Sunday Links: why say no, bootstrapped companies and four types of professional time
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Hey!
This week was calm and peaceful. I finally managed to make some time for myself and be on my own for the past two days thinking and reading. It’s a rare and therefore precious opportunity.
Some one-paragraph news:
In the middle of September our studio hold the second studio camp. We gathered the whole team together, rented a country house and spent two days together in the forest. Here’s a big post in my blog about how we did it.
This Friday Arzu and I had breakfast at Cafe de Salut. It’s our favorite cafe and the only place in the city where classic French breakfast is served. Here you can get french toasts, financier cookies and madeleines.
Indian summer in Tyumen is over. The fall has come into the beast mode: north winds, storms, and rains through the whole weekend. I like staying at home during those days. It’s the best time for deep-focused work.
On the photo: sunsets at the Tura river are breathtaking. But only in summers.
Findings I’ve enjoyed this week
My heart says yes, but my schedule says no. Dharmesh Shah, the founder of Hubspot, shares his take on the importance of saying “no” to new things. It may resemble with others who share the same perspective on the issue: Jim Camp, Jason Fried, Jeff Bezos.
But what’s different about Dharmesh’s message is a sincere intention to show others he’s sorry he can’t give them his time and attention. He’d love to, but he can’t as it will cause harm to himself, his projects and family. That’s the best way of saying “no” I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to argue with that kind of response.
It’s a diplomatic, caring, but firm and clear message. Always do the same.
If you're not saying “hell, yeah” about something, say no.
Derek Sivers
Lessons from bootstrapped companies founded by software engineers. Great interview with CEOs and founders of five bootstrapped companies that have been around for over 10 years now. Bootstrapped means built without external investment. That’s what I’ve been very interested in lately.
I adhere to the idea of not borrowing money from investors as I see at least three huge disadvantages of this approach:
Investments teach you how to spend, not how to make money.
In crisis investors tend to escape the sinking boat and take their money with them.
The explosive growth investments give is a huge stress, and it doesn’t correspond to the philosophy of the company that I’m trying to build.
In the article I found many proofs for my concerns related to angel investments in startups. Though I also was glad to see there’re many pros for funding your products on your own. Yeah, it’s time-consuming. It requires more focus. But it’s also more calm and steady. And steady means more controllable.
If this feels like what you’d be doing, too, read the interview. It’s inspiring!
The four types of professional time. Investor Sahil Bloom ponders over the essay by Paul Graham called “Maker's schedule, manager's schedule.”
Sahil points out that we forgot about two types of professional time that are necessary in the long-term. Those are time for consumption of new ideas and knowledge, and time for ideation and creating novelty at the intersection of our experience and knowledge consumed.
The conclusion Sahil outlines is that we should try to have more time for creation—which is an actual work such as writing, coding, and designing—and less for management tasks like calls, meetings, standups, etc.
We also should keep at least one day a week for thinking our ideas over and for receiving new information. Otherwise, we lose the compounding effect and have to put in even more effort to achieve more in life.
I came to the same conclusion last year. I was tired of constant meetings. Management tasks were eating a huge chunk of my working time. And I’m glad the things have changed.
Afterword
Hope you’ve found this email thought-provoking. If you have, share it with your friends and people who may like it. I’ll appreciate your support and feedback.
Keep your pace!
Evgeny
Tyumen, 8 October 2023
Ask me anything via email: evgeny@lepekhin.me
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