AN-ENTREPRENEURON THE LOOSE

The Rules

These are the rules of the engagement:

1. 01We do not bill hourly, ever.
   

   Billing hourly incentivizes taking your time. Startups are disincentivized to take their time. Plus, work gets done in mad dashes, and sometimes that's 2am, sometimes that's on a boat. We commit to the solution and the timeframe, not hours.

2. 02We never commit to scope that is longer than 4 weeks.
   

   To guarantee success, problems should be narrowed down. To guarantee cost control, only commit to what you are sure of.

3. 03If we miss a deadline and a solution goes long you get 20% back on the engagement.
   

   We don't bill hourly and we pay you back if we miss a deadline. In startups, you are disincentivized to move slow, so we replicate that here.

4. 04I practice biweekly check-ins, primarily Tuesday–Friday (we startupers work weekends a lot).
   

   Accountability is fun when you are making progress. We make progress. It also gives us pivot points quickly so we can iterate and move.

5. 05I never run more than 2 primary projects at once.
   

   I work in "Units of Fury". A complete obsession comes over me as I solve a complex issue. Sometimes I can manage two at once, but never 3. So, I allow myself to get obsessed in short runs to solve an issue.

6. 06There are brilliant people in my network who will advise, prototype, and manage the load with me. All are employed elsewhere, but their short bursts of efficient work help me force multiply the output.
   

   You might meet them, you may not, but you will feel their impact.