from Nicolas Cole 🚢👻 | by Nicolas Cole 🚢👻

Asynchronous Entrepreneurship 101 @dickiebush and I started building Ship 30 for 30 early 2021. In 6 months, we've scaled this community to 1,500+ writers. Our little-known co-founder secret? We meet/talk less 1 hour per week. Here's how we do it 🧵👇

1/ We set short sprints. There isn't a single item on either of our To Do lists we cannot execute in the next 1-2 days. No need to dwell that far in advance. This allows for crystal clear, rapid-fire feedback loops—which means we can make decisions via text (instead of Zoom).

2/ We aren't afraid to make decisions via text. Not every decision needs to be a 20-minute conversation. "I think we should do this for XYZ reason." "Sounds good." Done. When your feedback loops are short, and you TRUST the other person's expertise, no need to meet.

3/ Full trust in each other's expertise. Dickie is an incredible operator. Anything that has to do with organization, sequences, etc., I defer to him. My involvement would only slow him down. And vice versa. We work hard to stay out of each other's ways.

4/ Filter out what's not immediately important and relevant. This is something I give @dickiebush a lot of credit for. He's very good at not feeling like every conversation needs to start with naming EVERY POSSIBLE THING we could do. 99% isn't relevant. Only 1% is.

5/ Respecting each other's time. When we do talk on the phone, it's usually while also doing something else. • Dickie is going for a walk. • I'm doing a workout in my garage. • One of us is making lunch or getting ready for dinner. We're both juggling a lot. We understand.

6/ Async communication to scale thinking across the team. With the help of @stephvalibus & @dbustac we have created an internal org that is 99.9% asynchronous. • Slack threads • Loom videos • iMessage groups • Notion libraries As a team, we chat 1 hr every ~2 weeks.

It's worth noting our asynchronous approach to building a startup is not by choice. • Dickie works a full time job. • I still ghostwrite for 12+ people. We work this way because we have to. But in a weird way, it has also revealed how many things DON'T need to be meetings.

Just looking at what we've achieved so far, I am 100% convinced asynchronous entrepreneurship is the new way forward. You are moving at a snail's pace if everything requires a Zoom meeting or a phone call.

Want to see what a high-growth online community looks like? We'd love to have you onboard the next cohort of Ship 30 for 30: t.co/b67flUjQ0W