I had an interesting conversation with a founder. I always love to understand what drove someone to pursue entrepreneurship—it’s a risky path, a big decision. Understanding why they chose it can tell you a lot about them. This founder had a great, high-paying job at one of the most-recognized companies in the world. I really wanted to understand why he gave it up.

His answer wasn’t what I expected. He said he changed his perspective. He began looking at the world in terms of time, not money. He thought about how much time he had left to live and the closing window of opportunity to start something that he was passionate about. By the time he could amass FU money from his job, he might not be able to start the company he’s passionate about. His realized that his time is more valuable than the additional money (he’d already amassed a nest egg) he’d be chasing.

Time is the great equalizer. You can’t buy it, sell it, or trade it. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Everyone gets the same amount of it. How you use it is a big factor in your trajectory. This founder is choosing to spend his time building something he’s passionate about and enjoying his family. How are you spending your time?

I’ve been using a certain software platform for years. It’s complex and took a long time to learn. Over the years, though, I’ve gotten familiar with it and learned how to meet my needs using it. Recently, a friend told me about a competing platform he’s using. He described features he uses regularly that my platform doesn’t have—some of which could be valuable.

I decided to give the competing platform a try. I signed up and was shocked at how unintuitive it is. I tried to use its training materials, but they were of minimal help. I called the helpdesk with questions about specific features. After being transferred around a few times, I began to suspect that no one on the help team knows how to use those features. I asked to schedule an onboarding session and was told that’s not an option.

The platform I’ve been using had a great onboarding process and has a great customer success team. It was easy to begin to learn how to use it. The competing platform may be better, but I’ll probably never know since the onboarding process has been so awful.

My takeaway from this experience is that it takes more than a great product to build a great company—you also need a process that makes it easy for customers to try your product. It’s hard to scale a great product with awful onboarding.

I spent time today wrapping up a project I’ve been working on. It involved lots of moving pieces and nuances. The process to understand it all was much slower than I’d planned for, which prevented me from completing it on time. After I finished, I realized that everything I’d just done was a complex and painful workflow. If I’d used software to help me with it, it would’ve taken significantly less time and energy.

This project reminded me how much value can be created by helping others easily navigate complex workflows. Going forward, I’ll happily pay for software that helps me complete projects like this with less time and effort and fewer errors.

Solutions for complex workflows aren’t sexy at all, but they create massive amounts of value for customers and can be sticky (i.e., customers aren’t likely to leave). If you understand how to navigate complexity in a repeatable manner, there could be a massive entrepreneurial opportunity waiting for you. Lots of people like me would happily pay for help running the gauntlet.

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I was chatting with a founder recently about how he plans to grow his company. He’s realizing he can’t do everything himself, so he’s trying to hire people in roles that are taking up too much of his time. He’s moving from executing the work to managing people who do it. He isn’t looking to hire anyone who can think strategically or own functional areas of the business. Instead, he’s building a company where all decisions run through him.

As I asked more questions about why he’s taking this approach, I realized that he doesn’t see how big an opportunity is in front of him. He’s trying to build his company to handle today’s customers, not tomorrow’s.

This founder can build a great business. But he won’t do it this way. His growth will be limited because his team will be built to execute, not problem solve and think independently. As they encounter new situations, they’ll have to come to him for answers. The likely result? He will become the bottleneck that slows his company down.

If you’re a founder looking to grow your team, take a moment to ask yourself if you’re building a team to scale—or not. Nothing wrong with either; just make sure your approach aligns with your goal.

This past week marked two consecutive years of sharing my thoughts publicly. On March 9, 2020, I began posting because of a friend’s challenge. That sixty-day challenge has continued for over 730 days. Today I spent some time reflecting on what I’ve learned from doing this every day for two years. Here are some of my thoughts:

• Compounding knowledge – Posting daily forces me to stop and reflect daily. Reflecting and taking in new information daily has a compounding effect and has accelerated the rate at which I’m learning. More thoughts on this here and here.
• Unexpected benefit – When I started, the goal was to share what I’d learned as an entrepreneur with other entrepreneurs. It was a way to give back. I didn’t expect to get much from it personally, but I have.
• Difficulty – It was hard to establish the habit at first. It’s in place now, but there are still days when it’s harder than normal to create a post.
• Frequency – Posting daily is the right rhythm for me. If I’d started off doing it weekly or monthly, it wouldn’t have lasted past the initial sixty days. The habit is second nature now.
• Topics – I’ve likely shared most of the lessons I learned as a founder. This year I want to focus more of my posts on where I’m headed and new things I’m working on.
• Reach – Over the past two years, I’ve been consistently surprised by my posts’ reach and audience. Whenever someone tells me a post was helpful, it’s usually when I least expect it and from someone I’m not expecting it from.
• Mental exercise – The brain is an organ that needs to be exercised just like any other. Doing this daily makes me feel like I’m giving my brain the exercise it needs.
• Quality – With a daily frequency, every post isn’t going to be a Pulitzer piece. That’s OK. The process of reflecting daily is what I get value from. Some days are less eventful than others.
• Public diary – I’m excited to have a diary of thoughts that I—and others—can go back and review.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about doing something like this for such a long time. It’s been challenging and fulfilling at the same time. As with anything else, there are pros and cons, but after two years I can see that the positive far outweighs the negative. I’m looking forward to continuing the habit. Year three here we come!

