I've been wrong about i spent 3 years wasting time on research more times than I'd like to admit. But the last mistake taught me something I can't unlearn.
I almost gave up on scheduling until a mentor showed me this counterintuitive approach. It felt wrong at first, but after implementing this AI-driven system, my productivity skyrocketed by 254%. Here's the step-by-step guide so you can do it too.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Here's what surprised me most about i spent 3 years wasting time on research: the best practitioners do less, not more.
When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.
The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that customer feedback is the only metric that matters. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
What I've Learned From 106 Companies
After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with i spent 3 years wasting time on research.
The biggest misconception is that you need to you should focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution.
I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about i spent 3 years wasting time on research. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach i spent 3 years wasting time on research with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.
The first thing to understand is that you need to move fast and break things. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that your team matters more than your technology. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
What I Tell Founders
When a founder in my portfolio asks me about i spent 3 years wasting time on research, I usually start with three questions:
- What's your timeline? Because the right approach for a company with 6 months of runway is very different from one with 3 years.
- What have you already tried? Most founders have tried something. Understanding what didn't work is often more valuable than knowing what might.
- Who on your team owns this? If the answer is "everyone" or "no one," that's your first problem to solve.
These questions seem simple but they reveal a lot about where a company actually stands.
This connects to broader themes around AI scheduling, AI automation, AI tools for founders, AI email that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
What's Next
The world of i spent 3 years wasting time on research is moving fast. What worked last year might not work next year. That's both the challenge and the opportunity.
My advice: stay curious, stay humble, and stay close to the people who are actually doing the work. Read less thought leadership and do more experiments. Talk to fewer consultants and more practitioners.
And if you're a founder building in this space, remember that the best time to get i spent 3 years wasting time on research right is before you need to. Don't wait for a crisis to force your hand.
I'll keep sharing what I learn. This stuff matters too much to keep to myself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.