1/ Excited to share that Shoelace is now a profitable company https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎉" title="Partyknaller" aria-label="Emoji: Partyknaller">

Which means we make more money than we lose and have infinite runway. What a strange feeling!

It& #39;s been a wild ride of mostly failures, but a few wins that make them all worth it. Here are some lessons learned https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten">
2/ Learn to think for yourself. Blog posts, tweetstorms (like this one), advice from smart people are just inputs.

You need to get comfortable making your own decisions.
3/ There& #39;s no honor in persevering if you& #39;re going in the wrong direction.
4/ Measuring progress based on head count growth is a terrible habit.
5/ Remember that a team grows linearly but managing a larger group gets exponentially more complex.
6/ Your self-worth is not tied to how well the company is doing.
7/ Don& #39;t try to make everyone happy, it never works.
8/ Find the balance between self doubt and hubris. Think of them as two wings you need to fly.

Tipping too far in either direction is very harmful.
9/ If you have momentum your only job is to keep it. If you lose momentum your only job is to get it back
10/ Decisions made on impulse almost always backfire. Learn to "sleep on it".
11/ Don& #39;t worry so much about what people think of you. The Courage to be Disliked is a great book on this topic.
12/ Short term tradeoffs at the expense of the long term is like taking out a loan.

Remember to pay them off at some point or the compound interest will crush you.
13/ Understand what your weaknesses are and never let the success of a project hinge on your overcoming it.

If there& #39;s one place to delegate it& #39;s here.
14/ Eventually you need to unlearn what you think it means to be productive.

Your "work" will become about making the right decisions, not producing output.
15/ When the company is in a rut avoid endless meetings about "what to do".

That& #39;s your comfort zone dragging you deeper into the hole.
16/ Conflict is either a healthy tension that helps you get to the right answers, or it& #39;s a battle of egos.

Be mindful and avoid the latter, it& #39;s never productive.
17/ We all dread failure. But you need to let some projects fail in order for others to succeed.

Stubbornly protecting a project from failure can risk bringing the whole ship down.
18/ If something won& #39;t stop nagging you, deal with it. It& #39;s probably important.
19/ Everything will always take way longer than you think. Not recognizing this is the cause of many troubles.
20/ It& #39;s normal to be uncertain about strategy.

But changing course too many times will have your crew burnt out and seasick. Tread carefully.
21/ If momentum is lost, get it back by looking for small wins not big swings.

Small wins breed more wins while big swings usually fail and destroy morale.
22/ Finally, don& #39;t forget your life outside of work.

Immersing yourself in work is often an escape from other responsibilities that are usually a lot more important.
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