Reliance. Mutual dependency in a small business, or depending on a critical component, is a kind of risk that's mitigated with sharing, both first-order (knowi

Reliance. Mutual dependency in a small business, or depending on a critical component, is a kind of risk that's mitigated with sharing, both first-order (knowing) and second order (knowing you'll know when you need to know). It's the same for technology development as for partnerships or funding. If a partnership or technology is not really key to the mutual reliance, there's no big driver for sharing. If sharing would create more uncertainty than silence, that's a blocker. I find it comes down to scheduling when to address an issue. When trouble is brewing, I try to ensure people have the skills and background they need before I bring things to a boil (or it boils over on its own). My goal is to have people face an issue, manage it properly, and move on. After lots of battles like this, even if we lose, we still know we're in it together, we'll be ready to face things as they come, and it's be ok, even if we lose one or two. The solution to the uncertainties of mutual reliance is experience in the trenches together -- particularly scaling focus, effort, and alignment (only) as needed.