Start here
Five pillars. One post in each that frames the rest.
Every essay falls under one of these. Read these five and you'll know whether the rest is worth your inbox.
Money decisions
Forecasting that doesn’t lie. Pricing that doesn’t apologize. Cash, capital, and the line items most owners avoid until they can’t.
The one to read first
The cash collection cycle nobody owned
Invoices went out on the first. Money landed somewhere between day forty and day ninety. Nobody could explain the difference because nobody was watching it.
Read →
Explore the money decisions pillar →Growth traps
The deals that look big and aren’t. The marketing that buys vanity. The growth that breaks the company that earns it.
The one to read first
The free trial that was selecting for the wrong user
Trial signups were up forty percent. Conversion was down sixty. The funnel was working — for the wrong people.
Read →
Explore the growth traps pillar →Team reality
Hiring without hope. Delegation without dumping. The actual mechanics of getting work out of other humans.
The one to read first
The PIP that was just paperwork
Sixty days of weekly check-ins, three signed documents, and an outcome everyone knew from day one. The PIP wasn't a path to improvement — it was a legal pretext.
Read →
Explore the team reality pillar →Operations
Cadence, process, decisions. The systems that make a business answerable to itself.
The one to read first
The Slack channel that became the wiki
Three years of decisions, debates, and dependencies — all in #eng-general. The new hire was supposed to scroll back. Nobody had ever scrolled back.
Read →
Explore the operations pillar →Founder decisions
The calls only the operator can make — about energy, ego, focus, and the costs of being in charge.
The one to read first
The hire you made because you couldn't find anyone else
The role had been open for four months. The pipeline was empty. You hired the one candidate who said yes. They left in nine weeks.
Read →
Explore the founder decisions pillar →