What principle guides your business growth decisions?

Blake Erickson

Founder · Scaling.com

Time as a Tool

Blake Erickson says he uses time as a tool: the power is not the scale of the goal but the timeline, since compressed deadlines force new pathways, leverage, and partnerships. He says founders can move faster than they think.

Andy Frisella

Chief Executive Officer · 1st Phorm International

Mistakes as Investment

Andy Frisella says the principle is his tolerance for mistakes: he views good-faith mistakes as an investment in people's skill set, because you can't scale without giving others responsibility.

Alex Konrad

Founder and Editor · Upstarts Media

Profitability

Alex Konrad says he only grows his business profitably from revenue, having opted not to raise money, because he wanted Upstarts to be sustainable from day one.

Steven Bartlett

Founder & CEO · Steven.Com

Reversible vs Irreversible

Steven Bartlett says he uses Jeff Bezos's split between reversible decisions (most of them) and irreversible ones, because for reversible decisions the real cost is the months you waste deciding.

Yasser Elsaid

CEO · Chatbase

Take Risks

Yasser Elsaid says founders should take risks rather than stay risk averse, doing experiments that might not be ROI positive once they have reliable revenue, since not being aggressive enough is the biggest bootstrapped mistake.

Mirko Novakovic

Chief Executive Officer · Dash0

Revenue Growth

Mirko Novakovic recommends founders focus on one metric—revenue growth—saying other metrics don't matter if you have high growth, and early efficiency doesn't really matter.

Saahil Goel

MD & CEO · Shiprocket

Pure Fiduciary Duty

Saahil Goel says his guiding principle is pure fiduciary duty: if you take investor money or put in your time, you should have a plan to turn the business around within three to six months.

The answer starts at 46:09.

Landon Cooley

CEO, Co-Founder at Pest Share · Pest Share

Balance

Landon Cooley says balance guides him, comparing it to riding a bike: you can't balance standing still, it's about forward movement, leaning one way or the other as long as you're going forward.

Neka Pasquale LAc MS

Founder & Chief Product Officer · Urban Remedy

Vision

Neka Pasquale says her vision guides the business, and she argues it's critically important to always hold that vision because investors' growth goals can lead to decisions that might not align with how you see your business.

Infrastructure Sets Speed

Max Hodak says speed is determined by infrastructure, so he argues you need to put more thought into getting the company’s foundations right because that makes everything else easier.

Ali Hussain

CEO and Co-Founder · Tabs

Go Slow, Then Fast

Ali Hussain says that to grow, you sometimes have to go slow before you can go fast, since getting the right pieces in place up front, though painful, makes everything afterward a lot faster.

MS

Michael Saylor

Executive Chairman & Founder · Strategy

Twice as Good

Michael Saylor says the right solution to growth is to make whatever he is doing twice as good, because doing ten things to make them 10% better dilutes and distracts him.

Shaju Puthussery

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer · LightSpun

Do the Right Thing

Shaju Puthussery says the guiding principle is to do the right thing—focusing on the right product, customer, employee and culture—because money will come if you do.

Kabir Siddiq

Founder & CEO · Sleepycat

Product-Market Fit

Kabir Siddiq says raise when you have product-market fit, because investors can't evaluate you early and consumers should buy into the product first.

Foothold First

Travis Kalanick says his expansion law is to get the foothold working first before growing, because once the beachhead works you can let imagination loose and add things like Uber Eats.

Danny Gal

Co-Founder - Proteams Europe · Proteams

1% Better Daily

Danny Gal says his philosophy is to get 1% better every single day, and that keeping on that trajectory will get them where they need to be in 18 months, so his focus is the next month, quarter and 18 months rather than three years out.