Build or buy: how startups should decide which internal tools to code
A practical test for when your engineers should write an internal tool themselves, when to pay for software, and the costs founders routinely leave off the spreadsheet.
Leadership
Running a company as it grows: managers, culture, decisions and accountability.
How to read the economy like an operator, without trying to forecast it
Founders do not need a view on recessions. They need a short list of signals tied to their own revenue, costs and cash, checked on a schedule.
The management mistakes founders make right around employee number 10
The habits that carried a five-person team start breaking at ten. Here is what goes wrong first, and the specific fixes that keep a growing company from stalling.
Founder burnout is an operating problem, so run it like one
Treat exhaustion the way you would treat a failing system in the business: find the load, watch for drift, redesign the work, and stop relying on willpower.
How founders build a public reputation journalists can actually verify
Reporters, investors and search engines all check the same things before they trust a founder. Here is how to make sure those checks come back clean.
How to run a layoff legally and humanely, including the WARN Act rules
A practical walk-through of the notice rules, severance releases, final pay and benefits steps that decide whether a layoff is handled well or becomes a lawsuit.
When a founder should stop being the CEO, and how to hand over well
The signals that a company has outgrown its founder in the top job, the roles founders move into, and the mechanics of a transition that does not wreck morale.
The unit economics numbers your board will actually ask about
A practical guide to contribution margin, CAC payback, retention and burn multiple, and the way each one gets quietly flattered in a board deck.
How to build a startup board that actually helps you run the company
Most founders inherit a board one financing at a time. Here is how to shape its seats, its meetings and its paperwork so it adds judgment instead of friction.
How to take a real vacation while you are still running the company
A founder's time off usually fails before the flight, so build the handover like a launch, with a deputy, a written decision list, and one narrow emergency channel.
Why your company strategy should fit on one page, and what goes on it
A strategy is a set of choices about what you will not do. A one-page format forces those choices into the open, where a team can act on them.
How to run a pre-mortem before your next big bet goes wrong
Imagining that a launch has already failed is one of the cheapest ways to find the risks a team will not raise on its own. Here is the meeting format.
Sublease, coworking or your own lease: how startups should choose space
Each option trades flexibility for cost and control. The right answer depends on your headcount forecast, your runway and how certain you are about both.
How founders should run a board meeting that actually decides things
A good startup board meeting is built in the week before it happens. The pre-read, the agenda, the minutes and the closed session all have jobs to do.
How solo founders can run a company alone without deciding everything alone
A co-founder is partly a second brain. Solo founders can build substitutes: advisers, peer groups, decision records and early hires who are allowed to disagree.
Family business succession starts a decade before the handover
Ownership, leadership and family harmony are three separate problems. The families that hand over well plan each one deliberately and early.
The rules every family business needs before hiring a relative
Hiring family can build loyalty or quietly poison a workplace. Written rules on roles, pay, reporting and exits make the difference, along with the payroll tax details.
Your company just got breached. What to do in the first 48 hours
The earliest decisions after a security incident shape the legal, financial and customer fallout. Here is the order of operations for a small company without a security team.
How to set goals for a small team without building a bureaucracy
A lightweight quarterly goal system for startups between five and fifty people, with the exact documents, meetings and check-ins it needs and nothing more.
How to handle an underperformer before it turns into a firing
Most underperformance problems are left too long and handled too vaguely. A step-by-step approach to diagnosing the cause, setting clear expectations and deciding fairly.
What to check before you leave a big company for a startup
A due-diligence checklist for experienced operators weighing a startup offer, covering runway, founders, role scope and the questions that reveal what the pitch leaves out.
Write your startup's employee handbook before you actually need one
A startup handbook is where culture becomes specific and policy becomes enforceable. What belongs in the first version, what to leave out and the rules that catch founders off guard.
The quarterly calendar audit every founder should run
A founder's calendar shows what the company really prioritizes. A two-hour method for auditing where your time went, cutting meetings and protecting the work only you can do.
A decision-making system for founders who have become the bottleneck
When every decision waits for the founder, the company slows down. A practical system for sorting decisions, assigning owners and keeping a record that speeds everything up.
How to run a company from the road without letting things drop
Time zones, hotel Wi-Fi, and a calendar built for the office all break down on the road, so here is how to keep the company moving while you travel.
The founder sleep problem is usually a calendar problem in disguise
Founders who sleep badly often blame their discipline, when the fix usually lies in when meetings end, where the phone lives, and how the day closes down.
How founders can build an exercise habit around a chaotic week
Exercise plans built for a predictable schedule collapse inside a startup, so build one around minimums, anchors, and the week you actually have.
How to build a work wardrobe that takes zero decisions before 8 a.m.
A small, deliberate wardrobe removes a daily decision and makes travel easier, and you can build one in stages without an expensive overhaul.