PsychTech

Over the course of the past month, I’ve been building my very own investment thesis. This one centers around the area of Data Privacy and the exciting transformations it is and will be undergoing. I learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way, and I hope to take this as simply one of the many stepping stones I aim to encounter along my way into the Venture Capital scene. Here’s the link to the deck and the lessons I learned below.

Pick a Sector You’re Interested In or Have Experience In

When trying to figure out what sector to base my investment thesis on, I had a few interests in mind. This article here also explains that when narrowing your choices, it helps to pick one that you’ve worked in or have had an active interest in. This helps because it makes the entire project much easier to do. If you’re not interested in plant-based meat, why would you go through the whole research, deep-dive, and analysis portion of understanding that industry? Sticking to what you know or are interested in is the best way to put your ideas and concepts together. For me, I narrowed it down to FinTech, Cybsersecurity, and Data Privacy. I chose Data Privacy because 1) I have experience in this sector, 2) it was a unique sector that will help me stand out, and 3) I haven’t seen any investment theses that centered around this sector. Those reasons were enough to convince me to take the dive.

Start Early and Be Consistent

Had I known the amount of effort and work required for an investment thesis deck, I would have started earlier. The good thing about how I approached it was that I stuck to a system and aimed to chip away a little each day. I ended up finishing two days later than what my deadline was, but had I not stuck to a schedule and split this project into chunkable bits to work on daily, I would have easily been overwhelmed and had to spend a few all-nighters to get this over the finish line. Schedule and prioritize this if needed to keep yourself on track.

Find As Many Quality Sources As Possible, But Not More

When I had finished my deck, I had compiled 53 pages of notes on overall research on the Data Privacy sector and other things related to that sector. I had drawn on over 40 sources of information to help me out. Looking back at it, there were pieces of research that really helped shape my thesis, while there were others that were more fluff. Before I dived into each paper, article, and analytical report, I could have made this much easier by mapping out what kind of information I needed to construct my deck and then tailor the research around that. This would have saved a lot of time, although I don’t really regret learning everything I did.

Have a Process

Along the lines of being consistent, the process I created for myself is 100% the reason I was able to outline and construct my thesis the way I did. I first spent a few days compiling all the different sources of information I could get my hands on (more than was necessary). Following that, I sorted the different forms of articles into various groups based on similarity (privacy laws, market trends, analytics, etc). I then began to read and take notes on each whitepaper or report one group at a time. This took the longest amount of time, but by the time I had finished I felt like I gained a semester of knowledge in just a few weeks. Working on this every day helped make the process much easier to digest as well. When it came time to building the deck, I knew what sources of information I needed to pull from and how to structure my slides.

Don’t Rush, But Don’t Be Lazy

Had I waited until the 11th hour, I would undoubtedly have finished my thesis deck with a less-than-stellar compilation of slides. Even when I finished when I did, I made that I didn’t leave any stone unturned. A lot of attention went into how each slide was structured, from beginning to end. Each slide has a purpose, designed for understanding a certain aspect of the Data Privacy industry. Because I knew this was a sector that wasn’t beaten to death with other previous theses, I knew I had to take my time with it. Even though I finished past my deadline, I felt proud of what I ended up compiling at the end.

Enjoy the Ride

With this being my first investment thesis deck, I didn’t know what to expect. I was unsure of how much work went into it, whether I was overdoing it, or if I needed to step up my efforts. After everything was said and done, I couldn’t believe what I had put together. I was excited by the amount of knowledge I had gained on the sector I had spent so much time exploring. It was a lot of work, but it also felt rewarding to see the outcome. I definitely would have savored reading through each article whitepaper more, and trying to understand the big picture while diving into the smaller details.

All in all, creating my first investment thesis was certainly a lot of work, but it was truly rewarding work. I now feel like I could walk up to any VC, explain the Data Privacy sector without skipping a beat, and clearly identify market trends along with startups to keep an eye out for. If presented with the opportunity to create another investment thesis for a different sector, I would be able to follow the same process, albeit a little more efficiently done this time around.

It’s that time of year again. The time of self-reflection and setting new resolutions for the new year. It’s always beneficial to take time for yourself to identify all the things that went well over the course of the year and all the things that could have gone well. I find this to be extremely valuable in understanding how far I’ve gotten with my monthly and yearly goals and how much I’ve grown over the course of the year. Then, by analyzing everything, you can set yourself up for goals you want to accomplish and actually go through with them in the following year.

