I’ll try not to give away the big reveal, but it’s a story of a hands-on CEO who benefits from doing the right thing.
I climbed out of bed, closed the door behind me, and spent the next two hours coaching Bob on how to configure the start-up options for Microsoft Windows. It wasn’t an issue with our software, but it was a problem for our customer, Bob-which made it our problem. At the end of the conversation, I thought we’d made a lot of progress. Bob was enthusiastic. I was hopeful.
The story also reminds you that successful companies are built very slowly. You’ll read that just about everywhere (except for Tim Ferriss books), but it can’t be said enough. Paying attention to details, having patience, and treating your customers like humans will almost always lead to success.