It Won't be a Straight Line – MicroConf 2018

Too often, business presentations focus on the larger successes with fleeting references to minor road bumps. After navigating a three-and-a-half year health-based distraction with two small children while running a business a sole founder, I wanted to share my slightly less rose-colored experience.

Ultimately, my outcome was positive since I was able to sell the business and move on, but the story focused more on understanding and embracing the curveballs that life invariably throws at us.

You can watch the [full video of the presentation on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq1n9fFIDCo).

Transcript

1. IT WON’T BE A STRAIGHT LINE
2. I’m @garrettdimon HELLO
4. 4.79YEARS SINCE IT ALL STARTED
5. 1.67 YEARS SINCE AMPUTATION
6. 10 SURGERIES 28 TOTAL HOURS IN HYPERBARIC 15 SURGEONS CONSULTED 16 WOUND VAC CHANGES 20+ PROSTHETIST APPOINTMENTS 30 TOTAL NIGHTS IN HOSPITALS 60+ DOCTOR’S OFFICE VISITS 100+ PHYSICAL THERAPY APPOINTMENTS PROSTHETIST APPOINTMENTS 40+ 4 MRI/CT SCANS PAINKILLERS & ANTIBIOTICS COUNTLESS
7. 120DAYS LOST
8. 6.8% OF THE LAST 5 YEARS
9. 1.63HOURS PER DAY FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS
10. ✈
13. A new work fl ow to write, review, and ship web applications. A fast & reliable transactional-only email platform for web applications A complete work fl ow to write, review & deploy code. Instantly build and ship code anywhere in one consistent process for your entire team. Com ing soon Sold in 2017 Coming soon!
17. STARTING & SUSTAINING http://startsustain.com @start_sustain
18. SETTING THE STAGE Be ready for curveballs.
20. 😧 🤔 😎
21. Winston Churchill When you’re going through hell, keep going.
22. 💩
24. LESSON: Responding beats reacting. Things will go wrong. Focus on the aspects you can affect.
25. Walt Disney The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.
27. LESSON: Inspiration doesn’t strike. It has to be cultivated. Don’t search for ideas. Just start creating and always be on the lookout for ideas.
28. VALIDATING AN IDEA Payment is your best form of validation, so how do you get there?
29. LESSON: Approach everything with baby steps. Never go all-in on your fi rst attempt. Build enough to justify payment and learn.Then build the real thing.
30. 💉💉💉
32. David Heinemeier Hansson Cofounder of Basecamp The greater the uncertainty as to whether something will work at all, the less excellence you should invest before you fi nd out.
33. V1 Manual Processes V2 Somewhat Automated V3 Highly Automated V4 Hosted Web Application Spreadsheet Spreadsheet + Zapier Spreadsheet + Zapier + Stripe Hosted Web Application
34. Tim O’Reilly Founder of O’Reilly Media When you have to prove the value of your ideas by persuading other people to pay for them, it clears out an awful lot of woolly thinking.
35. LESSON: Sales is research. Talking to potential customers kills two birds with one stone. Then use that to iterate on your offering.
36. VERSION 1 Let’s try the simplest solution.
38. ?
39. LESSON: Recurring revenue is an amazing form of disability insurance. It’s easy to be scared of health issues, but recurring revenue makes it easier.
40. PIVOTING We learned a little. Some stuff worked. Some didn’t. It’s time to get serious.
42. LESSON: Maintain perspective. Not “Well. It could be worse.” But rather “I can handle this.”
43. VERSION 2.0 We feel con fi dent that the best step is to invest in a more ambitious solution.
44. LESSON: Tiny steps are still steps. The key is that they’re your steps. Don’t compare your rate of progress to anyone else. (Or to “past you.”)
45. WHAT IS A FREE FLAP? 🥓 🍖