A framework I use to analyze how the year went includes the following sections:

• Overall Analysis + Plan for 20XX
• Previous Year Yearly Goal Analysis
• Previous Year Monthly Goal Analysis
• Professional Life Analysis
• Personal Life Analysis

The first section discusses how the year went overall, like a synopsis. Along with that, the plan I create for the next year also detailed and how I plan to accomplish said plan. After that, an analysis on the yearly goals I laid out is performed. This includes what I was able to accomplish, what I wasn’t, and what I could learn from them. The same goes for the monthly goal analysis.

Next, I think about how my professional life went. Was I able to accomplish the goals I set up for my work life? If not, what could I have done better? What actionable steps should I take for my next set of goals? All of this goes a long way to setting up my short-term and long-term vision I have for myself.

Lastly, I goes deep into my personal life. I’ll spare the details here but I center this around my hobbies, skills I’d like to learn, and skills I want to learn in the future. The purpose of this section is to ensure I haven’t been stagnating outside of work. I believe it’s important to dedicate time to yourself when you can and what you do during that time differs from person to person.

By covering most of these aspects, I can better identify where I made the most progress and what areas I’m still needing improvement in. It’s crazy to think how fast a year goes by, but it’s even crazier to think about everything you set out to accomplish. By becoming aware of where you stand professionally and personally, only then can you set and exceed the standards you set for yourself.

The early 2010s marked the beginning of an innovative type of business model – the e-commerce subscription box. The subscription model itself wasn’t anything new – Netflix and many other SaaS companies use this model to generate a stable method of recurring revenue. However, applying this to certain kinds of physical goods and services is what allowed for a niche market to really come alive. Throughout the decade, more and more of these kinds of companies rose (and fell), with a few making it big and an overwhelming majority coming up short.

Most consumers are familiar with Dollar Shave Club and Stitch Fix, the two biggest benefactors of this business model. Most are also aware of the cautionary tale of Blue Apron, whose stock has imploded and has been showing very faint signs of life after its IPO in June of 2017. The fact is that the market for these kinds of boxes reached its peak back in 2014-2015, with fewer and fewer companies being launched since then. This market is also dependent on the product or service being offered in a box.

Based on this McKinsey report, there are three types of subscription box models: replenishment, curation, and access. Replenishment models are based around commodity items, such as razors, diapers, or contacts. Curation models depend on providing new items and personalized experiences and are typically seen with apparel and food categories. These also happen to be the most common kind of box subscription service that consumers sign up for. Lastly, there’s the access model – these subscribers pay a monthly fee to obtain lower prices of something that would otherwise cost more. These are based around exclusivity.

There are definitely some good and bad things about this model for both the company and subscriber. For the company, most of the revenue they generate comes from this model, whether it’s based on a single package or broken down into different tiered options. For consumers, it allows for an automated option to some of the household goods and services they typically rely on. However, for subscribers of access and curation types, they can quickly become disinterested if their experience isn’t tailored to them, which would cause them to quickly cancel their subscription. This typically happens with a third of users within 3 months of using the service and half of users within 6 months. This is bad for companies because it results in high churn rates, which essentially measures the life of these kinds of companies.

Looking at the market at a macro level, this article here shows how the growth of subscription box companies have slowly declined in terms of the number of companies launched year-over-year since 2015. About 17 of every 20 companies have been bootstrapped, with a mere 2% ending up being acquired or going through an IPO at the end. Another concerning trend is the statistic that both the number of investments in this model and the amount invested have both declined since 2015 as well (with an increase in 2017 when compared to 2016). The last note here is that every year (outside of 2017), at least 30% of companies that have launched have shut down.

From an investment perspective, it may seem like a bearish market. Although this market is quite broad with respect to the categories of goods and services offered, it seems like a decline has been in place the last few years in number of companies launched and investment money shelled out. That isn’t to say that there are a few exceptions to the rule, but one must look close and deep in order to spot them.

Imagine your weekly grocery shopping plan of action: You walk in with your list of items that you need, grab the items, and check out. You might linger around to check out any new sales or whether you should grab that pack of Oreos because you’ve been such a good person. You pay for what you buy and then head out. It’s very likely that this process will repeat itself the next time you visit just like it has before.

