The Need for Founder Frameworks

Real life problems are often complex.  For example, trying to figure out what house to buy or how to save for retirement are multivariable problems that average people struggle with.  When confronted with these types of problems people typically don’t bother to think too deeply about them and they either “go with their gut” (e.g. - this house feels right) or they outsource the problem (e.g. - ask their financial advisor to invest for them).  

Founders of technical companies are confronted by problems that are much more complicated in nature.  The reason is that the challenges faced by founders are not only more complex but are often interrelated.  For example, the issue of fundraising (how much $ to raise, who to raise from, when to start the process, etc.) is going to be tied to how your product is performing in the market, which in itself is tied to both your product development process as well as your staffing levels / process, which is tied to how much money you have already raised, etc.  Founders don’t face a set of challenges, they typically face a web of interrelated challenges, which can have a paralyzing effect on some.  Unfortunately, this results in many founders reverting back to what typical people do when faced with complex challenges... they either “go with their gut” or outsource the problem to their friends / advisors / board members where they look for the “answer”.

The mistake founders make is that they focus on searching for the “answer” rather than searching for frameworks that will empower them to deconstruct the web of challenges they face so they can better analyze the situation and then make the optimal decision going forward.  The power of frameworks also come from the fact that they are in and of themselves concepts that can be debated, shared, reused, and the best are broadly applicable.  Additionally you get to have these debates prior to actually implementing the approach that they prescribe.  

In the coming weeks I am going to write a series of posts on Founder Frameworks where I will outline a number of the frameworks I have used to help me in my entrepreneurial endeavors.  

• Fund raising
• Recruiting / Building Teams
• Product priorities
• User acquisition
• User retention
• Monetization
• When to pivot
• Employee retention
• Marketing strategy (Press, GTM, etc.)
• Competition
• Outsourcing tasks
• Managing work-life balance / stress
• etc.

It is my hope that by sharing some of my frameworks that I can help other founders as they face similar challenges as well as start a dialog around alternative & additional frameworks that founders have found to be powerful.