I captured a metaphor on 2026‑10‑27: “A startup is a long hallway with a lot of doors. Most look interesting. The job is learning which ones to walk past.” This phrasing reminds me that the core work is discerning which opportunities to pursue and which to ignore.
Effort isn’t direction.
I learned that in the first month of a startup, my real job isn’t building but deciding what NOT to build, because each feature I skip saves an entire month of development time.
A founder’s real job in month one isn’t building; it’s deciding what NOT to build.
Every feature you skip is a month you save.