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I've followed Ryan's writing over the years, especially since our careers were on a parallel path throughout most of his time as CEO. I've led a company that ha
by aerosmile 5y ago
I've followed Ryan's writing over the years, especially since our careers were on a parallel path throughout most of his time as CEO. I've led a company that had a difficult time in achieving a PFM and as such everything else was painful. And I was also blessed to have a perfect PFM in another company. I think I've seen enough of the spectrum to be able to say that Ryan's writing is not reflective of the job itself, but more of his perception of it, which I am not even going to try to analyze. This is not meant as an attack at Ryan, but more as a data point for anyone else who is considering becoming a CEO and is feeling discouraged from reading too much of Ryan's stuff.
The job has its downsides, and the worst thing that can happen to you is 1) be a first-time CEO, 2) have no PFM, and 3) have no safety net. If you hit that trifecta, it's not going to be easy. But here's the deal - you'll get through it, and you'll come out on the other side with a much improved mental model that will allow you to be more successful in your next go around. You may or may not ever achieve market-level compensation, and you may even end up in debt. But it will get easier each time you try, it will come the closest to being your own boss, you will learn more than doing anything else, and most importantly, you won't turn 70 and think of yourself as having not taking enough chances in your life.
- maCDzP 5y agoWhat does PFM stand for?
- tarr11 5y agoI think he means "Product Market Fit"?
- beberlei 5y agoproduct market fit (PMF), the PFM abbreviation are typos i believe.
- williamstein 5y agoIt seems like a permutation or typo or autocorrect for “product market fit”?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- wombatmobile 5y agoI right-clicked and Looked It Up Premiata Forneria Marconi is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 and which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group recorded five albums with English lyrics between 1973 and 1977. During this period they entered both the British and American charts.
- culi 5y agoProduct Farket Mit
- notreallyhere00 5y agoHaving had that 1-2-3 combination, they were some of the most difficult years of my life. But the lessons I learned were invaluable and could not have been learned any other way. And - the next thing I started achieved Product Market Fit right out the gate.
- aerosmile 5y agoEdit: sorry for the confusion, "PFM" was meant to say PMF (autocorrected and I didn't notice) - product market fit.
- sgallant 5y agoI’m currently in that 1,2, 3 trifecta and it’s very challenging most days. It’s been a tough year: co-founder quit along with a few others and investors loosing patience, but I’m trying to keep everything together. I haven’t given up because I believe in what we’re doing (most days) and I want to see if I’m capable of turning this thing around. I appreciate this comment a lot. Thank you.
- icu 5y agoWhen we are infants, our close social circle enthusiastically encourages us to walk, through every failed attempt, until we walk (and then run) without thinking. As adults I think we generally don't curate a social circle that will give us this enthusiastic encouragement through failure and the burden falls on our self-esteem to summon it from within ourselves. So two things: 1) For what it's worth, you're not alone. As someone who walks a similar path, I want to give you sincere encouragement to keep going! 2) To the degree that you've already done this, try to build a social circle around you of people who will can relate and enthusiastically encourage you through failure. There may be an international club you could join, a group of CEO friends you can pull together, or maybe you start a Meetup.com group. I don't know what will work for your specific circumstances, but something will. Best of luck!