Our customers are the only investors we've ever had
We've had investors since day one, even though they've never asked for shares. They're our customers. And seeing it that way changes how you look at everyday work.
Leer más →Property, and why I keep it boring
Almost everything I do is a bet on something that doesn't exist yet. That's why I need part of my money to be the opposite: slow, easy to understand and boring.
Almost everything I do is a bet.
A product that doesn't have enough customers yet. A feature I'm not sure anyone will use. A new sector that might suit what we do.
I like it. It's what makes running a company interesting.
But that's exactly why I want part of my money to be boring.
Here's how I think about it.
First, the usual disclaimer: this is how I think about my own money. It isn't advice. I don't know how to give it and I don't want to.
Balancing the bets
When your daily work is betting on new things, your head already has plenty of uncertainty.
If your money is also in things that go up and down every day, everything moves at once. And when everything moves at once, it's hard to think calmly.
That's why, outside the company and the products, I own some property. Nothing sophisticated. Nothing I need to check every morning.
When almost everything you do is a bet, you need part of your life not to be.
What I ask of that part
Very little. And that's exactly what makes it useful.
- That it's slow. I don't need it to grow fast. I need it to be there next year.
- That I understand it. I can walk in, see it and know what it's for. It doesn't depend on the mood of millions of strangers.
- That it doesn't depend on the company. If a launch goes badly this quarter, this stays the same.
It isn't exciting. It doesn't make for social media threads or screenshots of returns. But it gives me something worth more: being able to make decisions in the company without fear.
Peace of mind is an investment too
Something I've learned over the years: I make my worst decisions when I need something to go well.
If all my money depended on a product working this year, I'd be in a hurry. And hurry negotiates terribly. It accepts the customer who doesn't fit, launches too early and says yes when it should say no.
Having a boring part takes that hurry away. It lets me bet on the company more calmly, because I'm not risking everything on every bet.
That's why I rarely write about this. There's almost never anything to tell.
And that's exactly the point.
P.S. If I ever write an exciting article about my property, worry. Something will have gone wrong.