FIVE PRINCIPLES
HOW TO RUN A
COMPANY.
Build a company that serves its customers, trusts its people, and gives you a life you actually want.
A company gets easier to run when everyone knows what matters. These five principles keep the work focused, the conversations honest, and the business worth building.
Fall in love with people's problems, not your product
What it means
- Stay close to customers and the result they need.
- Be willing to change your product when you find a better way to solve their problem.
What it’s not
- Getting so attached to your product that you stop listening.
- Letting the loudest request set the whole direction.
- Talk to three customers. Ask, “What were you trying to do the last time you got frustrated?” Listen without explaining or defending your product.
- Pick one recurring problem. Write down three ways to solve it, including one that doesn’t involve your current product.
Think big, move small
What it means
- Have a big vision, then turn it into something you can test this week.
- Learn from the result and improve the next version.
What it’s not
- Waiting for a perfect plan before moving.
- Calling careless work an experiment.
- Describe what you want the business to look like a year from now. Choose one small experiment you can finish this week that moves toward it.
- Before starting, write: “We believe ____. We’ll try ____. We’ll know it helped if ____.” Review what happened before adding more work.
Give people ownership
What it means
- Agree on the outcome, then give people room to deliver.
- Give decision authority to the person accountable for the result.
What it’s not
- Approving every move or taking every problem back.
- Leaving people without context, support, or clear expectations.
- Choose one decision you keep getting pulled into. Give someone clear authority to make it, along with the outcome, budget, and boundaries.
- In your next check-in, ask, “What do you recommend?” Give them room to explain their thinking before offering yours.
Say the unsaid things
What it means
- Address problems while they are still small.
- Be direct, stay curious, and own your part.
What it’s not
- Using honesty as an excuse to be harsh.
- Keeping the peace while resentment grows.
- Write down one conversation you’ve been avoiding. Open with: “There’s something I’ve been putting off bringing up, and I’d like us to work through it.”
- At your next team meeting, ask, “What’s making the work harder that we haven’t talked about?” Listen without immediately defending or fixing.
Build a business you love working for
What it means
- Create the kind of culture, work, and daily experience you want for yourself and your team.
- Protect time to think, enjoy your family, and have a life.
What it’s not
- Making the founder essential to every decision.
- Treating exhaustion as proof that the company is working.
- Review your last two weeks. Mark the work that gave you energy and the work that drained it. Choose one recurring frustration to change.
- Ask your team, “What would make this a better place to do your best work?” Make one concrete improvement and follow up on whether it helped.
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