How does it feel to get everything you ever wanted?

How Does It Feel to Get Everything You Ever Wanted?

What does it feel like to accumulate wealth, fame, and success? Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of multiple books, tells us: Nothing. In his words, "We all think some external accomplishment is going to change everything, but it never seems to. It doesn't change how you see yourself, it doesn't change how you go through the world, it doesn't change what you feel like when you wake up in the morning."

I relate to this post. The overwhelming majority of us focus on external accomplishments hoping they will make us happy. But I've found it works the other way: being happy helps us do important—and often better—work. This is an invaluable reminder—not just for business, but more broadly, for life. 

Finding Your Purpose

Do you live for pleasure or fulfillment? Pleasure is all about short-term satisfaction that often distracts from long-term goals. The impact of pleasure-oriented activities tends to be short-lived. Fulfillment, on the other hand, often requires enduring short-term discomfort or hardship for longer-term meaning, purpose, and impact. As it relates to startups, getting clear on your company's mission, vision, and values up front makes it easier for you to optimize for fulfillment over pleasure in your decision-making. Do you know yours?

Seed Rounds Are Actually Getting Bigger

In the past few years, we've seen some underwhelming IPOs, which I think surprised the tech industry and many VCs. In some ways, I think that has made later-stage investors more conservative. But here is an interesting contrast: seed rounds seem to be getting bigger. In a way, this makes sense. Investment bets are obviously more risky earlier on, but the bigger chunks of equity have the potential to generate higher returns over time. Will the trend of bigger seed rounds last?

What Does the Growth Process for a SaaS Company Look Like?

I appreciate the simplicity and practicality of this article, which demystifies what it takes to grow a SaaS startup. A few of my favorite suggestions:

• Discover and build at least one organic growth channel before moving to paid channels
• You only need to focus on three growth pillars early on: customer, product, and message
• Try to build in your distribution. In other words, the use of the product itself should catalyze growth

How Word of Mouth Propelled Our Business to $4 Million/Year

I think the concept behind Boldly, a subscription staffing company, is brilliant. It's based on a "hiring" model that enables companies to hire Fortune 500-trained, top-tier talent for just the hours they need each month. The fully remote company is now over 100 people, and this is the story about how they validated the business concept, performed viability studies, and ultimately responded to demand via word of mouth. This is a great reminder that you can create a viable business by starting small and both building and responding to demand as you go. 

How a Clandestine Las Vegas Birthday Party Changed My Approach to Hiring

Boldly Founder & CEO Sandra Lewis wrote this several years ago and it's still very relevant today. She makes the important point that while it's great to have tools to assess and measure the performance of a remote team, there is no substitute for hiring people you can actually trust. Through hiring successes and mishaps, Sandra ultimately came up with a list of five things she looks for when hiring new talent. I think this list cuts right to the heart of what is important. If you are in a position to hire people in 2020, read this.

Silicon Valley Ruined Work Culture

The classic signals of a Silicon Valley tech company work culture have now become mainstream—and perhaps unintentionally ruined work culture in the process. Here's why: As the boundaries between work and life start to blend, it's hard to separate the two. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's usually work that takes over. For instance, unlimited vacation days lead to fewer days off—not more. As we move to more flexible and remote work environments, it will be more important than ever to find your own boundaries between professional and personal time. This piece is a great reminder of that.