Having been fortunate to take two weeks off on a family vacation and stayed away from most news, I feel ready to tackle 2017. Going into this new year I am reminding myself of two principles that apply equally well to startups and to politics.

1. Change produces information. This is something I often tell founders and CEOs when they sense that something is wrong in their companies but they can’t quite figure out what it is. Depending on what you think it might be, pick a change and see what new information you get from that. Change the organization. Change the pricing. Change the marketing message. This is also what I believe will happen politically. A big change has happened. It will produce a lot of new information. To be clear, I don’t think it is the right change, but it will nonetheless offer the opportunity to learn a lot. And while the learning itself may be painful, in the longrun that will be a good thing.

2. Progress is not achieved in a straight line. That is true for most startups and a topic of frequent discussion with founders. There will be setbacks along the way. That’s when we need to redouble our efforts. It is also the time when we need to remind ourselves of the longterm vision and why we are working hard on a problem in the first place. The same applies to politics and social progress. When things don’t go our way it is a good time to return to first principles and figure out where and how to apply ourselves. States and cities will offer plenty of opportunities. And there may be unexpected openings on the federal level as well.

Both of these principles give me strength as we are heading into what will likely be a difficult year. I hope they can do the same for you. All the best for 2017! 

Having been fortunate to take two weeks off on a family vacation and stayed away from most news, I feel ready to tackle 2017. Going into this new year I am reminding myself of two principles that apply equally well to startups and to politics.

1. Change produces information. This is something I often tell founders and CEOs when they sense that something is wrong in their companies but they can’t quite figure out what it is. Depending on what you think it might be, pick a change and see what new information you get from that. Change the organization. Change the pricing. Change the marketing message. This is also what I believe will happen politically. A big change has happened. It will produce a lot of new information. To be clear, I don’t think it is the right change, but it will nonetheless offer the opportunity to learn a lot. And while the learning itself may be painful, in the longrun that will be a good thing.

2. Progress is not achieved in a straight line. That is true for most startups and a topic of frequent discussion with founders. There will be setbacks along the way. That’s when we need to redouble our efforts. It is also the time when we need to remind ourselves of the longterm vision and why we are working hard on a problem in the first place. The same applies to politics and social progress. When things don’t go our way it is a good time to return to first principles and figure out where and how to apply ourselves. States and cities will offer plenty of opportunities. And there may be unexpected openings on the federal level as well.

Both of these principles give me strength as we are heading into what will likely be a difficult year. I hope they can do the same for you. All the best for 2017!