Brian Balfour is the founder and CEO of Reforge. Prior to Reforge, he was the VP of Growth at HubSpot and co-founded three other startups. In today’s episode, Brian shares 10 lessons from his career, growth, and life:
• Lesson 1: Inspect the work, not the person.
• Lesson 2: Tell me what it takes to win; then tell me the cost.
• Lesson 3: Problems never end (and that’s okay).
• Lesson 4: The year is made in the first six months.
• Lesson 5: Growth is a system between acquisition, retention, and monetization. Change one and you affect them all.
• Lesson 6: Do the opposite.
• Lesson 7: Use cases, not personas.
• Lesson 8: Solving for everyone is solving for no one.
• Lesson 9: Find sparring partners, not mentors or coaches.
• Lesson 10: 2x+ the activation energy for things that need to change.
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Find the transcript and references at: www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-balfour-10-lessons-on-career-growth-and-life/
Where to find Brian Balfour:
• X: bbalfour
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/
• Website: brianbalfour.com/
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: lennysan
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Brian’s background
(04:29) His Notion doc of lessons
(07:35) Lesson 1: Inspect the work, not the person
(12:39) Implementing lesson 1 and a recap of Reforge Artifacts
(16:01) Lesson 2: Tell me what it takes to win; then tell me the cost
(18:17) Why you should revisit your ideal end state often
(20:25) How planning works at Reforge
(23:50) Lesson 3: Problems never end (and that’s okay)
(26:31) The “players, coaches, captains” framework
(30:24) How AI will allow for smaller teams
(34:13) Small teams do bigger things
(34:37) Lesson 4: The year is made in the first six months
(38:20) Lesson 5: Growth is a system between acquisition, retention, and monetization
(40:44) Examples of engagement and retention problems from HubSpot and Reforge
(46:21) Lesson 6: Do the opposite
(55:25) Brian’s thoughts on category creation
(57:39) Lesson 7: Use cases, not personas
(1:01:18) The use case map
(1:03:38) Lesson 8: Solving for everyone is solving for no one
(1:11:14) There are many ways to do product
(1:16:52) Lesson 9: Find sparring partners, not mentors or coaches
(1:23:49) Advice on setting the tone for group sharing
(1:25:07) Lesson 10: You need to give 2x the activation energy for things that need to change
(1:32:02) Lightning round
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.