You're Never Too Old to Be an Entrepreneur... Just Ask My Mom!
Entrepreneur Office Hours - Issue #268
I was talking with my mom this morning, and she was telling me about a new women’s group she recently joined for “mature professionals” — whatever that’s supposed to mean. Apparently, even at the age of 75, my mom is still a hustling entrepreneur. Clearly, the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree.
Anyway, she was describing her meeting, and she mentioned how, at the end of every session, all the women in the room share one big success they’ve had. However, as the mother of the guy who teaches that “Learning to Fail” class on Instagram, she took offense to this practice. Apparently, when it was her turn to share her big success of the week, she stood up and told the group how she believes our failures are as important as our successes, and she decided to share a big failure.
How cool is that? I don’t like to brag about myself, but I’ll definitely brag about my mom. What a great lady!
More importantly, she’s right! Our failures are important. They’re just as responsible a for turning us into the entrepreneurs we ultimately become as our successes, and learning to celebrate an educational failure is just as important as learning to celebrate a lucrative success.
With this in mind, I’m dedicating today’s issue of Entrepreneur Office Hours to my mom. She may be 75, but she’s still failing like she’s 25, and when I’m her age I hope to be just as passionate about entrepreneurship.
Love you mom!
-Aaron
This week’s new articles…
The Critical Difference Between Entrepreneurs and Business Builders
Entrepreneurship and business building always get combined, but they’re not the same things and require different mindsets.
The Personality Trait That Predicts Entrepreneurial Success
Most founders don’t understand what personal qualities really make entrepreneurs successful.
Office Hours Q&A
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QUESTION:
Hey Aaron,
Longtime reader. You’re one of the few entrepreneurs out there who really tells it like it is and helps people understand the challenges of startups. And yes, I mean the good ones and bad ones.
I’m curious to get your take on something. My startup is starting to scale, and I’m noticing friction between different teams—product wants one thing, marketing wants another, and sales has its own priorities. Everyone seems to think their area should be the top focus.
How do you keep a growing startup aligned when each department is pulling in a different direction?
Thanks much,
Casey
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This is one of those things I like to call a “good problem.” It means you’ve hit a stage in the startup journey where you’ve got passionate people fighting for what they believe is best, and that’s something to be proud of.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t make things easy, so let’s talk about that…
The trick is making sure everyone’s passion flows in the same general direction. This starts with a clear, shared vision — think of it as your “North Star.” If you haven’t already, articulate precisely what you’re trying to achieve as a company. Make it simple, memorable, and put it front-and-center of everything you do (team meetings, retreats, office birthday celebrations, whatever) so every department knows the bigger picture. When product wants one thing, marketing wants another, and sales is yelling for something else, you can always bring them back to that core mission: “Does this initiative get us closer to our North Star?”
Next, invest in communication. I’m not just talking about Slack channels or email threads. Encourage (or mandate) regular check-ins between department leads where everyone shares what they’re working on, roadblocks they’re hitting, and where they need help. Yes, it’ll feel time-consuming, but it’s much cheaper than letting unresolved tensions escalate. The more you can get your teams listening to each other and working on common goals, the less likely they’ll drift into their own silos.
Finally, consider creating cross-functional projects. If marketing and product collaborate on a campaign together, they gain empathy for each other’s challenges and learn to speak a bit of each other’s language. Same with sales joining forces with product to give direct feedback from the frontline.
Simply put, when teams co-own success, departmental friction has a way of melting into mutual accountability.
By the way, you also need to remember that some tension is healthy. After all, different departments have different priorities for a reason. But it all has to funnel back into a single storyline about where the company is going. Keep everyone pointed at the same North Star, keep those communication lines open, and you’ll find that your organization grows stronger as it scales.
Got startup questions of your own? Reply to this email with whatever you want to know, and I’ll do my best to answer.
Hi Aaron. I think in a startup , every team member feels they are entitled. Yes, this feeling is slightly different to that working for a MNC where we feel stretching beyond our role is not going to be fruitful. Hence ways to avoid friction in a startup team mentioned by you : follow the north star, communication, cross functional projects are worth putting in practice. Thank you !