The Loop

Dream a Bit. Nothing innovative was created by committee. You have to stumble on that odd idea at 3:15a and recognize that you’ve never seen it before. Maybe no one has seen it. Let it bump around your head a bit. Stare at it from a couple of different angles. Do whatever you do to let it stew, but pitch Jason at some point. Pitch him because he’s just as crazy as you, and he won’t shut it down because he knows what you know: innovation is a fight. He’ll raise an eyebrow when you make no sense, but he’ll still ask insightful questions. Keep talking with him. Soon, he’ll believe more than you.

Ask for Help. Nothing innovative was created by a committee, but it does require a team. You can see the blast radius of your idea, but you need Laura because scale requires not just a team, but an understandable process to drive that team. You need help. Maybe it isn’t Laura, but it is most certainly someone who is definitely not you. In fact, the more they aren’t you, the better. The more their vision and values differ from yours, the higher the chance of success.

Set Clear Expectations. Nothing innovative was created without the team understanding the vision. Explain the vision; it’s better if it starts as a smaller, palatable, tractable idea. Walk through the pitch and the draft of the strategy. Ask Terrance. His tolerance for ambiguity is zero, and he will explain why we can’t set reasonable expectations with this pitch. Someone once said, “Feedback is a gift,” and they were right. By clearly setting measurable and objective expectations, we can start. The act of starting is more important than the vision being perfect.

Do Your Best to Exceed Expectations. Nothing compelling was created by a team meeting expectations. Once you’ve begun, you’ll see progress, but key decision points will show up, and you’ll need to decide: Do more? Do less? Cut our losses? Admit defeat? Ask Stewart. He is unencumbered by the constraints of reality. Stewart understands that the art of creation involves:

Being an expert on the situation in front of us. Do you know what experts sound like? They sound like they fucking know what they are talking about. Experts make the fakers sound like they just read the latest summarization of ChatGPT: vapid, empty, obvious, and sloppy data.

Ignoring the constraints of time and resources. Do you want to know how to piss off just about everyone? Ignore objective reality. Ignore the structure that gives everyone purpose. The question is: are you trying to build something new or not?

Diving into the problem with expert opinions and a plan that most folks don’t believe. Your degree of discomfort with this plan tells me everything I need to know, not just about its viability, but its potential impact.

Do the Work. Nothing compelling was ever built without many days of drama-free productivity. Ask anyone on the team. We do our best work when we can focus. The Drama People™ trade in drama, and sometimes we need them to highlight and address brokenness, but if the The Drama People™ are running the show, we’re not working, we’re worrying. You’re going to need Sarah — she has zero tolerance for drama. She’ll stare drama straight in the eye until it realizes its pointlessness.

Shit Happens. Deal with It. Nothing compelling was built by a team of talented people who didn’t deal with the shit. Yeah, I wrote shit. It’s a swear word. If this word makes you uncomfortable, I have more bad news. So much more than bad shit is going to stand between you and building the next thing. Ask Maria, she’ll tell you. She’s seen the shit and she knows better than most that bullshit kills culture, it promises unachievable insanity, and it is incapable of delivering the impossible.

Deal with it. No one believes you can do it; most everyone only believe what they have already seen, and if what you were trying to build was obvious, it would’ve already been done. The obstacles, the shit, are the clearest sign you are onto something. Repeat the loop. Ask for help, reset expectations, exceed those reset expectations, and prepare for more shit. It’s coming.

Admit You Are Wrong. Nothing compelling was created by people who didn’t fuck up. See, well, you actually screwed up. That was a bad decision, and it took us down an expensive and inefficient path to a dead end. You know how I know? Eliza told me, and, more importantly, I listened. Listen to the people you trust. You’ve been selling well-intentioned ego-based inspiration for a while now, and if you don’t listen to smart humans who tell you the truth, you will achieve an impressive nothing or, worse, a mediocre something.

Fearlessly Alter the Plan. Nothing compelling was created by people who didn’t change everything. It’s not just a bad idea and a dead end; it’s a deeply flawed strategy that can not succeed. This will feel like failure until you talk to Erik. He has no skin in the game, he speaks the truth, and, most importantly, he knows how to speak to you. This combination of attributes dispels the sense of failure and allows you to move forward. He’s not going to fix it; that’s your job.

So.

Dream a Bit. Nothing innovative was created by not trying again. Ask Jason again. He has time.