The Daily Founder

The Daily Founder Day 011: GEMO

Are you spinning in circles in meetings? Stuck in a seemingly endless loop of perfectionism or analysis paralysis? Embrace GEMO: Good Enough, Move On.
No it’s not about mediocrity, it’s about prioritizing progress over perfection. It’s about striking a balance between quality and efficiency.
So for today’s challenge. Ask GEMO! Once in a meeting. Once to yourself.Let's do this!

The Daily Founder Day 010: The Four Pillars

Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, we’ve been talking about them here at The Daily Founder in the first few episodes. But what’s the difference? It can get confusing very fast and they are too often used interchangeably, but they do hold distinct meanings and serve unique purposes as the four fundamental pillars of the identity of your organization.
Purpose: The Why – It’s the foundational force and drive, the underlying reason for it all. Vision: The Where - Your grand plan, the final destination, the future state you’d like to contribute to and ultimately reach.
Mission: The What – It’s your roadmap, the activities and initiatives you’re doing today and tomorrow as milestones, stepping stones, towards your vision.
Values: The How - the bedrock of your organization’s culture, your guiding principles for how everybody in your organization is working on the mission, to get closer to the vision, to ultimately fulfill the purpose.
Now that we have defined and mapped the four pillars, on to today’s challenge:
Paint that picture for someone! When talking about any task to be done, try to give it the overall context: How to do it, for what, to end up where and the ultimate why.
Hope this helps! Enjoy building the future and join the many entrepreneurial minds in our community group on austrianstartups.com for more. Let’s do this!

The Daily Founder Day 009: Feedback= Gold

You’ll need to be able to look at what you’re doing from many different perspectives to make it amazing. An essential way to that is getting feedback. The key to getting valuable insights you can act on lies in asking the right question at the right time. I highly recommend reading the book “The Mom Test” to get your questions right. But here a few questions to get you started right away:
For customers: What value do we provide to you?
For team members: What is the most meaningful part of your job?
For investors and partners: Which expectations have we met, which ones not yet?
Go out and ask your questions to harvest all the valuable feedback!

The Daily Founder Day 008: Driven By Values

Core values and principles describe HOW you and everybody in your organization go about things. They shape the culture, which is a key factor for long-term success. Defining them will help you take hiring and people leading decisions, they will translate to your brand image and influence your marketing and customer service and how you are perceived by everybody if you take them seriously and actually live up to them. So no, they shouldn’t be just nice words you put up the wall for inspiration, they should actually guide your and your team’s behavior and attitude, they should be something you all connect with, want to live up to and try to demonstrate every day.
So what is it that you value?Share your values in the community group and check out this blog post on how to not drown in the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

The Daily Founder Day 007: Be SMART

Setting clear and achievable goals is essential for an entrepreneurial journey (especially if it is very ambitious). SMART goals, an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound or Timely, provide a simple and structured framework for defining objectives that you can actually work with and pursue.
Clarity is key to effective goal setting. Avoid vague or general statements. Instead, craft specific, actionable goals that provide a clear roadmap for achievement. For instance, instead of aiming to "increase sales," target a specific percentage or revenue figure.
Establish quantifiable metrics to track progress towards your goals. This allows you to assess performance objectively and make adjustments as needed. For example, instead of measuring "customer satisfaction," track specific feedback metrics like positive reviews, repeat purchases, or customer engagement rates.
Set realistic and attainable goals that align with your current capabilities and resources. Avoid setting goals that are overly ambitious or unrealistic, as this can lead to discouragement and hinder progress. Consider your available time, skills, and resources when defining your objectives.
Ensure your goals align with your overall business objectives and contribute to your long-term success. Avoid setting goals that are disconnected from your core business strategy or distract you from your primary goals. Prioritize goals that drive growth, enhance customer value, or strengthen your competitive position.
Attach deadlines to your goals to create a sense of urgency and accountability. Set specific timeframes for achieving each milestone, breaking down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. This allows you to track progress and make timely adjustments to stay on track.
Today’s challenge? Do a SMART check! Take a look at the goals you are pursuing or you’re about to set for yourself or your team. Are they SMART?

The Daily Founder Day 006: On A Mission

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” - William Clement Stone
Your mission describes WHAT it is you’re actually doing to get closer to your vision and to fulfill your purpose. Typically it’s an ambitious yet achievable position in the market or in your customers’ lives and a good mission statement makes explicit what business you’re in. It will help you prioritize and get to work.
So what is it that you do?
Write a short mission statement starting with “Be the most …”
Does your statement clarify what business you’re in? It should.
Go and tell 3 people about your mission.
Do people have many questions about what you’re actually doing? Not good. Rephrase, you gotta work on clarity.
Do people ask how exactly, compare this to others or even ask how they might help? Good.
For more information on how to write a great mission statement, do check out our blog post: How to Create an Effective Mission StatementShare your mission and challenge results!Let’s Do This!

The Daily Founder Day 005: Sunk Cost Fallacy

“One of the most commonly cited human irrationalities is the sunk-cost fallacy, in which people continue to invest in a losing venture because of what they have invested so far rather than in anticipation of what they will gain going forward.” - Steven PinkerWhy do entrepreneurs fall prey to this cognitive bias?
For one, it’s the emotional investment. Entrepreneurs often have a strong emotional attachment to their ideas and ventures, making it difficult to detach from past investments and make rational decisions. Paired with a Fear of Loss, losing the time, money, and effort already invested it can seriously cloud our judgment and lead to a reluctance to cut losses.
And then there’s the typical Confirmation Bias many Entrepreneurs have as they selectively seek out information that confirms their initial decision and ignore evidence that suggests a change in course.
A tricky mix that can have heavy consequences
Wasted Resources, Losing time & money mostly, Delaying Pivoting, damaging your reputation (often more so than changing course), …
So how do we overcome the Sunk Cost Fallacy?

The Daily Founder Day 004: Vision Quest

“You’ve got to visualize where you’re headed and be very clear about it. Take a Polaroid picture of where you’re going to be in a few years.” -Sara Blakely, Founder Spanx
WHERE are you going with this?
Your vision describes the difference you’ll have created in your customers’ lives or the larger world when you ultimately realize your purpose. Zoom out and take the long-term view of where you want to end up in the end. Once you’ve got your vision statement figured out, it will help you and everybody involved stay the course and guide and inform many strategic decisions along your journey.
What’s your vision? Where to you want this to go? What will have changed?Write a short vision statement starting with “We will …”
Will this statement inspire people in AND outside your organization? It should.
Go out and tell 3 people about your vision and see how they react.A bit crazy? Good.
Overly ambitious? Good.
That would be amazing! Good.
Share your vision in the comments somewhere and make use of the community in the Daily Founder Group on austrianstartups.com Let’s Do This!

The Daily Founder Day 003: 80/20 FTW

The Pareto Principle states that oftentimes 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Other names for this principle are the 80/20 rule and the law of the vital few.
Joseph M. Juran developed the concept in the context of quality control and improvement after reading the works of Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto.
For business one can apply the rule of thumb that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients, or 80% of outcomes come from 20% of activities.
What are your 20%?
What can you do today to make use of this principle?
Share your results of today’s challenge in the comments wherever you are and join the conversations in the Daily Founder Group on austrianstartups.com Let’s Do This!

The Daily Founder Day 002: Why, oh why? - Purpose

Having clarity on WHY you do what you do and being able to communicate it well is truly powerful. It gives you context, meaning and helps you inspire others to join you and take action.
Can you communicate your why? Let’s figure it out in today’s challenge.