What can't be outsourced? /  by Alexander Lyadov

David Friedberg, an American entrepreneur, businessman, and angel investor, said in recent podcast: “There is this concept of adverse selection which is the negative actors will seek them (bad investors) out and there will be a match. Ultimately, they will be adversely selected into the deal which will blood them up.” The conversation was about investors who do not want to think for themselves, and are trying to outsource important decisions to others. Like, if Sequoia Capital enters the deal, then we too can, no, even need to enter. The irony is that the more successful everything will be, the worse it will be in the end. On the one hand, success fuels a person’s belief in his own foresight. On the other hand, delegating key decisions to others atrophies his ability to distinguish between signal and noise. Each round only raises the stakes. It’s only a matter of time before an increasingly overconfident investor comes across an ingenious scammer like SPF and invests all his savings in a scam a la FTX.

A long time ago I had the opportunity to spend a winter vacation visiting the founder of a billion-dollar company. We had assigned our children to a ski school. The first morning the entrepreneur said to me: “Let’s go, let’s take the kids to school. I was about to go out with my snowboard on the mountain, so I wondered, “Why, isn’t there a driver?” He looked at me very carefully, “Don’t you want to meet the instructor you’re handing your son off to for the day?” I involuntarily exclaimed: “Well, this is Europe, a professional school, an expensive resort, etc.” But as I was already saying these words, I realized how right he was. That situation alone taught me more than a semester at Chicago business school. I then thought hard about my risk-assessment system.

Since then, I have had many cases of my own and others to make sure the lesson is true. There are a number of decisions in business that no one can make for us. A company owner tired of putting out fires convinces himself that a hired CEO will do wonders for his troubled company. The introverted CEO communicates with employees exclusively through HRDs. The investor makes a deal without thorough due diligence, afraid of missing out on a hot trend and/or a promoted startup. Attempts to move out of responsibility for their own destiny are punished by it harshly and inescapably. Director Guy Ritchie said it well: “You must be the Master of your own Kingdom.” It doesn’t matter how shrewd or wrong specific decisions turn out to be. All that matters is that one make them exclusively for oneself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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Getting out of the trap /  by Alexander Lyadov

There are times when a founder loses interest in his company.

And, paradoxically, it is worse if it is generating some profits.

If the company was loss-making, the owner would have shut it down a long time ago.

But it is unbearable to leave it, and there is no energy to pull it forward.

Attempts to transfer the helm to other hands regularly fail.

Having inquired about the possibility of selling, he hears the insultingly low price.

The founder has to force himself hard just to get to the office in the morning.

The team notices that the leader is both present and absent at meetings.

There are a number of grim endings to where this suspension inevitably leads.

Clearly, the problem is not business, people, or circumstance.

Though the mind readily generates explanations for why this is the status quo.

The tragedy of this entrepreneur is that he is holding himself back.

More precisely, the trap is a false formulation of the root problem.

So freedom is both unattainable and literally at his fingertips.

Maybe the one who said you have everything you need is right.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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How does a founder lose power? /  by Alexander Lyadov

Portrait of Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne

 

Those who want and can start and grow a company are few.

But if successful, many want to manage it and become the beneficiary.

Raiding attacks and machinations of competitors are on everyone’s radar.

But it happens that with the lapse of time the shareholder himself loses power.

For example, when in a public company the board dances to the tune of a hired CEO.

Sometimes the HR director, like Cardinal Richelieu, de facto rules behind the king’s back.

Less noticeable, but more dangerous, when socialism replaces capitalism.

The company becomes a trough for those who do not create value and do not bear risk.

And if the business built is mighty, the idlers can milk it to exhaustion.

To save a stunted organism, a harsh purge is necessary.

In pathological cases, only a change of ownership will help.

If the staff is reduced from 7,500 to 2,750, but the business is running — how is that?

Such a miracle means the business has just been reborn.

If you’re the founder of a company, make a point of the Twitter story.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Entrepreneur VS Entropy /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

As the original term suggests, the entrepreneur is prone to action.

Like a shark, he needs to move constantly to survive.

