #startup
Agility is solving today’s problem, while not limiting your ability to solve tomorrow’s problem. There’s always a temptation to solve tomorrow’s problems.
There are good ideas everywhere, and opportunities everywhere. So focus is hard (3/7) #startup
Startups require an almost supernatural level of focus. You have to focus, while knowing full well many things are broken, and need work. Nothing is truly repeatable or efficient at this point, even when we want it to be (4/7) #startup
And that’s hard...so we tend to load up on the good ideas.
Pursuing all the good ideas will leave you (and others) burnt out. Self-inflicted chaos (5/7) #startup