I Destroy a Startup Founder Tough Love Thread Point By Point

Stop stressing about your imperfections and work around them instead

the problem is you. image by freepik

You’d be shocked at how much money is made by people telling other people how much they suck.

Not only is it easy work, it’s also a career path with built-in longevity, because when your methods don’t produce results, all you have to do is move the bar higher.

So yesterday, I “came across” a tough love startup founder tweet thread. I’m not going to say who authored it, how I found it, or what the author was selling at the end of it. I’ve also changed some of the author’s wording. I did this because the author, the source, the program that they’re shilling, even the exact words they’re using — none of that matters. I’m not attacking a person, I’m attacking a method.

All that you-don’t-work-hard-enough advice is bullshit. And I’ll counterpunch it point by point.

Your idea isn’t good enough

Counter: There has never been a successful business based on one single idea executed to perfection.

Never.

You have several great ideas. Daily. The trick is making the right ideas work. And the reason it’s difficult to do that is because no one can tell you how to do that, you have to figure it out for yourself.

There is no secret 12-step plan for executing an idea. It’s research and development. It’s trial and error. It’s asking questions. It’s putting the thing out there and seeing if it flies.

That’s it. That’s the secret recipe for success.

You call yourself strategic because you don’t want to work very hard

Counter: The tasks you will perform that generate the highest ROI will feel the least like work.

I have two modes, strategic and tactical, and I constantly bounce between them. But if I have to choose between a well-developed strategy and well-executed tasks, I will choose a well-developed strategy every time. Poor execution can be fixed in the field. A bad strategy is the blind leading the blind into quicksand.