Book review: Company of One

Business
1

" Company of One" is a book by Paul Jarvis that questions the “growth at all costs” mindset. It is filled with practical business advice.

Some quotes:

  • A company of one is simply a business that questions growth.
  • Resilient people have three – absolutely learnable – characteristics
    • an acceptance of reality
    • sense of purpose – being motivated by a sense of meaning, rather than just money
    • the ability to adapt when things change
  • study done by the Startup Genome Project, which analyzed more than 3,200 high-growth tech startups, found that 74 percent of those businesses failed, not because of competition or bad business plans, but because they scaled up too quickly.
  • In an ancient language from India called Pali, there’s a term “mudita,” which seems like the opposite of envy, because it means to delight in the good fortunes or the accomplishments of others." (Interestingly, it has no counterpart in English.)
  • In effect, hiring more people ended up not being the solution; instead, introducing more proceses and structure helped fewer people accomplish more – while allowing them the autonomy to solve problems in their own way, using a common tool set.
  • The time is at hand to embrace generalist thinking and the unerstanding of many things.
  • More isn’t better – better is better.
  • OVERHEAD = DEATH
  • Why did they buy? What motivated them to do so? How can I keep them happy? How can I help them succeed?
  • Customer success is the cornerstone of a profitable company of one.
  • There’s no need to rush to be noticed faster than you can handle.
  • Engaging work comprises four key components; clearly defined assignments, tasks you excel at, performance feedback, and work autonomy.
  • passion doesn’t precede mastery, but follows it.
  • Companies of one need to become adept at “single-tasking” – doing one thing for an extended period of time without distraction.
  • The best marketing is never just about selling a product or service, but about taking a stand – showing an audience why they should believe in what you’re marketing enough to want it at any cost, simply because they agree with what you’re doing.
  • If we try to appeal to everyone, we won’t appeal to anyone in particular, muddying our message.
  • To stand out and build an audience as a company of one, you have to out-teach and outshare the competition, not outscale them.
  • Ideas aren’t a valid currency. Execution is the only valid currency in business.
  • The purpose of the copyright is not to protect the idea, but to protect the execution. Protection intellectual property is important, but protecting general ideas is not, because if all you have is an idea, you’ve not done the work yet.
  • There are very few completely new ideas. Most ideas just riff off existing companies, plans, ideas, or solutions. By focusing a lot of time and energy on protecting ideas instead of sharing the, you run the risk of not letting them get better through critical feedback from others.
  • In sum, teach everything you know and don’t be afraid to give away your best ideas.
  • three aspects of trust:
      1. I believe what you say
      1. I believe you have the skills to do what you say
      1. I believe you’re acting on my behalf
  • word-of-mouth conversation drives sales five times more than paid online media
  • crowdfunding is best suited for consumer-facing products, and not as likely to succeed for business-focused products.
  • Launching isn’t a onetime, singular event, but a continual process of launch, measure, adjust, repeat.
  • Reid Hoffman, has said that if you aren’t embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.
  • Ricardo Semler, whom I quoted at the start of this book, believes that profit past the minimum isn’t essential for business survival. He likens going for profit at all costs to seeing a jail with empty cells and assuming that not enough prisoners have been rounded up yet.
  • Enough is the antithesis of growth. Enough is the true north of building a company of one, and the opposite of the current paradigm promoting entrepreneurship, growth-hacking, and a startup culture.
  • When you become too small to fail, you also become small enough to make your own choices about your work. Real freedom is gained when you define upper bounds to your goals and figure out what your own personal sense of enough is. You’ll have the freedom to say no to doing the expected, or to opportunities that don’t serve you.
  • There’s only one rule for being a company of one: stay attentive to those opportunities that require growth and question them before taking them.