24 Comments
User's avatar
Chris Tottman's avatar

Do the one thing that moves the entire flywheel more than anything else. Should be 50% of your time and resources at the beginning. I wrote about this in the "5am Boring Routines" - I'd be happy to reshare it

Jens Stark's avatar

Thanks Chris, sounds like a solid approach. Yes, please feel free to share it!

Ivan Landabaso's avatar

I use it religiously!

Chintan Zalani's avatar

Ohh such a great reminder. Doing the right things is super super important and something I keep drifting with myself. I have to make consistent reminders to myself. But do you reckon there's a time specifically early in the joruney when immediate profits are important?

Jens Stark's avatar

Definitely, this has always been important. The customer's willingness to pay is the ultimate feedback you can get on your product / service. If your offering has clear customer value (for the customer), they will gladly pay up.

Mike Goitein's avatar

1% inspiration, 99% perspiration 💪

Jens Stark's avatar

So true! Thanks Mike.

Alex Randall Kittredge's avatar

Great reminder. Speed can create the illusion of momentum, but if the work isn’t tied to customer value, it just helps you drift faster.

Jens Stark's avatar

Well said, thanks Alex!

Hodman Murad's avatar

Efficiency without direction just gets you to the wrong place faster.

Jens Stark's avatar

Both are individually important, but to your point it’s how they complement each other that creates success.

Hodman Murad's avatar

That’s right!

John Brewton's avatar

You can't fix a retention problem by adding more to the top of the funnel.

Jens Stark's avatar

It will make the problem seem smaller for the time being... until it's not.

Juan Salas-Romer's avatar

Really like the mid-week test, takes guts to change your rhythm. The churn line stuck with me. One tip: ask three customers who left why they went. Beats guessing.

Jens Stark's avatar

There's an element of shame when people leave... most people prefer not to know why and keep kicking the can down the road. The only way to fix churn is to figure out what is driving it and solve for the root causes.

nihal | deeptech decoded's avatar

One simple question before starting anything could help too: how does this move the needle? Now or over the long term.

Jens Stark's avatar

Yes, good shout! Not everyone will have access to financial forecasting and analytics, but it will greatly help to at least be able to quantify the benefit before diving into something new.

Joël Kai Lenz's avatar

I don’t know why this resonated so much with me, “You can’t outrun churn by trying to grow faster”, but I love it!

Jens Stark's avatar

Thanks Joël. Retention is my of my favourite topics. I could write a book about it!

Joël Kai Lenz's avatar

Haha please do! I would read that book!

Petar Dimov's avatar

Speed often hides misalignment: moving faster doesn’t help if the direction is wrong

Jens Stark's avatar

Great comment Petar. I've never heard it said that way before, but you raise a very good point! If things are moving so quickly, there's little time for any reflection or contructive challenge.