Thread by @ryantakesoff

At Bolt we grew from $400M to $4B in the last 10 months.

That's a 10x in 10 months.

This wasn’t an accident, but it also wasn’t a given.

The shift? We started making EVERY day count.

What exactly does that mean?

Let's break it down 👇👇👇

First, a step back:

We decided as a team that any tactic we took to “make the day account” had to come from one of 5 principles:

1. Accountability
2. Simplification
3. Curiosity
4. Empathy
5. Balance

Now let's talk tactics...

Tactic 1: Remove All Blockers

- “But X didn’t put a meeting on the calendar”
- “The other team hasn’t gotten back to me yet”
- “I didn’t hear from Y”

No. No. and No

Getting blocked is not tolerated.

Our team became relentless about problem solving vs. problem identifying

Tactic 2: Radically Simplify Reporting

We removed all the complexity from our org.

This was TOUGH, I’m not going to lie.

Lots of hard conversations, but we couldn't compromise on doing it right.

Those who bought in moved forward and thrived.

This was critical for scale.

Tactic 3: Outcomes > Inputs

Ultimately - results are what matter.

Some people do REALLY good work, but can't seem to produce results.

Letting this continue was a blind spot of mine for a long time.

We decided we would no longer value inputs.

We value outcomes.

Tactic 4: Pushing The Limits

We pushed everyone and set constraints to see what they were capable of.

Staying there for too long can be damaging.

Accelerate in short bursts opens up capability.

You never know what's possible until you do this.

Tactic 5: Question All Timelines

Parkinson’s Law says work expands to fill available time.

Our limiting factor is the BELIEF that X takes Y time.

If something was expected for 3 weeks, we asked "how about 3 days?"

The team found ways to get it done.

This unlocks pure magic.

Tactic 6: Close Deals Faster

- We improved qualification.
- We asked prospects what their sticking points were.
- We wrote down first drafts of agreements.
- We committed to deal timelines.

Don’t be afraid to make the ask or push - you'll be surprised what comes out of it.

Tactic 7: Small Things Matter

It’s easy to say “I’m focused on this big thing, so the small thing can wait.”

But if everyone does this in the company, it forms a snowball so big that the entire organization suffers.

Velocity is everything.

If it needs to happen, get it done.

Tactic 8: Level Up the Team

When you grow 10x in 10 months, even if someone is growing at 4x, it’s not fast enough.

We had direct conversations with folks who weren't scaling.

Many of them stepped up to the plate.

All it took was one candid and caring conversation.

Tactic 9: Hire for Scale

For the leaders that couldn’t scale, we hired people who had been there.

As an early stage startup we focused on generalists that could learn quickly.

As we scaled, we hired experience - we minimized learning on the job and hired for Day 1 Impact.

Tactic 10: BALANCE

Bolt is the first unicorn ever to shift to a 4 Day Work Week.

Why?

We don't care about hours worked.

We stopped praising late nights.

We started praising mental, physical and emotional health so everyone could bring their best self to the job.

And that’s it!

These are the 10 tactics we used to make EVERY day count.

The results so far have been encouraging - 10x growth in 10 months.

I hope to continue sharing these insights all the way to 100X!

If you found this useful, give me a follow @ryantakesoff.

I tweet about lessons learned building and operating a $4B+ business.

Let’s take off together 🚀