Do you understand why you buy the items you buy? On a deeper level, do you understand why you buy the specific brands that you do? How are you influenced to pick one brand of food item over the other? Now you could say that’s the brand you’ve always gotten, but what made you purchase that item the first time around? Herein lies the concept of Consumer Psychology.

Consumer Psychology deals with how our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, & perceptions influence how people buy and relate to goods and services. It helps explain why we choose one product over another on a deeper level. Understanding the why behind purchasing decisions is beneficial in multiple ways.

For companies, understanding consumer psychology gives them a more accurate picture of what products to target certain demographics. Like with almost everything else, this relies on a good chunk of data in the form of surveys and other methods of collecting consumer behavior. Companies can take this information and then create better advertisements that tailor to specific audiences and specific times of the day. It’s why we see snack commercials at 4 pm which happens to be that sweet spot between lunch and dinner.

Another reason this is so important is that it helps you identify what products the consumers are interested in as well as future products to consider bringing to life. If you notice that your demographic tends to complain about a common pain point, that should immediately set off fireworks in your head. Is there something not on the market that should be offered to satisfy the customers? Are you missing a crucial complementary item that would boost customer satisfaction scores tremendously? Typically consumers influence the market and what better way to identify market trends and future areas of growth than understanding your consumers?

As a founder of a startup, knowing the psychology of your target consumer absolutely goes a long way. The key is to gather as much information about them, identify their behaviors and what makes them buy your product, and then act on it. Rinse and repeat this process and you will have a much more refined way of targeting your audience with products they will actually buy. Because if you don’t you can be certain your competitors will.

If you’ve worked at a startup or founded your own, you understand the pressure of deadlines. The getting punched and bruised in a mental fashion from the moment you start work until the moment you leave. Then going back at it again. And again. And again. Time and time again, we put in a full day of work, call it in, go home, sleep, and repeat. This is the cycle of reality and the cycle starts over every 24 hours.

It’s funny. We all have the exact same amount of time every single day. Each of us has a daily allowance of 1,440 minutes and we spend all of it until the next allowance comes in. How is it then that we all end up in different places? If you observe two different people for every single minute of a day, you’d be surprised with either how much they get done, or how little. However, it’s not always about the quantity of work that gets done. You could knock out a lot of items on your list, but still not have a really productive day.

It all goes back to priorities. You only provide value in a startup when you can deliver the most urgent action items within a given time frame. If your priorities aren’t align with this statement, you are essentially costing the company money and costing yourself time. You have to ruthlessly prioritize your time and efforts to action items that deliver value. If you’re in sales, that means setting up customer calls, reaching out to leads, and following up on clients to get them over the signature hump. If you’re in consulting, that means setting up meetings with your clients, providing them the necessary resources on demand, and staying in constant communication. If you’re a Product Manager, that means obsessing over the backlog, checking in on the team during standups, and removing any blockers that come their way in order for them to perform at their best. Anything else either provides neutral or negative value.

Planning your day is extremely valuable in how you manage your 1,440 minutes. Do you sleep in? Do you eat breakfast? Do you watch over your calendar the night before and the day of to stay on top of deadlines and deliverables? Going with the flow here is not going to cut it. If you have a vision for where you want to be, you have to be able to cut that vision into smaller time chunks and apply metrics to those chunks to ensure that you’re on track.

Each set of 24 hours is like a brick. If you’re able to sleep at night knowing you provided enough value to yourself, your startup, and others around you, you deserve a brick. With enough bricks over time, you can eventually lay the foundation for what your vision will be built upon. It’s all about the small steps here.

Fast-approaching deadlines. Customers to satisfy. Burn rate paranoia. All of these are common in startups, regardless of what stage they’re in. There are always fires to put out, buyers to please, and potential investors watching your every move. Honestly, if your goal of creating a startup is to make money and sail away to paradise, you are going to be in a lot of trouble. Not mention stress.

Stress is common in startups, like everything else. However, there might come a time where it catches up to you. That excessive rise in cortisol doesn’t do anybody any good. So when that does happen, it’s important to find ways out of it. How do you do that?

