This is a story about how I lost $10,000,000 by doing something stupid.

Ten. Million. Dollars.

Literally up in smoke. Money bonfire.

That’s enough to retire with $250,000+ in annual income.

Here’s what happened…

In 2009, @metalab was a small but profitable agency.

The business was making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in annual profit and I was trying to figure out how to invest the profits.

Agencies can be great businesses, but they are HARD.

You lose clients at random, your pipeline dries up on a dime. It’s feast or famine and unpredictable.

I kept reading about what @dhh and @jasonfried were doing with Basecamp, building software for themselves then selling monthly access to

This was a relatively new concept back in those days, and it seemed like they were living the dream. I had a business crush.

The model they used for Basecamp was:

1. Build great software that scratched their own itch (project management)

2. Assume others have this problem

3. Charge a monthly recurring amount to give them access (SaaS)

4. Focus on organic growth via product improvement and public writing

5. Spend less than they make

6. Profit

If you’re presenting to your manager, leadership team, or an executive trying to convince them to make a call, I have a presentation format for you to follow.

It's battle tested so you get to avoid my earlier mistakes.

Here's a short summary

(Short Thread 🧵)

(1/9) Start with the conclusion.

I used to think TED talk-like presentations that lead you to the conclusions are the way to go. Not in this case.

Be clear about why you’re there, what are you expecting from them, and what problem are you solving. That’s slide #1.

(2/9) What’s the problem you’re solving and why does it matter?

If you can't get people in the room on the same page about why this problem is critical to the company, it's going to be difficult for you to move forward.

You want agreement that this is a problem that matters.

(3/9) What are we currently doing about this problem?

Don't skip this part. There is likely *something* that the company is doing now to solve this issue. Even if you disagree with it, mention it.

Make it clear you understand what is our current approach.

(4/9) What are our competitors or industry leaders doing?

If other companies in your industry are solving this issue better, highlight that.

This is powerful. Nobody wants to fall behind and highlighting how others are doing better is a powerful motivation to do more.

A B2B Product Management Story: on discovering problems that customers actually care about

Very visual story thread👇🏾

Our story starts with a new product idea

PM diligently talks to customers about whether this product will solve their problems

Customers say yes!

PM reports findings to the executive team

There's excitement

Staffing obtained 🙌🏾

🎉🎊

My dad led an organization of over 300,000 employees.

When I took on my biggest marketing & events team to date (35 employees) I asked him how the *heck* he did it. Here's what he said and what helped me every day. 🧵

Remember you're leading all the employees under you, but you're not *managing* them all. You're managing your direct reports, which should be 5-7 individuals max. Focus on them.

When you interact with the employees you don't manage directly, get to know them as people first, that'll be the most valuable information in leading them. Remembering everything you learn about them is hard, but doing so will make you a superhero.

If you're not going to empower the managers under you, why do you have them? If you see room for improvement, let the manager know and let them make the change on their teams and come to you with questions/concerns. This will save you SO much time.

If you're the smartest person in any room - you're doing it wrong. As a leader, your job is bringing together the best people to get the job done - your skillset is identifying those people, not being one of them.