Without a swim bladder, there is a need to fight the force pulling to the bottom.

For the entrepreneur, this force is entropy.

It hastens to destroy all that it has created with tremendous effort.

Entropy affects from within (wear) and from without (novelty).

Therefore, a long stoppage for the founder’s business is death.

But sometimes the entrepreneur faces a strange problem.

The venom of its bite is obvious, but the root cause cannot be caught by the tail.

The intractability puts the founder’s mind, and then the company, on pause.

Decisions are delayed, steps are braided, and the business begins to limp along.

In such cases, trying to move more only wastes already limited resources.

First, you need to clarify where to move from, how, and for what.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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This amazing ability /  by Alexander Lyadov

Each of us, especially as children, has been fascinated by ants in the woods. Their dedication, hard work, and mutual assistance are hypnotizing, as if watching them could give you an insight. I think it does. After all, the behavior of all social creatures has a lot in common, and looking at the model of society from a height allows you to see what you do not notice or depreciate near yourself.

I have always been struck by the readiness with which ants rush to solve an unexpected problem that has ruined their perfectly established life. Whether an animal stepped into an anthill, other insects attacked them, or a branch fell from a tree blocked their way, these amazing creatures do not fall into a stupor, go on a nectar binge, or vent their anger on others. It seems as if they merge without delay with the question, “How do we survive when our world has changed?” Each deals with his local task within the framework of a global goal meaningful to all. And soon enough, there is no trace of damage on the anthill, the path is cleared, and the enemy is dismantled for parts.

Some might say, “Of course, it’s easy for ants. Their instincts help them out. They just act like a clockwork mechanism. But I - a man floundering in the anxieties and doubts. That’s why I suffer so much.” This seems to me to be a half-truth. Indeed, in addition to animal instinct, nature has endowed us with complex feelings and a developed mind. Potentially, for everyone, this is a valuable gift. Which, however, can become a curse. If the fire hose is in weak hands, the barn will eventually burn to the ground and those around it will be soaked to the skin. On the contrary, if one has shackled one’s emotions and saddled one’s mind, one is no longer a wading walker but a galloping rider.

One is born with the ability to subdue the volcano within, channeling its energy to solve a pressing problem without delay. Another deliberately trains this skill as his professionalism grows. The third is unceremoniously taught by life, driving him into a tube of circumstances from which there is only one way out. There is no single way to become a true master of oneself. But those people who have succeeded in doing so inspire in me respect, admiration, and hope. “What one man has done, another can do,” I recall a quote from the beloved movie “The Edge.” There turn out to be an astonishing number of such inspiring people around.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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FTX Temptation /  by Alexander Lyadov

Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital,  had this to say about FTX and its founder Samuel Banckman-Fried (SPF), whose financial machinations caused the $32 billion crypto exchange to go bankrupt and its clients to lose at least $1 billion: “He pitched us in that $17 billion round and I did a zoom with him. After it, I said it didn’t make much sense, but I asked the team to do some work. We did that and sent him a two-page document and said, “Here are our recommendations for the next step. The first is to form a board of directors. The second is the creation of two classes of stock. The third is some safeguards on affiliated transactions." And the person who works there called us back and literally, I’m not kidding, said: “Go f$%k yourself.”

You could say Chamath got off cheap. Unlike 80 other investors who have invested over  $2 billion in FTX over 2 years. This story will teach many lessons as each day reveals new details of the scams and the bottom is yet to be seen. Amazingly, respected investors like Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners and Black Rock dutifully agreed to Samuel’s ultimatum conditions and did not join the board of directors, which actually consisted of Samuel, an FTX employee and a lawyer. Why did this happen? Perhaps the answer is the same as it was during the Tulipmanomania in the Netherlands four centuries ago. Greed and fear of missing out on a super-profitable deal turn off even the smartest and most experienced professionals’ judgment and push them to take self-destructive steps.

Entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant once said: “Negotiations are won by whoever cares less.” Consequently, if one desperately wants to negotiate a deal, the other doesn’t even have to bother - the first will squeeze himself out. And his high IQ will only help to justify his fateful decision in a more sophisticated way. A man can defeat any external threats and circumstances, but then easily fall prey to his own passions. Stories like this only affirm the idea that the main work for each of us lies within.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Your pull /  by Alexander Lyadov

Dog people know that two mature male dogs will fight sooner or later, even if they have been friends since childhood. And if it’s the first time they’ve met, you have to keep your eyes open. You can’t be careless unless you want to break up a fight, with the risk of losing your fingers and then having to work holes in his skin for a couple of weeks. You can’t eradicate the urge to wrestle with an outsider, but you can teach your dog to control and override his impulse. For example, to create laboratory conditions, when the instructor brings his dog and practice different exercises in the beginning at a safe distance, and then bring them closer and closer.

It is curious to observe when my dog is interested in his opponent and when he doesn’t care about him. If his attention drifts freely, then as his distance decreases, my dog kind of accidentally bumps into his vis-a-vis with his shoulder. Consequently, I have to make an extra effort to be able to spot and dull the spark of the scuffle. On the contrary, I can practically relax if I am holding his favorite toy in my hand. At this point, all of the dog’s attention is focused on me. Similarly, after the command “Look for it!” he forgets everything, because, according to neurophysiology, the search for an adored toy is even a greater release of dopamine than playing with it directly. When my dog makes a complicated path while searching for a toy, he sometimes walks right up to the other dog, which makes me feel uncomfortable. But there’s no cause for excitement - he’s completely absorbed in asking, “Where have those baddies hidden the toy now?”

You could say that the animal feels two pulls with the opposite sign (as perceived by man). Presented to itself, the negative pull or craving manifests itself violently with a bunch of unpleasant consequences. Fixing them, as well as fighting the craving is expensive, pointless, and difficult. It is more productive to create conditions for positive craving, which do not leave resources for outrage and debauchery. This is true of each of us, as well as those around us-employees, investors, and business partners. At any moment, a person is ready to succumb to his or her particular craving. For better or for worse? It’s up to you to decide.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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”Who are you and what do you do?"
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Don't learn to swim on land /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Obviously, the worst option is to learn to swim on land. No matter how much effort and resources you put in, the result is bound to disappoint you, if not put you at risk. But learning to swim in the water can also be different. For example, a novice trainer may overwhelm you with a stream of details, each of which is valuable, but you won’t be able to swim properly because your brain will be paralyzed. A mature trainer will only give you a few accents, but they are what will dramatically fix your style.

However, the real breakthrough in mastering the technique will happen when, instead of practicing in the normal mode, you try to swim a hundred-meter crawl as fast as possible, giving all the strength that you have. I guarantee you'll be surprised at how your body swaps what you've learned in the hierarchy of importance. A clear goal and the rigors of the task exacerbate the main Function that the coach was trying to convey to you. If you are fully invested in the swim, you will merge with the Function. And it will teach your body all it needs and beyond what the words convey. From that point on, your training will take on a different value, as you will be guided by the ideal, helping you address current weaknesses more quickly.

That’s why Brazilian jiu-jitsu coaches advise beginners to take part in a real championship, despite the risk of injury. Regardless of losing or winning, contact with the Function will forever change perceptions, adjust the direction and accelerate the student’s learning by an order of magnitude. Similarly, when learning something new in business, it’s important to shorten the time between getting the insight and putting it into action. In this sense, entrepreneurship is a multi-year 24/7/365 turbo sprint. And while others occasionally get in touch with it for insights, founders and Function are inseparable. And their Mastery, influence and success are just byproducts.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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Diagnosis in chaos /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

When asked “Why did you decide to contact me?” the founder of the company replied, “I don’t want to invest 2 years in an MBA. Further from the conversation it became clear what he meant. When a businessman encounters a more or less standard problem, he takes a solution template from the shelf of knowledge or, at the very least, fine-tunes it from a billet himself. But what if the problem is vague, dodgy and amorphous, but extremely serious — so serious that the future of your company rests solely on this bottleneck? Top managers are helpless, partners are busy with something else, and business consultants offer effective solutions, but, alas, not your problems.