It comes down to what role you play within the startup. The bigger the impact you make in the startup, the harder it’ll be to de-stress. This is because your impact could make or break a sale, product feature, or implementation. If you’re the CEO, you’re pretty much out of luck. You always have to be on, especially early on when nothing is certain and you could go under at any point. If you’re a junior employee, you might have it a little easier. Overall there are a few things you can do to place yourself away from the stress:

PTO

Also known as “Paid Time Off”, this is the allocated time given to full-time employees that gives them the right to take time off from work while still getting paid. The number of days may differ from one startup to the next, but the benefit is clear – taking time away from work for yourself can absolutely help you lower stress levels. Disconnecting from your work devices and not checking it every so often while on PTO can help clear your head. You can literally do anything you want during your time off – travel, sleep, whatever you need to clear your head and restore yourself

Meditation

Meditation can certainly help if done right. It allows you to increase your focus and provides a momentary way of reducing stress by concentrating in the present state and sometimes repeating some sort of mantra. The earlier you can do it, the better since your willpower and energy are the greatest in the morning. Simply set up a timer for however many minutes you think you’ll need and start with breathing in and out and focusing on that.

Getting Out

Simply enjoying the outdoors or a weekend on the town could be enough to lower stress levels. Actually getting out and exploring new activities can actually be a refresher. Things like hiking and other outdoor activities gives people the opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on life and what really matters. It’s great for realigning your self and identifying what you should be focusing on when you come back.

Pursuing a Hobby

Everybody has a hobby. Whether it’s boxing, doing jigsaw puzzles, or gardening, it’s important to have a side activity outside of work that you can enjoy and rely on when things get stressful. It also shows your creative side and what you like to do in your spare time (if you have any). Having any hobby can keep you sane when you’re on the brink of insanity. If you don’t have one, think of some things you enjoy seeing or wanted to do but never had the time to.

Although working hard is imperative to making startups work, it’s important to know that you shouldn’t exhaust yourself to the point of a mental breakdown. If the above suggestions don’t work, look for ways to just recover from a mental standpoint so that you can tackle all the fires with a renewed sense of self.

If you’re interested in getting a role in a VC firm, there are two things that matter in order to get a seat at the table: experience and knowledge. Having experience is much easier than said; working at a firm while getting an MBA, having done some work at an investment bank, or being an early employee at a successful startup are probably the best ways to get relevant experience. Which means if you aren’t able to achieve any of the above, your chances fall dramatically.

That leaves the other option: knowledge. You need to be able to do several things to show you have the smarts to survive in the big leagues. That means having the ability to 1) showcase your knowledge of a certain sector and 2) articulate how your investment strategy thinking aligns with the firm’s. Since that is what people in junior VC roles will be doing anyway, it helps to do this beforehand in order to catch the attention of firms. But how can you demonstrate your knowledge in a simple and concise manner?

This is where the investment thesis comes in. An investment thesis is a guiding set of ideas or beliefs that molds your investment strategy. It’s the North Star for investors and funds alike when sourcing companies and determining which ones to invest in. For someone who wants to work in VC, having an investment thesis on a particular number of sectors benefits you in multiple ways.

First, it shows that you’re serious about wanting to be in the VC realm. Having an investment thesis likely puts you at least above 50% of others looking to crack their way in. You’ve put in the work, done the research, and appear much more confident in identifying market trends and companies that fit your thesis. Second, it allows you to gain an appreciation for the work and minimum requirements that are needed to just get your foot in the door. If you don’t gag at the thought of doing copious amounts of research on a sector and hate yourself for working on it during your nights and weekends, then you may just be the kind of crazy that VCs look for.

So how do you build an investment thesis to present to VCs? There are multiple ways to go about it. One way involves identifying a sector you have experience in or are passionate about. The other involves getting creative. But both lead to the same end result.

First, you need to identify a sector regardless. Either think of what you’re currently working in, what you would want to work in, or just brainstorm generalities and narrow the scope. Once you’ve picked an industry you’re sure of, that’s where the real work begins. Start reading up everything on that sector. Find articles, white papers, tech publication resources. Seek out founders in that space and contact industry experts to get a better idea of what you’re looking into. Keep learning in order to identify trends and opportunities. This is what will take the longest amount of time since you need a large amount of information and data to draw on trends.

Once you’ve beaten your head over and over and can’t stop thinking about your sector, it’s time to curate the presentation. You need to take everything you’ve learned and absorbed and narrow it down into a slide deck that is no longer than 15-20 slides. You want to keep it simple but informative enough to draw conclusions and highlight the research you’ve done. Have a slide on your background, slides on industry research and trends, and slides on startups you’ve identified that match your thesis.