Over the last year, I’ve chatted with a few founders who are relocating to Atlanta. I’m bullish on the city and believe the best is yet to come, so I’m glad others are recognizing its value and moving here. I sat down with one of these founders, who just solidified his move date. I wanted to better understand his decision.

This founder shared a lot of things, and one of them especially resonated with me: he’s too comfortable. He doesn’t feel challenged and isn’t growing. He isn’t around people who are pushing the envelope, so he hasn’t been pushing as hard as he could, either. He’s hungry and knows he can go further as an entrepreneur but isn’t in the right environment.

During his visits to Atlanta, he found the community welcoming, and entrepreneurs were willing to share their experiences and relationships. The variety in the types of industries entrepreneurs operated in was refreshing.

Atlanta isn’t the only place founders are migrating to. Miami, Austin, and other cities are also attracting great founders. I do believe that Atlanta is unique, though, in that many founders who relocate see themselves putting down roots and calling Atlanta home for the long term. I’m excited about this movement and can’t wait to see what’s in store for Atlanta. I hope it will be known as—among other things—the place entrepreneurs call home.

Today I had a great chat with founder friends about being unapologetic about asking for opportunities, even if the requests are somewhat outlandish. If someone is going somewhere you want to be, ask if you can join them. If someone is working on a project you want to learn about, ask if you can work on it too. If someone knows a person you’d like to meet, ask if they’ll give you an intro.

Some people might call it being pushy or overstepping. I disagree. I think it’s the sign of a hustler. Hustlers get opportunities others don’t. One of many reasons for this is that they ask when others won’t. Of course, you should be respectful in how you ask. But I don’t see anything wrong with making the ask. The worst that could happen is they’ll say no. In fact, people will say no most of the time, and that’s OK. But the one time someone says yes, it could change your trajectory. Sometimes it’s as simple as they like the fact that you asked when others didn’t—they like the hustle and reward you with an unexpected yes.

As one friend put it, “The answer is no to 100% of the questions you never ask.”

Hearing no doesn’t really bother me. When I was an early founder, I was aggressive about asking for opportunities because I had to be. Over the years, I’ve lost a little of that edge. Today was a reminder that I need to get it back and be unapologetic about asking for opportunities.

I recently listened to two founders announce that they’re going their separate ways. They shared the news with me over a video call. They explained what each of them plans to do next and why they’re splitting. When they talked with each other about their long-term visions, they realized they’re headed in different directions. So they decided to “divorce” now, before their disconnect causes big problems. The split is amicable.

Building a company from the ground up is hard. Founders put so much of themselves into it that the company becomes their baby. When you have to separate from it, it can be hard and emotional. But founder splits don’t have to be horrible experiences.

If you’re looking for a cofounder but you’re worried about it not working out, or you’re considering splitting from your current cofounder, remember that friendly splits are possible.

I enjoy hearing how founders became aware of the problem their start-up is solving. Sometimes it’s a shower moment. Other times, it’s an aha moment while they’re working on something else. A founder recently shared his story, and it was something I hadn’t heard before. While he was pitching a product, he realized the audience wasn’t feeling it. Translation: the pitch was bombing. He stopped mid pitch. He acknowledged that his pitch wasn’t resonating with the audience. He asked them to share their most pressing problem in exchange for ending the meeting early (i.e., giving the audience some time back). The VP shared a problem the founder had never considered. His team did some research, realized it’s a huge problem, and pivoted.

I love how this founder didn’t force his product on perspective customers. Instead, he read his audience and made the most of the meeting by asking the right question and listening with an open mind.

Good things eventually happen when founders listen to their customers. It can be hard. Founders want everyone to love the solution they spent countless hours building, but sometimes the love just isn’t there. The mindset has to be that what you want most is a successful company—the beating heart of which is solving the customer’s true problem (not the one you wanted to solve). If your solution isn’t resonating with customers, that’s OK. Consider taking more time to listen to their problem.

I caught up with an investor recently, and the topic of schedules came up. We were discussing events we’ve attended and plan to attend. We agree that events are a good way for investors to meet new founders and other investors and learn about new trends. Both of us are looking forward to larger, more regional events, most of which require travel.

I think 2022 will be a great year for in-person start-up events, especially regional ones. There’s pent-up demand for in-person interaction in the start-up community, and I think it will be unleashed this year.

I’m a fan of the hybrid model for events because it allows people to attend who otherwise couldn’t, but I’m looking forward to attending—in person—some regional events this year!