A critical mass of questions pushes the founder to look for answers, if not exactly where they are, then at least where they potentially could be. I know many entrepreneurs and top managers who have chosen an MBA or its equivalent for this reason. In fact, I did just that in 2002, when, as the CEO of an international advertising agency, I went to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The investment was tangible - I spent two years studying along with my job, and I paid over $130K for my own tuition, travel, living expenses, etc. Undoubtedly, it was a valuable experience, which I remember with gratitude and warmth. But if a younger Alexander had asked the advice of today’s me, I would have told him a different, much easier, faster and more affordable way.

The thing is that even though I was banging my forehead painfully against the problem, I could not describe it in clear terms. I had neither the right tools, nor an experienced person to help me formulate what I was dealing with. And you know it’s very hard to find the black cat in a dark room, especially when it’s not there. In the end, of course, I found my cat, but in a completely different place, having lost many years and it’s scary to say how much money. In life, though, everything can be meaningless, or conversely, nothing goes to waste. It all depends on whether one man manages, figuratively speaking, to transmute trivial lead into valuable gold.

Thanks to the fact that my path has been very winding and thorny, I immediately recognize the particular type of bewilderment, deadlock and disorientation in which founders and CEOs sometimes find themselves. The specifics of the initial situation are different for everyone, but the types of obstacles and opportunities on the way, as well as the winning way of action on the meta-level are in some way similar for everyone. But, as you have already realized, it is the diagnosis of the problem that makes the greatest contribution to saving time, money and effort. So the main thing is to determine where the root of the evil is, and not in general, but here and now for a particular person.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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Vital Exchange /  by Alexander Lyadov

When I went to my favorite site  Draftin.com  the other day, I was taken aback by its founder, Nate Kontny, who wrote, “I’m so sorry. But I have to shutdown Draft on 12/31/2022.” But I have to close Project 12/31/2022.” How so? It was the perfect online service for writers of all stripes. Functionality, convenience, and minimalism. Once I tried typing my first text, one was as addicted as to opiates. The program worked seamlessly, allowing the author to do the main thing, that is, create, without being distracted by unnecessary commands, messages and buttons. And in addition to all the advantages, Draft was… free. Paid accounts existed, but the basic functionality was available to everyone anyway. As far as I understood, that’s what killed Draft.

Once again, Mr. Market teaches an important lesson that valuable things can’t be free. This is not immediately understood by the novice company founder, consultant, designer or psychotherapist, who willingly shares his expertise or product left and right. While their enthusiasm and desire to help those who are suffering is understandable, there are two sides to the problem. Few clients will feel gratitude and appreciation for what the creator parted with so easily. Most will simply be surprised by his naivete, shrug their shoulders, swallow the favor, and run on. As for the creator, it is only a matter of time before his stock of empathy and zeal is exhausted, and he is likely to fall into cynicism as the other extreme. The truth, as always, is in the middle.

Life is always an exchange. And business is no exception. The key to the stability and development of any service is the benefit for each of the parties involved. One-way game is a short-sighted strategy, because the depletion and collapse of the service is inevitable. If a service creator truly wants to help his customers for years on end, then, oh paradox, he needs to look out for his own interests as much as he looks out for his clients’.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
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Your ideal job /  by Alexander Lyadov

Teacher Explaining the Physics of Surfing in 1970s SoCal

 

Would you communicate with your colleagues if you didn’t depend on them for a project?

Would you solve those clients’ problems without the need to earn an income?

Would you recreate your current functionality if you had the freedom to choose what to do and what not to do?

If the answer is yes, then congratulations - your work is close to ideal.

If no, you will be achieving super-performance not because of it, but in spite of it.

There will be resistance inside and outside, and therefore friction.

Some of your resource will be dissipated into eternity in vain.

The key question is Why are you doing A for B together with C?

If there is no clear answer for all involved, the discord will grow.

But before you engage others in a discussion, answer it for yourself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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How not to get stuck? /  by Alexander Lyadov

The process of our development and the awareness of it do not always coincide.