It always helps to practice your deck and even get in front of a few people you know. This will help identify any holes in your deck and sharpen it after every practice run. That way, by the time you get in front of a VC, you’ll be able to talk to them about your sector, the trends, potential investment opportunities, and how you can deliver value. Not only will you save the VC time (which is their most valuable asset), but they’ll be much more impressed with you than with the other person they just met who talked about AI in the most general sense.

Just remember that sectors shift over time, so it helps to stay on top of trends and adjust your investment thesis deck as necessary. Checking out different VC firms and their investment theses is a great way to improve your own. Monitoring your sector will help you stay on top of your game and on top of the radar when the time comes to present your investment thesis.

The ability for a VC firm to become successful in generating returns depends on a multitude of factors, which tend to be measured by all sorts of metrics and aggressively tracked against. However, the one aspect that rises above all of them is the ability to generate a strong deal flow, which is the rate at which VCs receive potential investment opportunities from founders of startups.

Deal flow is where the Associates make their name (and money) in early-stage VC firms. But how can one find a pocket of startups to meet with, perform due diligence, and eventually go back to the firm with a potential company to invest in? There is only thing that matters in accomplishing this: building a network. Your ability to find talented companies to invest in a directly proportional to how big your network is and what you can do for them. The more well-connected you are and the more you are willing to help your connections, the easier it is to get referrals and establish a pipeline.

For early-stage funds, in order to grow your network and create a pipeline of companies looking for capital, there are several things you can do:

Find Your Nearest Startup Accelerator / Incubator

Chances are that if you live in a metropolitan hub, there’s bound to be a startup accelerator or incubator you can check out. These places are thriving with founders who have at least an idea of what they want to create and may even have an MVP of some type worth checking out. Every so often, there will be a sponsored event at these places where founders come out and mingle with other founders or investors.

Use Market Research Tools

Some that come to mind are CB Insights, Pitchbook, and Crunchbase. You can spot trends in certain industries, identify startups with respect to the amount of funding they’ve received, and locate startups in your area. Market research is powerful in itself if you’re looking to specialize in a certain sector.

Scour Platform Media

LinkedIn, Meetup, and AngelList are some of the more popular places to find and filter startups or founders looking for capital. You can filter by different regions, sectors, and series in which they are raising capital. The conversion rate here might not be as high but it still is another outlet to find and source deals.

Provide Value to Founders You Know

This is based on your current network. You can always go to the founders you’ve met and continue to see where you can help them out, even if they weren’t the ones you ended up sourcing. This helps the most when the founders are still early enough to not need funding. This is because they’ll keep you in mind when the time does come and can act as another referral tunnel for you since founders tend to know other founders pretty well. Always be providing value where you can.

Attend Pitch Competitions / Demo Days

Product Hunt usually has places throughout the country where they have pitch competitions. Essentially, founders come up, explain their product or startup, and answer questions from judges in an attempt to win some sort of financial prize. This also helps act as a filter since only the best in the competition win out and are seen as having more potential. Some accelerators and incubators also host Demo Days (see YC) where startups who have been undergoing a program of scaling their company show off all the work they’ve done.

The most important thing to do when looking for sourcing deals is to not think of yourself. Think about what you can provide for the founders you meet. Always try to sell yourself as someone who can be of real value to those looking to raise capital. Even though startups do look for ways to raise money, they also look for resources they can’t find anywhere else – general guidance, help on financial models or market analysis, and more. By tailoring your focus around this and finding places where startups might be, sourcing deals can be a win-win for both parties in more than one way.

Picture this: you are running a startup and have been doing well up until this point. The metrics look good, sales are coming in, and your future projected growth is promising. Everything is rainbows and unicorns until you realize your burn rate is starting to catch up to you. Of course you’re going to need more money to stay afloat and keep the lights on, so you figure you’ll just go out and raise some money from a few venture capitalists or angel investors that you know have an interest.

In this scenario, which is almost always a great position to be in, you have a lot of important decisions to make and steps to take. Which investors should you go to? Should you accept a convertible note, or plan a Seed or Series A round? How do I prepare my pitch deck? While there are a seemingly abundant amount of action items to prepare for, there also mistakes you need to avoid leading up to and during your interactions with investors.

Being Ill-Prepared for the Meeting

This means coming to the fund-raising meeting with everything the investor could possibly need. If they ask for a business plan (probably less common now), go above and beyond with it. Never been to a meeting like this before? Gather information on what a typical meeting entails. Nervous about talking before investors? Practice your pitch deck at all hours of the day. You may not get another shot at an opportunity like this, so you absolutely have to prepare to crush it as if that were going to happen.

