Founders! Your worst and best decision this year is? (I go first)
Philipp Geppert
13 replies
Worst decision:
- Put too much time on listening to highly rated "individuals" which did not even put the time in to understand what we are really doing. Sometimes we are blinded by the light. Not regretting, but could have been better use of time.
- Followed up for 2 weeks (!) on a Prince of Persia Scam (lol) (He was good, or me stoopid)
Best decisions:
- Been allowed to work with and hire smarter people than me. That has always been my goal and I think I did it (YaY!)
- I learned to listen and not just hearing. I listened and heard a lot of dailys and plannings in recent years. My team had taken so much responsibility of me, that at the point we were growing, I wasnt listening, just hearing. I am listening again and it has given me so much more insight into everything.
Replies
Kali@kali_curated
Worst decision was asking the company that bid too high on a scope to pursue "R&D" as a way to lower the cost... Learned my lesson on that one!
Best decision was my latest hire - he's been terrific and incredibly motivated! He "officially" started work on December 1, but had already been integrating with the team two weeks prior to that! I think he'll go far 🥲
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Hey Philipp, these are great. I love the learning to listen instead of just hearing.
Worst decision.. enrolling into a accelerator program..
Best decision… signing up for a unlimited mentorship platform.
Our worst decision was trying to monetizing our website through sponsorships and ads. It was very difficult to generate revenue doing that. The best decision we made was to start building paid digital products that would be useful for our website visitors.
It's impressive how you've shifted from just hearing to truly listening. That's a skill many leaders strive for. Can you share some strategies or practices you adopted to enhance your listening skills? It could be super helpful for others in leadership roles!
@barryzheng568 I think the main change was to realize that I often have the majority of speaking time in a conversation, which led me to ask myself why. I then started to actively listen more and trying to control the timing when to respond. In the past I often responded already without hearing the whole story, I did not control the urge to speak.
Since I have started to listen more it has impacted my life positively on many level.
Worst:
- Spending a whole year on finding and pursuing the right idea
- Not joining and networking with members of closed communities sooner
- Trying to figure everything out myself
Best:
- Learning and pivoting by taking action
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' decision to deceive investors about the company's technology: Holmes claimed that Theranos had developed a revolutionary blood testing technology that could perform a wide range of tests from a single drop of blood. However, it was later revealed that the technology was not as accurate as Holmes claimed, and the company was forced to shut down in 2018.
Love yours Phillipp. I can relate a lot with your worst 1st decision.
For me has been mainly not delegating accordingly and unfocused from a product perspective on a segment.
Hey Philipp, these are great. I love the learning to listen instead of just hearing. Acknowledging the mistake of investing too much time in influential yet uninformed individuals, learning from a Prince of Persia scam, and highlighting the value of hiring smarter people and relearning the importance of active listening.
Worst Decision - Taking a break from the gym
Best Decision - Visiting Mysore and becoming a yoga instructor.
Worst: Giving the green light to the Dev Team to build a layering system that will optimize our app. It took too much time and didn't work in the end.
Best: Focusing full-time on our startup.