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“The Magic Wand” 
One of my favorite early stage founder mental models.
It addresses one of the biggest mistakes founders make.
One of my favorite early stage founder mental models.
It addresses one of the biggest mistakes founders make.
Starting a company is incredibly hard.
It’s easy and common to get bogged down by the sheer number of tasks.
Change healthcare plan. Launch new campaign. Respond to candidate. Fix that login bug. Build onboarding in motion.
It’s easy and common to get bogged down by the sheer number of tasks.
Change healthcare plan. Launch new campaign. Respond to candidate. Fix that login bug. Build onboarding in motion.
Doing this stuff may satisfy you in the moment and make you feel busy/hard working but often doesn’t move the needle.
Don’t confuse activity with results.
Don’t confuse activity with results.
In my experience, results come from deep focus and prioritization on the ONE thing that matters that hour, day, week, month, etc.
The best way I’ve seen to get to that ONE THING is ask a founder or yourself:
“if you had a magic wand right now and could make X happen (only 1 THING) that would unlock your business to enjoy success/growth/scale, what would it be?”
“if you had a magic wand right now and could make X happen (only 1 THING) that would unlock your business to enjoy success/growth/scale, what would it be?”
Most people know the answer intuitively:
“Get my FB ads converting!
have 10 amazing sales people!
ship this new feature!
Btw It’s ok and normal if the one thing changes next week.
“Get my FB ads converting!
have 10 amazing sales people!
ship this new feature!
Btw It’s ok and normal if the one thing changes next week.
Then once you know the ONE THING - work backwards from it to figure out what you need to do to get that “magic wand” outcome you want.
Eg for FB ads: build two new landing pages, get 20 pictures taken, have a new content piece, hire a consultant, etc.
Eg for FB ads: build two new landing pages, get 20 pictures taken, have a new content piece, hire a consultant, etc.
And ONLY DO THAT until you either see success or prove to yourself it won’t work (yet).
Get specific, tactical and drive it with urgency.
Get specific, tactical and drive it with urgency.
It turns out: this approach also scales because as a founder, ask your team the same question about their magic wand and help them attack that thing tenaciously.
In early PayPal days, Peter thiel famously would only talk to his team about one thing at a time. It works.
In early PayPal days, Peter thiel famously would only talk to his team about one thing at a time. It works.
The last benefit is it avoids false progress.
Your magic wand thing is like beating the boss on the video game level you are on.
It teaches you things that help you win the next levels and if you skip it, you’ll likely lose later on.
Your magic wand thing is like beating the boss on the video game level you are on.
It teaches you things that help you win the next levels and if you skip it, you’ll likely lose later on.
So, now that you’ve read this... what is the one thing you’d want from your magic wand?
For more cool entrepreneurship stories, mental models and learnings on dtc/growth, follow me @jspujji