So there is a need for change and a resistance to it within us.

Animals are lucky - their instincts guide them in time.

But man can get stuck for years, essentially struggling with himself.

He will stubbornly ignore affectionate nudges and discreet hints.

Until disaster strikes and knocks the ground out from under him.

What he had clung to with all his strength would crumble to dust.

And the frozen process finally shifts forward.

And that would be all right, but it’s a pity for the time and effort that have been wasted.

It has long been known that suffering is caused by resistance to what is.

If so, the best strategy is to recognize the inevitable early on.

How? Keep yourself from devaluing and avoiding early signals.

You need a detector of the gap between your imagined and the real.

A board, a coach, a therapist, even an observation diary.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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A priceless play on words /  by Alexander Lyadov

“Otherwise, you’ll live like a velvet flap in a box of blades,” as I read this, I froze in delight, like a child savoring a lollipop in his mouth (my translation). In Shadows in Paradise by Erich Maria Remarque, such diamonds are scattered on almost every page. I appreciate the art of wordplay, not because of the brilliance of its form, but because it is incomparably better at conveying meaning to the reader.

Oddly enough, it was my dreams that made me realize this. Most of them can be described as strange, stunning, embarrassing, astonishing, terrifying, or inspiring-in short, anything but boring, predictable, and banal. The philosopher and psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin seems to have encouraged me to the idea that only such an “unthinkable” form has a chance of bypassing the fences of the mind to sow its seeds of Novelty. A parallel can be drawn with the practice of unraveling koans in Zen Buddhism. The purpose of a koan is to give the student a special psychological impulse to achieve enlightenment or satori more quickly. Not surprisingly, dreams are characterized by contradiction, ambivalence, and paradox.

At practically every session with a client I receive confirmation of the practicality of this insight. For example, when after uttering a successful metaphor, the business founder’s eyes suddenly flash. His understanding of the problematic situation has changed forever. This is how a hunting dog’s behavior changes dramatically when, after a long, chaotic spin in the woods, his nose finally picks up a hot trail. No matter how long this hunt lasts and no matter what kind of prey it yields, the man already perceives his business and himself in a completely different way.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

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The danger of not being yourself /  by Alexander Lyadov

Steven Pressfield, an American author of a number of bestsellers, discussing with Joe Rogan why people write hate-filled comments about the successful man, said: “They have a dream whether they could articulate it or not. And they are not enacting it in any way. So they see you or they see somebody else succeeding and that’s a terrible reproach to them: “He is doing something and I am not”. So they really hate themselves and they project that outward.” Stephen captured the very essence of the phenomenon.

Why am I so sure? Because I, too, feel the same way sometimes. No, I usually have the self-control not to vent it on social media. I just wait bitterly until the fire, in fact, of my regrets burns out inside. The first negative impulse is always directed at a specific person, and only then does the sobering thought come: “Oh, he had nothing to do with it at all.”

You can’t just brush aside your potential. Left unrealized, it starts to take revenge on you, corroding with acid all attempts to find peace of mind. There is a profound thought in the Gospel of Thomas: “If you bring forth what is within you, then what you bring forth will save you. And if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you”.

Looking back, I see that the worse I embodied my gift (calling, inclination), the more often I was scratched by someone else’s success. On the contrary, the more regularly I dive into exciting meaningful work, play a sport I love, and eagerly learn what I’m drawn to, the more the achievements of others fill me with warmth and joy. Becoming myself, they do things unthinkable for me, and I do things that hardly anyone else can.

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
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A global problem? /  by Alexander Lyadov

Late at night my phone stopped charging. I fell asleep with "anticipation" of how much trouble this would cause me. In normal times it is a trifle, but now, with the internet and light outage, and, consequently, the uselessness of the laptop, you can neither look up the address of the repair shop, nor call a cab, nor even get stuck in the elevator. And buying a new phone and transferring data is not a five-minute affair. In short, I was grim - instead of preparing an analytical report for the client, I would have to do half a day of nonsense. Fortunately, while there was electricity in the morning, the kind manager of iLand advised me to check the charging cable. The newly purchased cable I admittedly did not even suspect. After walking the dog to the salon, I replaced the cable - and voila! - problem solved.

