Thread by @shreyas

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the British rowing team unexpectedly won the Men’s Eight Rowing gold medal.

One simple question was instrumental in their success.

“Will it make the boat go faster?”

This question could also be vital for your early-stage team & company.

1/15👇🏾

Ben Hunt Davis, who was on that British team, shared that they achieved their amazing (and unlikely) feat by using this question throughout their training for the Olympics.

Before doing pretty much anything, they’d ask themselves & each other:

“Will it make the boat go faster?“

“Should I do this workout for 70 mins?”
Will it make the boat go faster?

“Should we go to the pub tonight?”
Will it make the boat go faster?

“Should we change this routine?”
Will it make the boat go faster?

“Should we have eggs for breakfast?”
Will it make the boat go faster?

This 1 question gave them the immense clarity & focus needed to achieve the unachievable.

When you are on an early-stage team or company, the odds are often stacked against you.

And the best way to turn the odds in your favor is through clarity of purpose & relentless focus.

Whether in smaller companies or larger ones, I have often been responsible for leading teams that are charged with bringing early-stage ideas, products, and businesses to life. And this question has played a major role in whatever success I’ve had as a leader of these teams.

As an example:

N years ago, I began leading an early-stage product that was creating a new category, with major early traction. When I came in, I realized that while we were under our larger competitors’ radar for now, they could easily beat us once they decided to focus on it.

That’s where “Will it make the boat go faster?” was instrumental.

I observed that the winning product would need to give customers as much flexibility as they wanted. This meant that we had to launch a plethora of new features aimed at providing this flexibility.

So I decided that our tiny team’s core focus had to be to create an insurmountable product gap for our would-be competitors.

The logic was that if we could get 3-4 yrs ahead of the competition within the next 1 yr, we could pretty much cement our leading position in this space.

So, as the person ultimately responsible for the product strategy & prioritization, I now had my own “Will it make the boat go faster?” question.

And it was this:

“Will it make our lead much bigger?”

Almost everything we worked on had to go through this question.

Some actual examples:

Should we build for existing customers or new ones?
“Will it make our lead much bigger?”

Should we keep this weekly meeting?
“Will it make our lead much bigger?”

Should I do this customer roadshow next month?
“Will it make our lead much bigger?”

In my advising work, I often share the British rowing team’s story and I ask founders & leaders to consider their own “Will it make the boat go faster?” question.

Frequently, I see how this gets the gears turning.

It's a simple question that can create profound clarity.

What might be your version of “Will it make the boat go faster?”.

Of course, it's so context-dependent.

But that’s exactly the point.

Ask yourself:

What Is The Most Important Thing

“Will it get us to product-market fit faster?”

“Will it make our revenue grow quickest?”

“Will it make our infra robust?”

“Will it make our team morale better?”

“Will it make us the #1 player?”

“Will it make us succeed in this turnaround?”

What goal is paramount for you?

“Will it make the boat go faster?”
is clearly *not* the only question you should ask.

Nor is it going to solve your problems for you.

But consider using it like you would a compass—as a pointer & a reminder of the direction in which you need to be headed.

All the best to you👍🏾

Back to the top of this thread:

https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1365732851732209668

If you want to explore this topic further, watch this short video with Ben Hunt-Davis. I promise you it will be worth the 186 seconds.

Want more?

Check out snippets of this speech by Ben Hunt-Davis, with actual footage from the rowing event at the Sydney Olympics.

(might also be worth sharing this one with your fellow team members)

An important point:

The question should usually not be framed in terms of your end goal or outcome. Often, you can't completely control the end outcome

But you can control the work you do towards that outcome. So make your "Will it make the boat go faster?" question about that.