First off, sharing a newsletter from James Sinclair that I wholly recommend. In the last 5 Things, I highlighted an opportunity for startups to improve the on-boarding experience. James goes a step further and provides an emotional model (SCARF) to help us assess how we’re helping our customers (or most likely hindering them) from an emotional perspective. It’s a great read and a brilliant newsletter, with an archive of frameworks and models to help founders. Go check it out.

Last week, I ran a webinar around the theme of maximising the ROI from your spend on research. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I also highlighted a recent thought I’d had about growing a business with ‘velocity’ vs simply ‘speed’. Semantics? Yes, but velocity requires a direction - as do startups. Doing everything at speed without direction feels wrong. What do you think?

I’m banging on about brand a lot atm. I truly believe startups should be brand building from day 1 alongside business and product building. But what’s a brand worth? Found this interesting article via Bristol’s Halo creative studio newsletter (which is very good btw).

I know, I know - you’re a full Jedi, part of the rebel alliance, seeking to defeat the Sith. Yes, but how much of Anakin’s darkness is within you? To truly understand yourself, here’s a dark side vs light side quiz, courtesy of Scott Barry Kaufman. With some learning included.

A wait-what hour? Basically a regular slot in the week that you can book in order to bring your customer-related work and challenges. Need to work on your ICP / persona? Need to crack your key questions to ask in discovery interviews? Get that sh!t off your to-do list by booking in and getting it done. I’ll be there to be your body double and to give some free advice. Friday’s, 1pm UK time. Ready when you are.