46. ⚠ “THAT’S NOT GOOD…”
47. LESSON: Trust and delegate. Don’t give up when your fi rst attempt doesn’t go well. In our personal lives, we don’t hesitate to trust experts, but with business, too often we try to go it alone.
48. VERSION 2.1 Any major effort is going to run into issues and need some follow-on work.
49. 🏥
50. 🔘
51. 💓
52. 🚨
53. “HOW LONG WILL I BE HERE?” ⏰
54. “We’ll keep you here a few more days and then we’ll move you to the fl oor.”
57. PROGRESS ISN’T AUTOMATIC Growing pains are real. At some point, growth will plateau.
58. LESSON: Growth is just a formula. You have to look at growth and plateaus as simple formulas. Then set goals accordingly.
59. Time Number of Customers Real Growth with Churn Ceiling from Churn Hypothetical Linear Growth Zero Growth
60. LESSON: Work on the right things. The likelihood of working on the right things correlates closely with what customers are telling you combined with your actual growth numbers.
61. 1 Reduce Churn 2 Increase Conversion 3 Increase Traf fi c
62. 🏋
63. 👩💼 👨💻 👩🎨👨🍳👩💻 👩⚕ 👨🏫
64. LESSON: Pain and discomfort are part of the process. Go right up to your limit. Push past it. Suffer a little. Then do it all over again.
65. STEP BACK AND ASSESS How are you doing? Are you meeting your goals? Do you need to try something new?
66. 🏃 ⛹ 🚶 SOMEWHAT TOLERABLE 🚵 🏋 TOLERABLE WITH LIMITATIONS 🏂 ONLY WITH PAINKILLERS NOPE
67. LESSON: Focus on tangible goals rather than long-term dreams. Let your dreams light the fi re, but remember that incremental and measurable goals are how you really get there.
68. MAKE BIG DECISIONS Turning points are never easy, and the answer is rarely obvious.
69. LESSON: Protect your focus for the things that really matter, and always work deliberately. Don’t avoid big decisions because they’re hard. Put your head down, do the research, decide, and then execute ruthlessly.
70. 1 2
72. ⏳ REGRET?
74. ❤ 👪 SAFE & RESPONSIBLE FOLLOW MY HEART VS.
77. LESSON: For some decisions, there’s not an obvious answer. You may need to make a leap of faith. Do your research, and make a decision. Sitting still can often be worse.
78. IS IT GOOD ENOUGH? After big efforts, launch, and then re- evaluate.
79. 🤔
82. 🏂
84. 👋
85. LESSON: Don’t count on data and logic to provide the right answer. Too often we try to be 100% con fi dent about decisions that require a leap of faith.
86. TAKING THE NEXT STEP Once you’ve handled the basics, the real work begins.
90. LESSON: It’s ok to let go. Just because something is holding you back, doesn’t mean you have to hold on too.
91. THE JOURNEY NEVER ENDS There will be milestones, but there’s never a fi nish line.
93. “Daddy, can you run yet?” 😊
94. “You can’t beat me!” 😛
95. “Daddy, you’re cheating!” 😡
98. LESSON: It’s about progress— not aspirations. Focus on how far you’ve come because our journeys never end. You’ll never reach a fi nish line.
99. Bill Gates (Probably) Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten.
101. LESSON: Find your people so they can nudge you along safely. When you’re in the thick of it, it’s dif fi cult to know if you’re pushing yourself too hard or not hard enough.
102. 🏃 ⛹ 🚶 NO PROBLEM 🚵 🏋 SIMPLE FOOT CHANGE 🏂 ALL DAY (JUST A LITTLE SLOWER)
105. LESSON: Don’t adjust too many variables at once. With business, you have a ton of dials you can adjust, but only a few matter.
107. ⛸ 👡 👢 👞 👟 👠 🎿
109. LESSON: We’re all adaptive. Adaptation is unavoidable, and businesses have to adapt and change too.
110. Sir Edmund Hillary First to summit Mt. Everest It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
111. 🏔
112. start_sustain startsustain.com garrettdimon garrettdimon.com THANKS g T T g