The Bottleneck ⚙️

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[Rameel Sheikh ⚙️ @ramshe1000]

I took a leap you would call reckless.

I resigned as the COO of a YC-backed startup last week to move back home to Houston to have my first kid in January.

This week while thinking of next steps, I realized I had to focus on an audacious idea.

That’s because I learned a secret.

The next generation of iconic businesses won’t be built by all-star generalist outsiders like in the early 2010’s.

The next generation of iconic businesses will be built by domain subject matter insiders in the 2020’s.

Think about it.

Many answers to the broader startup dilemmas have become commonplace.

With AWS, specialized B2B software, and accelerators like YC, we've commoditized the foundational blocks of startup building.

What sets you apart now isn't how quickly you can assemble these blocks, but how masterfully you can build atop them.

That brings me to why I'm launching a newsletter focused on COO's called The Bottleneck, and why you should care.

This isn't just another newsletter; it's the starting line of a marathon.

The Bottleneck is just the beginning.

Over time, we'll be expanding into a series of media properties, agencies, and software solutions that center around fixing problems only domain experts know to how solve.

And the best part?

You will be an integral part of this journey.

Together, we will form partnerships and collaborations to address the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing tomorrow's industry leaders.

Why start with COOs?

COOs are the unsung heroes, the bottleneck through which every aspect of the business must flow.

They sit at the intersection of strategy and execution, and they possess the nuanced skill set required to build these iconic, generation-defining companies of the future.

They are, in essence, the domain experts of operational excellence.

With The Bottleneck, I aim to empower a new breed of COOs—those ready to take their rightful place as architects of the next big thing.

Expect actionable insights, strategic frameworks, and the occasional irreverence, served straight to your inbox every week.

This is where academia meets the underground, where Ivory Tower intellect takes on street-smart guile.

We're Harvard Business Review, but if it had an affair with the razor-sharp wit of John Oliver and the audacity of Elon Musk.

It's time to take your expertise and transform it into a legacy.

How can you get started?

Subscribe: It's free. And it’s your key to a treasure trove of closely-held secrets.

Engage: You'll not just read. You’ll interact, question, and even contribute. We're in this together.

Act and Share: This is a two-way street. As you apply our insights, we'll learn from your challenges and triumphs. This is collective growth.

Just like how I want you to grow, you'll also be able to see how we grow.

You’ll have access to real metrics, actual funnels, growth experiments, and even live streams of strategic discussions.

My aim is to get you—yes, you—behind the scenes of how the next generation of iconic businesses will be built.

We’re lifting the veil. It's like having a seat on our board.

I’m throwing open the doors, revealing it all, and inviting you in.

This is not just about articles; this is a mutual growth pact.

We’re All In—Are You?

[Rameel Sheikh ��️ @ramshe1000]

"Be a fox, not a hedgehog" - FDR...

is what he would say if he were in my situation.

The situation?

I'm moving back to Houston after I quit as COO of a YC startup last week. My goal is to reach $10K by the time my first kid is born in Jan.

What do animals have to do with how I accomplish my goals?

It's a simple mindset.

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Hedgehogs relate everything to a single central vision.

He is not interested in hearing objections. He will double down rather than change his goals when confronted with resistance.

Foxes, in contrast, pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory.

Their activities may be connected, if at all, only in some de facto way. He relies on intuition to adapt to unexpected circumstances.

Without a "one big thing" or a clear direction, the hedgehog route won't work for me.

I need to be a fox.

To reach my goal, I need to:

- strike when opportunities arise
- use my intuition to make decisions
- be willing to pivot at a minutes notice

What should you expect from me this week?

I have a list of 25 customer pain points that I'm validating now.

Tomorrow, I'll write about the strategy I am using to position myself for quick revenue growth.

After I walk through the framework with you, I'll tweet everyday for the rest of the week about one customer pain point with a potential solution.

The plan is to try to launch an idea by the end of this week.

If you're interested in my journey from $0 to $10K in 4 months, follow along!

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

@TheHoneyDoneApp for a social media app, try to track:
- how quickly your user gets to the "a-ha" moment
- usage of the app

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

OKRs are too complicated.

Early stage startups only need 3-5 KPIs to monitor to understand the health of their business.

Why don't we just set a KPI and do whatever it takes to hit it?

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

If you want to learn more about Crisis Management, then check out the latest issue this week

https://t.co/5EN3txFD6F

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

Square went down last week.

How should you communicate with a customer when a crisis comes?

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

We dig into what to do when there was a talent mismatch between your company and employees in our newsletter

https://t.co/5EN3txGaWd

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

With Dave Clark resigning from Flexport after less than a year of joining, what lessons can other startups learn from this?

From the beginning, Dave and Flexport had a talent mismatch

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

If you are interested in knowing more, check out tomorrow issue

https://t.co/5EN3txFD6F

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

What happens when a multi-billon dollar startup doesn’t set the correct SMART goals?

Signup to learn about how to avoid the mistakes that Snapchat continues to make.

https://t.co/5EN3txFD6F

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

Let’s chat about Snapchat.

I was playing around with their new tool, My AI.

The idea of an embedded AI within the app makes sense in theory!

However this seems like Snapchat again chasing a trend instead of building valuable features within its app.

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

Subscribe to get a free weekly strategy breakdown of an ops problem.

Broken down for COO's by a COO.

https://t.co/5EN3txFD6F

[The Bottleneck ⚙️ @Thebottleneckio]

With WeWork about to blow-up, this is a classic case of where a company can’t align their ambitious strategy with their operation.

In tomorrow's post, we dive into the root causes and what could have been done to prevent this disaster