I recently made a similar misstep. The neighbor downstairs asked me not to rattle, they say, even the chandelier is wobbly. This is how I train my back, wandering barefoot through the apartment with a 36 kg kettlebell suspended between my legs. I was already beginning to think about how thick to quickly order rubber mats. But after telling my friends at the gym about the incident, I got the question, “Do you have soft-soled shoes?” Bingo! Crocs slippers turned me from Shrek to Ninja, sparing me the pointless expense.

Ironically, this is the approach I regularly use when I help entrepreneurs solve their multi-million dollar problems. It turns out that I have a keen eye for business, but, alas, not always for my own life. A problem can seem super complicated to the founder and require a fundamental solution, whether it’s investments in expensive equipment, launching a new product, selling the business or replacing the current CEO. However, if he is not nervous and fussy, but with someone else’s help looks at the problem from the outside, it often turns out that there is nothing global about it. The problem is localized in a specific point. Therefore, it practically resolves itself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

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Lifetime subscription /  by Alexander Lyadov

I don’t trust services that offer lifetime subscriptions paid for once.

If life teaches us anything, it is that entropy is one of the few constants.

Whatever man creates and builds, it will immediately begin to wither away.

The ants of entropy methodically dismantle any beetle.

Therefore, to keep the fire going, wood must be constantly added.

In addition, the world does not remain static but changes ever faster.

One needs to invest in R&D so that the service will be relevant tomorrow.

Bottom line: you need resources to survive and develop in uncertainty.

How many? No genius can predict it.

No matter how much users pay once, it won’t be enough.

It should be obvious to smart founders.

Then what does offering a lifetime subscription for a single payment mean?

Either the service was founded by short-sighted people and then it will fail.

Or the owners of the service understand everything but lie to users.

After all, users want to believe that there is something eternal under the moon.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

The ideal client /  by Alexander Lyadov

Once upon a time, when I was building my career in the client service department of an advertising agency, I could not afford to choose my clients. So sometimes I had to endure the disgusting attitude of the managers of international network clients and do Wow-projects for their brands not thanks to them, but in spite of them. This went on until I became the CEO of the agency, and then the co-owner of an advertising holding. We started to experiment with a new business and eventually discovered a fascinating segment of Ukrainian clients, then unknown to anyone. They fully trusted our expertise, resulting in a productive creative alliance. As a consequence of the crazy (in a good sense) advertising the clients’ sales skyrocketed, and we were deservedly bathed in awards, money and respect.

However, it took another dozen years of experience with clients, now in the investment industry, before I finally realized how critical it was to choose which clients to work with and which not to. The mind cleverly scares us and seduces us as to why it’s urgent to take on client Z. And if you haven’t decided for yourself in advance who your ideal client X is, then your entire portfolio will end up consisting of Z1, Z2, Z3, etc. Their requests will force you to hone some skills and not others, and hire specific staff to their tastes. Over time, things will only get worse — you can’t quit a working business, but you won’t have the desire or energy to drag it along either. The most unpleasant thing is that there is a risk of completely disorienting yourself, forgetting your superpower and going astray from the true Path.

Knowing all this, you become very selective in your choice of fellow travelers — clients, employees, investors and, of course, partners. If the choice is made correctly, you will create tremendous value for client X1’s business, resulting in their gratitude, a generous reward and a compelling case for future clients X2, X3, etc. Each new project will sharpen the scalpel of your expertise and facet your natural gift. The right people will be drawn to you, becoming part of your team and an ecosystem where value to clients is created even more easily and quickly. It’s an upward spiral.

Can you confidently describe who your ideal client is?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

The cure for contradictions /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Many problems solve themselves if you rise above them.

For example, a problem is when you desperately want X, but need Y.

Or when at the same time desperately need to provide Z and anti-Z.

Such a contradiction seems insurmountable.

