Steve Jobs never let things linger at Apple. For a big company there were some huge leaps taken in months time. The best products were big bets, but also fast bets, where years weren’t going to have been wasted if they’d failed.
It meant they didn’t have time to babysits people, features, or customers.
“You guys don’t know what you’re doing. I’m going to get someone else to do the ads because this is fucked up.” – Steve Jobs
This applies to all of you bootstrappers out there.
Fire People
You can’t afford to baby sit someone at their job. Don’t tolerate it. If you have a bad feeling about a contractor or employee in the first couple of days… trust your gut and just move on. There are plenty of other people looking for work.
Fire Ideas
Say no a lot more than you say yes. You have to. Saying yes too many times makes it impossible to focus.
Fire Features
Is there a feature you’ve been working on that just isn’t working for whatever reason… stop working on it and move on. Shipped a feature that you loved, but only a couple of your customers use… turn it off. Make what’s already working well work 10% better instead.
Fire Customers
Don’t lead anyone on. Make it clear who you’re product is for and who it’s NOT for. Trying to be all things to all people will create tough situations for you trying to please someone who would be better off with a different solution.
If the wrong customer gets in the door, pays you money, and insists you make radical changes in order to please them… don’t be afraid to issue a full refund and fire that customer.
Just remember… to all the people, ideas, features, and customers getting in the way of your dreams…
