Hi founders and fellow VC Friends!
Each week we deliver one awesome person to your inbox. These are the people you need to know—the marketers, sales gurus, engineers, ops wizzes— who give your startup superpowers 🚀. The best part is, everyone is hireable on an interim basis.
Please meet Brian Wang, Your Founder Coach 🦄
Brian works with founders to become high-performing and conscious leaders. I met him 5+ years ago when he was the CEO of Fitocracy (acquired). At the time, we were both building wellness businesses and he was super helpful 🥳
Over the course of his career, he’s been a founder, VC, and product manager. Most recently, as a coach, he’s helped multiple founders close their Series As and scale their teams. When you meet him, ask him about his guitar shredding skills!
He's coached leaders at companies like Atomwise (Series B+, raised $176M+), Merit (Series A, raised $28.9M+), Medal (Series B, raised $12.5M+), and other fast-growing startups.
You can hire Brian to level up from founder to leader, in either a 1:1 or group setting.
Want an intro to Brian? Reply to this email and I’ll connect you!
He was gracious enough to share 3 pro-tips 🙏
*These tips are ss simple. Yet so real. And SO good.
Tip 1: Create clear agreements with your teammates
Founders often end up frustrated when their teammates deliver late or poor-quality work. Usually, this means that there wasn’t a clear agreement. A clear agreement has the structure:
“Who will do what by when.”
Let’s break it down:
Who: This seems straightforward, but you’d be surprised how often tasks lack clear owners. Make sure that every task has someone in charge and committed.
What: Get clear on what actually needs to be done. Clarify what success looks like. The more specifics, the fewer surprises.
When: Set a due date, like “next Wednesday at 5 pm PT.” Make sure there’s no ambiguity on the deliverable date.
Here’s a real example of how sloppy agreements can derail teams. Imagine that you’re in a metrics review meeting. You notice that your user acquisition numbers dipped last week. You ask, “can someone check out what happened here asap?”
The CTO jumps in and says, “sure, we’re on it.” Two days later, you ping the CTO about the metrics. The CTO says nothing has been done. Apparently, the PM who does data analysis is too busy with an upcoming product release that’s already been delayed three times. You start to think your CTO is an idiot.
Sound familiar? This was a sloppy agreement. Nowhere in this situation did we define the owner, the specific deliverable, and due date. Clearly defining these requirements would have saved a lot of trouble and frustration.
A clear agreement would’ve looked like “Adrian will determine what caused the dip, identify steps to address it, and share learnings with the team by Friday 1 pm.”
At this point, you might wonder, what happens if we can’t fulfill the original agreement? That’s where renegotiation comes in. Make sure that whoever owns the work notifies all stakeholders if something needs to be modified in the agreement. This will lead to a more harmonious team.
Tip 2: Stay calm by working with your emotions, not against them
You’re more likely to succeed when you are calm and collected. I know… easier said than done. Most of us have experienced been hijacked by our emotions. Emotions can come up when competitors announce massive raises, when product launches get delayed, or during difficult team conversations. These situations often trigger a fight-flight-freeze response and our rational brains shut down. As a leader, the question isn’t whether you’ll get triggered, it’s how you’ll handle yourself.
Remember this phrase: “Name it to tame it.” When we recognize our feelings, we can create some distance from them and not let them control our behavior. Here’s a step by step guide:
Notice: When you feel emotionally activated, become aware of what it feels like in your body. Notice any tension in your muscles, difficultly breathing, or swirling sensations in the gut. Just become aware.
Name: Put a label on the feeling you’re experiencing. Say it out loud. It’s probably some variation of anger, fear, or sadness (I’m intentionally ignoring positive feelings here).
Breathe: Take a deep breath in through the nose into your belly and exhale slowly.
Accept: Allow and accept that you’re having this experience. Often we beat ourselves up for being reactive. This tends to create even more internal stress. Instead, be self-compassionate. Allow the feeling to pass and then return to calm.
Practice these steps often to develop a more productive relationship with your emotions. Rather than constantly fight your emotions, learn to work with them.
Tip 3: If you want to move faster, slow down and do fewer things
We often associate startups with “move fast and break things.” Often founders misinterpret this statement to mean “be frantic and work sloppy.” This often creates a culture where everything is on fire and everyone is freaking out. The result is errors, confusion, and burnout.
The trick to moving fast is slowing down. Slow down to assess what’s truly most important. Slow down to decide what not to do.
The Navy SEALs have a saying:
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
Take the time to act in a deliberate and controlled fashion. Over time that leads to smooth execution, which becomes rhythm, which creates speed.
Distractions from the core business often create franticness. Most of us encounter an infinite number of opportunities to get distracted daily.
When something asks for your attention, pause and ask yourself two questions:
“Is this truly what matters most right now?”
“If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?”
Execution is about working on the right things and doing them well. Slow down and you’ll be more likely to succeed.
Want an intro to Brian? Reply to this email and I’ll connect you!
As always, let me know if you have any questions and if you want an intro to any of the folks in this email (including the PS section 🎉).
Stay awesome,
Founder of Awesome People Ventures (join the syndicate here)
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Want intros to anyone here? Lmk and I’ll connect you!
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