Issue 5: Symptom Management vs. Root Treatment, $100M (Post-Money) Seed Rounds, Fact vs. Meaning, and more.
Hey Everyone!
A lot of coaching work can fall in two buckets (who doesn't love buckets?): symptom management and addressing root causes. I've brought this up a few times this week thanks to a reminder from my friend Jonathan Basker.
It helps me as a coach to ask whether a client is looking for help managing the symptoms of something like anxiety because it's so bad or whether they're looking to dig into the deeper issue to get a solution to the root cause. Jonathan put it elegantly to me on Monday, saying something like, "sometimes you call a doctor and you just need some medicine to help you with your heartburn," other times you decide to commit to addressing the underlying issue: your diet and lack of exercise. The former is a bandaid, the latter a much more sustainable (but more challenging) solution.
Things I Found This Week (That You Might Find Interesting)
Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures wrote Seed Rounds at $100M Post Money, a level-headed analysis (complete with model and tables) of how he believes fund managers writing these checks are "delusional." Even if you agree, ask yourself "How is Fred at least 10% right?"
Boris Wertz at Version One Ventures (and former Mattermark board member) tweeted about two of the biggest lessons he "constantly hears from 1st-time founders." Unsurprisingly, they both relate to hiring.
Ed Batista, executive coach and professor at Stanford GSB, wrote a piece (admittedly a while ago), Accountability and Empathy (Are Not Mutually Exclusive). Ed calls out a false choice: hold people accountable OR be empathetic. Ed breaks down what it means to hold people accountable and be empathetic. It's a great read for any leader.
Things Coming Up a Lot
Gresham's Law: Bad apples spoil the bunch is the TL;DR here. Keeping a team member who is not meeting expectations on has real consequences. Gresham's Law provides some context on why this is.
Fact vs. Meaning: I'm a broken record about this one because it comes up so much. An author I love says, "all conflict is interpersonal conflict." And I like to think that all conflict comes because of the meaning (or stories) we pain on top of facts. Put this one into action by drawing a fact vs. meaning t-chart next time you're feeling emotionally triggered and ask yourself a) what are the facts? and b) what meaning or story am I ascribing to those facts? and finally c) what evidence do I have for or against the meaning I'm adding?
Network Asks
For new folks, I use this section to feature a few asks from my clients and subscribers looking to use the power of the network to find a resource. If you feel like you can be helpful with an ask below, please reply!
This Week’s Asks
Outsourced CFOs / Finance Consultants: In the early days, it doesn't make sense to hire a CFO or even a VP of Finance. Many CEOs / founders end up doing the books themselves and stress out about it. I've found small (under 10 people) firms do the best job at handling this for startups, but there aren't many of them and their client lists fill up fast. Do you know a great firm I can recommend (bookkeeping, help with models, etc.)? Similarly, if you know someone who is just great at building financial models as a consultant, I'd love to know about them, too.
That’s it for this week. I’m looking forward to what’s next.
Andy.