I want to go as fast as possible but, unfortunately, there’s just a finite speed that I can go...
"As a founder, I want to go as fast as possible. But unfortunately there’s just a finite speed that I can go. I remember, in the early days, I used to get really stressed out and down on myself whenever we’d have a setback. If an API broke or the site went down for a day, I would just be crushed. I’ve learned over the years that things just take time, you know? Setbacks happen and you have to treat them as an opportunity. Now, instead of getting all bent out of shape about it, I’m like, ‘Okay, how can we actually improve this process so that it doesn’t happen again?’ And then we make the app even better.”⠀
My experience is that, if you want to move fast, you have to REALLY limit the scope of your work to avoid feeling overwhelmed. You need to pick your battles and focus on those select few battles 100%. You can either do a lot, or you can do it quickly, or you can do it correctly. PICK TWO.
For me, correctness is non-negotiable. So it's either I do less, quickly and correctly, or I do a lot, slowly and correctly. Since speed is of the essence, scope needs to be the sacrificial lamb in the pursuit of speed and correctness.
Love how you articulated this!
this is a great point, so important to remember in the day to day!
So true. And trying to fool yourself into thinking that you can do all three simultaneously is so easy and dangerous.
Founders talk a lot about moving fast. Really fast. It's great to hear you talking about the frustration of moving more slowly, Christopher. I think that's much closer to the reality. So many startups are overnight succcesses that are 10 years in the making!