Not Asking for the Right Amount of Capital

Ask for too much capital and you may end up having to give up too much of your company for resources you don’t yet need. Ask for too little capital and you’ll have to raise another round and risk a down round valuation if things don’t go as planned. You need to find the balance of how much money you really need and for how long you plan to need it for. This is where knowing your financial metrics come to play. Think burn rate, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value. These all have an impact on the bottom line.

Giving Up Too Much of Your Startup

Regardless of the round you are raising for, you are quite likely going to have to give up a piece of your pie to get your capital. In the beginning, you and any co-founders are going to be owning 100% of the equity, but as you raise subsequent rounds of financing, that percentage will continue to shrink. Depending on what type of investor you’re willing to meet with, they will want a certain chunk. VCs typically ask for 20%, but are willing to budge on that number depending upon the circumstances. Giving up too much shows greed on the investor’s side and heavily dilutes your shares. The one thing to note here is that founders shouldn’t think in terms of percentage they have left after all the funding – they should be thinking about the price per share they will receive as the company becomes more valuable.

Not Understanding How Investors Operate

Everybody has motives to act in their own best interests. The same goes for both the founders and the investors. Founders want to raise capital to keep their startup moving and growing and eventually becoming profitable. VCs work a little differently; they are looking to invest in the startups that give them the greatest probability of getting an X multiple return on their investment. This helps keep their LPs happy and eventually turn a profit with their fund. That doesn’t mean VCs are cold-blooded; most also enjoy helping founders get the capital and other resources needed to support the startup as well.

Not Knowing Your Industry

Being a founder means you have to know everything about the industry you’re trying to impact. That means you have to be attentive to detail about things like competitors, market trends, predictive behavior, customer feedback, weaknesses, strengths, blind spots, financials, and more. If you’re raising capital and you’re getting grilled about questions on the sector you’re in, and you don’t know the answer (or worse, you lie about it), that is a major red flag. Stay on top of everything that affects your startup as if it were your baby and you were living in the era of the caveman.

Avoiding the above mistakes won’t guarantee that you’ll successfully raise a round to boost your startup, but it definitely is a start. The ability to show that you’re a student of the industry you’re in, to prepare for any question or situation, and to become a great spokesperson for what you’ve built can certainly increase your chances.

Managing time. Prioritizing tasks. Adapting to changes constantly. Thinking critically. We do these things every single day whether we are aware of them or not. Though this remains a constant, what varies is how well individuals perform these activities. Over time, the ability to effectively execute on these can be the difference between reaching your full potential and a life being wasted.

These certain set of skills can be grouped under the concept known as Executive Function. Whenever someone begins to plan their day, tries to remember a set of instructions, or even attempts to juggle multiple tasks that need to be done on the same day, they are utilizing the Executive Function to make it happen. These skills can be grouped into one of three brain functions:

1. Working Memory

The ability to retain and utilize information that was given to you over a certain period of time is considered working memory. This is what allows someone to be able to remember so many pieces of info at once and act on them.

2. Mental Flexibility

When things don’t go according to plan, people learn to adjust. That is the basis behind mental flexibility: adapting to changes in priorities, demands, and environments.

3. Inhibitory Control

One of the more difficult concepts to master is the idea of filtering out constant distractions and temptations. It is quite easy to let impulses take over and to speak before we think, to eat that marshmallow, and to not set priorities.

Venture capitalists rely upon these skills even more so to navigate through the chaotic world in which they function. VCs must learn to prioritize ruthlessly, reduce the temptation to invest in companies emotionally, and not plan ahead or manage time. Every VC must do their homework on industries and startups in order to utilize their Executive Function effectively.

Startup founders are on the same boat as well. With multiple fires needing to be put out and dozens of tasks that need to be executed, they have to know what demands their attention and what can be removed or delegated. Each day brings with it new challenges and screwballs so the need to constantly adapt mentally is a must. Getting carried away with urgent but not important things can be a startup killer.

The good news about all this is that even if an individual lacks the skills now, it can always be learned. Although children who are still developing are in the best position to do so, it doesn’t mean that adults can’t take advantage of it. The best thing to do here is to identify your strengths and weaknesses where Executive Functions can help and dedicate time to learning the right way of doing things. This could be the difference in landing the next great investment or doubling the ARR of your startup.