Getting the right things right

And being really bad at some things

Hi all —

I keep noticing founders who, in my opinion, are distracted.

They’re spending time things that seem important. Product. Marketing. Team-building. Operations. Etc. Etc. Etc.

All of these things are important and need to happen. But trying to get everything right leads to dispersed focus, which leads to box-checking mediocrity in an environment where only the extremes survive.

Here’s something you don’t want to hear: To move beyond the startup phase, you have to be bad at a LOT of things. You will constantly feel like you’re neglecting important parts of your business. You will see fellow founders with prettier websites, better UX, nicer pitch decks, and more media coverage. Your investors and your internal compass (especially if you’re the “Straight-A” type) will sound the alarm bells. It won’t feel like you’re building anything resembling an actual company, and that will be off-putting.

And that’s all good. Because you have to be bad at a lot of things so that you can get the right things right.

The “right things” will vary in their specifics, but in general, you need to find demand and supply unique value. In other words, you’ve gotta find product-market fit.

You can’t outsource or delegate this. You won’t solve it in a brainstorming session. Because it has to be real, and figuring out what’s real is a blue-collar, nose-to-the-grindstone, obsessive job. You can’t do it part-time or distracted. And once you get this right, you earn the right to focus on other things and build a real company.

So this weekend, ask yourself: Am I getting the right things right?*

-Rob

*Trick question. The answer is always “no”, because there will always be the NEXT thing you have to get right. There’s always another mountain to climb. The real question is - “What’s the most important thing that I need to get right, right now?”