The quality of this newsletter has slipped - that's my bad. I want to focus on giving you value right from the start.

This one is about my decision-making process as a manager at a £2M MRR startup and solo founder. It will help you clarify what you should work on next. If that doesn't interest you, I'll see you next week - there, just saved you 5 minutes.

We Have Unlimited Choices

... but limited resources to pursue them. For example, my monthly operating budget for WordRobin is roughly £1,000 GBP. But I need to use this to do everything that is required to build a product that people want. In any given month, this might include:

1. Running ads or testing offers (£200-600/mo)

2. Paying for software (£100-500/mo)

3. Hiring freelancers (£100-1000/mo)

4. Legal/admin fees (£0 - 100/mo)

5. Education/Networking (£100-3000/mo)

You might have noticed, the upper end of these sum to well over £1000.

This means I cannot do everything on the list, all the time. This means that I have to prioritize.

Choose what to work on.

You have to pick a problem.

The first step to setting a goal is getting the problem precisely defined and validated.

For example, my broad goal is to build WordRobin.

There are a million different ways to do this. You could get more users with ads. You could partner with influencers. You could hire developers. You could get a cofounder. You could build and launch a new feature. You could write blog posts for SEO.

This is not good - I need to specify the problem.

For WordRobin, the problem is that people are not using the app's features. This means I haven't done a good job at designing the onboarding, and making the features intuitive.

Having a clear goal means I can ignore:

• Marketing, or getting more users for the sake of it

• Conversion, or getting users to pay

• Profitability, or lowering my token/software costs

And focus on:

• Analytics, so I can see where people stop using the app

• Feedback, so I can see what people are confused by

From there, I can easily draw out next steps (look at how other products onboard people, install analytics, monitor usage, reach out to users and ask for feedback).

And as a manager at a startup with over £2M MRR, I still use these same process. The only difference is that the founder has "veto" power over my decision - most of the time because they're solving for a different problem.

Conclusion

Strategy, prioritization, roadmap... these are all fancy words for the same thing:

DECISIONS.

As founder, you have to decide what to work on to grow your business. Choose a specific problem to solve, then solve it.

As you get bigger, you still have to follow the same decision-making process. You just add zeros to the price you pay.

WordRobin Update

Follow-up Questions

Suggestions from our editors often contain “additions”, like adding more details, giving an example, etc.

Previously, Robin would just make something up. Not good.

Now, Robin will ask you for more input as and when needed. Better.

Direct Request

You can now highlight specific parts of the text and ask for direct changes.

These changes will also come with a follow-up question.

What’s next?

I’ll monitor how this newsletter does with it’s new format - Like/dislike it? Let me know!

Otherwise I’ll be spending the next week making sure users can actually understand what WordRobin does. Have a productive week all!

with love, Ben

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