Don't let fake work distract you

Stay focused on hitting your growth targets, and everything else will follow.

Author

Daniel S. Ruben
January 21, 2025

As Sam Altman notes, startups get distracted by fake work, as it’s “both easier and more fun than real work for many founders.”

What is real work? Well, a startup is a company designed to grow fast. Real work means making something lots of customers want and then reaching and serving all of those customers. As Paul Graham observes:

A company that grows at 1% a week will grow 1.7x a year, whereas a company that grows at 5% a week will grow 12.6x. A company making $1000 a month (a typical number early in YC) and growing at 1% a week will 4 years later be making $7900 a month, which is less than a good programmer makes in salary in Silicon Valley. A startup that grows at 5% a week will in 4 years be making $25 million a month.

Startups should hit their growth targets by building products/solutions that customers love. As a founder, always ask yourself how directly a task relates to growing. There are plenty of examples of tasks that likely will not help your company immediately grow:

  • Writing an op-ed for an industry magazine, or getting personal press

  • Going to events and conferences (whether to be on stage, exhibit in a booth, or just walk the floor)

  • Trying to pitch journalists before you’ve built something that customers want

  • Grabbing coffee with important/interesting people

  • Networking

  • Spending time on social media

  • Talking with potential acquirers

  • Chasing every potential partnership, hoping it’ll unlock growth

  • Meeting with VCs (when you’re not actively fundraising)

As a founder, you should have a trusted group of advisors and/or a board to hold you accountable, in terms of prioritizing your time to meet your growth targets. Sending regular investor updates will help too.

Fake work does not count. Don’t let it distract you.