Each side stands firmly on its own, to the exclusion of the other.

When such a conflict is within, one falls into a stupor.

If there is a contradiction between departments, the company loses momentum.

The problem itself signals a lack of meta-meaning.

So one of the “cures” is to try to find the meaning that has been lost.

It is necessary to replace local functions with a global one.

Then all the rubbing parts will fall into their natural places.

Why is this possible in principle?

The contradiction did not arise in a vacuum and not by accident.

The original design did not involve friction, but then something went wrong.

The company was created with some intention, as was the individual.

But then the intent was forgotten or not put into words.

No one but you can fix that mess if you are the founder.

The good news is that this way you get rid of a bunch of problems in one fell swoop.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

Technology or People? /  by Alexander Lyadov

A long time ago, at an interview with the most famous venture capital fund in our region, I got the question, “What attracts you more, technology or people?” I guessed what the right answer was, but I said: “People.” I did not get into that fund, which turned out to be for the best. A year later, I found an investor and launched my own private equity and venture capital fund. Looking back, I see that no matter where I worked or what I did, I always placed my bets not on the market, assets, methods, or technology, but on the potential of a particular person or team. Often this has been fruitful, but there have also been mistakes.

Life, of course, is more complicated than any representation we have of it. For example, I remember periods when there was such a powerful pull on the market that all the players were dragged upward with them. There was no need to have a high IQ, network or capital. The main thing was not to be lazy to come to the office and answer the phone, and the customers’ money erupted like from a horn of plenty. On the contrary, I have also seen situations where a cohesive team of energetic and talented people failed to make a breakthrough when their industry was in an Ice Age. I recall a company for which having objectively the best technology in the world wasn’t enough to turn it into a commercial success. But I also know of an example where it was the possession of technology that helped a founder in an initially weak position squeeze millions of dollars out of a corporate giant.

My view today is full of nuance and clarification: “If, then.” Instead of generalizations, I prefer to pick up a specific case study. I recognize that a unique technology, a market timing, or a new trend on its own can prove to be a deciding factor in business. However, the starting point for me is the individual. All other things being equal, a true entrepreneur will lose the least in a crisis, be the first to rise from the ashes, and benefit the most when the economy blossoms. And while even mediocrity can benefit from technology, a talented founder armed with technology will be an unstoppable force.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.

True or false? /  by Alexander Lyadov

How do you know if something is real? Relying on our senses in their pure form is dangerous, because the mind is easily deceived. And with the growth of AI image synthesis technology, this problem is likely to worsen, causing more chaos - misunderstanding, conflict, and mental confusion.

Even without deepfake, however, there are enough situations today where we have trouble deciding if what we are looking at is true or false. Sometimes it happens by accident, for example, when we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory, whether geographical or social, and things don’t look at all like what they might really be. And sometimes people with questionable intentions deliberately try to draw you into the realm of crooked mirrors. What can you do?

Fortunately there is a method that works without fail. It is necessary to consider a particular phenomenon from as many angles as possible. Figuratively speaking, do not limit yourself to hearing, but add sight, smell, touch, even taste, if appropriate. Think of the number of different tests and analyses to which Dr. House subjected patients when a bouquet of their symptoms turned out to be unexplained. When a founder communicates with a potential investor, in addition to paying attention to speech, body language, and consistency of answers, it’s important to add studying his social media posts, conversations with founders of other fund portfolio companies, an industry expert’s opinion, and ideally, a trip together with intensive communication on existential topics. The point is that you can still get screwed on one axis X, but not on many axes at the same time. Somewhere the tail of the lie is bound to flicker.

In cases when the stakes and risks are high, the more prisms you have and the more diverse they are, the higher the quality of your judgment. This method is especially valuable if you have a slight doubt, confusion, or suspicion the first time you interact, “Hmm, something’s not right here.”

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander

You can help Ukraine defend itself and the World from Russian aggression here.

”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

"I have an extremely important business decision to make. Can you help me?
Reserve a time on my calendar that is convenient for you to meet with me. We'll clarify your request and discuss options for how you can help.