#107 - What a Fool
Ouch, grim reality, and the first principle
I’m an unwavering optimist.
A strength, no doubt. But quite the weakness too.
It’s got me in a pickle or two in recent years.
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Ouch
Before Unplugged I ran growth at Nobly POS.
A year into that role the company imploded. I clearly didn’t do a very good job.
I’ve had much time to ponder that chapter. And my part in the failure. There’s not time today for the full list, but one failure jumps out:
My complete inability to see reality.
In hindsight we were headed for a crash. And deep down I knew it. But I fooled myself.
It all started with our targets. Every quarter I’d coordinate our targets with department heads. It went something like this:
A week of careful planning based on previous data… We’d present to the bosses… Rejected. Not aggressive enough!
Damn… Another round of planning… Rejected! NOT enough.
Another round. Let’s stretch every nook and cranny- “I suppose this number could be higher, and maybe this one”… No.
Ok, fine. Let’s put that big number they wanted initially.
Bosses happy, department heads despondent, me relieved with a result.
And then guess what? We’d miss the targets by a mile. Every quarter like clockwork.
The problem with this is the incentive for imagineering the data. It become all about showing growth. Showing growth no matter the cost.
CAC, perhaps the most important metric in Growth, was rarely mentioned. The party pooper of the KPI’s. When I did calculate CAC it was laughably lax:
Well, obviously the £60k we’re spending on sales people shouldn’t be in there.
And then reality hit.
We didn’t close a funding round. Suddenly the fact we were haemorrhaging money came home. In one week we got rid of 75% of company.
Ouch.
Grim Reality
I took the above cognitive dissonance to Unplugged. Mislaid plans filled the early days.
But as the founder it’s different. You’re the one getting whacked with the consequences. It’s your job to see the reality.
And so you learn. Quickly. It’s sink or swim.
I flirted with disaster time and time again in our first couple of years. Cash crunch after cash crunch as plans turned out hopelessly naive. A few tense moments to say the least.
My laissez-faire optimism remains. But now it’s tinged with a hint of grim realism. I’ve seen how this one ends.
The First Principle
The great Richard Feynman once observed:
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
But how is one to accomplish that?
For me, it’s time offline.
A long walk, or an evening with a book in quiet contemplation.
It takes a while for the mind to settle. To start to feel human again. As the minutes and hours tick by.
Then slowly the subconscious mind begins to wake.
Ideas start to float to the surface.
New connections being to form.
And the realisations come.
My God… What a fool I’ve been!
My Week in Books📚
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (in progress)
A four person biography following Lincoln and his three closest rivals. What a guy. Wonderfully crafted book too.
— —
Only half way through this one. I found myself, in previous editions of unplugging, avoiding bigger books so I’d finish 1-2 a week to write about.
But I get the most from those bigger books. So I’ll be less apologetic with “in progress” moving forward.
Unplugged Latest 🌳📵
A new segment. Does what it says on the tin…
Peggy, our latest cabin, launched up North 🔥
A Final Thought 💡
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.”
- Richard P. Feynman