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Founder Mode
How to Build Focus as an Organization
Every founder and leader wants their team to move fast and execute well. But most companies—big and small—waste time on distractions that don’t drive results.
I’ve seen this happen at every level:
- Early-stage startups struggle to pick the right priorities.
- Growing companies get pulled in too many directions.
- Large teams slow down due to process and bureaucracy.
The best organizations use focus as a tool. They know that choosing what not to do is as important as choosing what to work on. And they make that choice every day.
Here’s how to do the same.
0 to 1: The Startup Focus Trap
Most startups fail not because they don’t have good ideas, but because they chase too many at once.
At Acompli, we had a 10-person engineering team building a mobile-first email app. In the early days, we debated launching a Team feature to help teams collaborate. We found it valuable and believed it would be a hit.
But we didn’t build it.
Instead, we focused on making email fast, seamless, and reliable.
- We perfected attachments so users could find and send files in seconds.
- We made the calendar experience effortless.
- We made search easier. So users can quickly find their most important messages.
These were the areas where we knew we could deliver the most impact. Saying no to features—even highly requested ones—was hard. But it kept the team moving in the same direction. By the time Microsoft acquired Acompli, we had built a product that stood out because it was focused.
The hardest part was ignoring the noise.
Users asked for two key features for months: recurring events and task management. Both were valid. Both would have made the product better. But both were complex and would have taken months to execute well. We had to make a choice: build those features now and slow down, or double down on what was already working.
We stuck to our core roadmap, and it paid off.
If you’re an early-stage founder, ask yourself:
- Are you saying no to 80% of ideas?
- Do you have one clear priority that everything else supports?
- Is your team focused on depth over breadth?
If not, you’re likely spreading yourself too thin.
Big Teams: The Complexity Monster
At Microsoft, with more than 100,000 full-time employees, focus was a challenge. One of the first problems we ran into? Signing and shipping iOS builds.
For a startup, this takes less than a minute. But at Microsoft, the process took a full week because:
- A dedicated team controlled signing, and they didn’t trust app teams to do it themselves.
- Each submission needed manual review, slowing things down.
- The team in charge thought their role was essential, even though it created delays.
We were operating under a clear goal: Ship a five-star app every seven days.
That meant we couldn’t afford bottlenecks. We pushed for an automated signing process, cutting the time from days to seconds. That one shift sped up mobile releases across the entire company.
But the bigger lesson here wasn’t just about speed—it was about trust.
A lack of focus often comes from a lack of delegation. In large organizations, leaders hold onto control because they think they need to. But in doing so, they create bottlenecks. The best teams are the ones that trust individuals to make decisions and move fast.
Bureaucracy will always creep into big organizations. The only way to fight it is by setting clear, uncompromising priorities—and then getting out of the way.
Instacart: Scaling Focus with Clear Metrics
At Instacart, the challenge wasn’t bureaucracy—it was managing explosive growth.
We used two simple, measurable goals:
1. Couch-to-Cash: How fast could a new shopper sign up, complete their first order, and get paid?
- In some states, this took weeks.
- We got it down to same-hour onboarding.
This was mission-critical. If new shoppers couldn’t start fast, we couldn’t scale.
We tracked Couch-to-Cash not just nationally, but also county by county. This helped us find bottlenecks in real time.
Some states had long delays for background checks. This happened because of vendor processes were outdated or a local court was closed. By flagging this early and switching vendors or alerting, we sped up approvals. We removed the need for shipping or picking up physical credit cards. Now, shoppers can set up Apple Pay and Android Pay to get a card right away.
2. Cents per Delivery: How much could we reduce the cost of delivering an order?
- Small optimizations saved a few cents per order.
- Bigger wins saved 25 cents or more per delivery.
Every engineering team was responsible for improving one of these two metrics. We didn’t just make abstract goals—we assigned clear ownership. If a team was working on something that didn’t directly impact one of these areas, they knew it wasn’t a priority.
We aimed each engineering team at these two goals, so we made decisions faster and better. Everyone knew what success looked like.
If you’re leading a growing team, ask yourself:
- Does every team know their most important goal?
- Are your metrics clear enough that people can optimize for them daily?
- Does your team understand why their work matters?
How to Build Focus Into Your Culture
The best leaders don’t just set goals—they make focus part of the company’s DNA.
1. The 3 Priorities Rule
- Your company should only have three major priorities at any given time.
- If you have more than three, you have none.
2. The “Kill List” Exercise
- Every quarter, list all projects your company is working on.
- Cut the bottom 25%, even if it hurts.
- More work does not mean more progress.
3. The One-Line Rallying Cry
- Your team should be able to explain the group or company’s goal in one sentence.
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Examples:
- Microsoft Outlook Mobile: “A five-star app every seven days.”
- Instacart Logistics: “Couch-to-Cash and lower Cents per Delivery.”
- Tesla: “Build the world’s best electric cars.”
When focus is that clear, decision-making becomes faster and more aligned.
Bonus Tip: When setting a focus goal, think like Elon Musk. He describes alignment as a “vector sum” of effort. When everyone pushes in slightly different directions, progress slows. But when every team’s work moves in the same direction, momentum builds fast.
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