M
Michael Ashley
· LinkedIn
Founder at Radi8 // Executive Coach // Host of the Inspiring Founders Podcast
Busy founders and stalled founders often look identical from the outside. Both are working constantly. The difference is what happens to all that effort.
Here's the pattern I've watched for 25 years: activity that isn't built on a system doesn't compound. You do the outreach, the post, the follow-up, the demo — and then next week you start from zero and do them all again. It feels like progress because it's exhausting. But nothing accumulates. You're not building an engine; you're pushing the car.
A system is just the opposite. It's a motion you run once, learn from, and improve — so the next turn is a little sharper than the last. That's what compounding actually is: the same effort producing more each time because the thing underneath it is getting better.
The trap for a stalled founder isn't laziness. It's the opposite. There's so much motion that you can't tell which of it is worth turning into a system and which is just noise burning the hours.
Here's the filter I use. One question separates the signal from the noise:
Which single motion, if it got 20% better every time we ran it, would change the trajectory of the business?
That's the one to systematize. Not the ten things that feel urgent — the one whose improvement curve actually bends the outcome. Usually it's unglamorous: how you talk to customers, how a lead becomes a conversation, how you decide what to build next. Almost never the thing that's loudest on your calendar.
Then be honest about the rest. Most of what fills a stalled founder's week is motion that will never compound no matter how well you execute it. That's not a productivity problem you fix with a better tool or another hire. It's a focus problem. Cutting it isn't losing ground — it's freeing the attention the one motion needs to become a real system.
The uncomfortable part: you can't systematize everything, and trying to is its own form of noise. Compounding demands you pick.
So the question worth sitting with this week:
Of everything you're doing right now, which one motion is actually worth turning into a system — and what would you have to stop doing to give it the attention it needs?
#Founders #Startups #Entrepreneurship #FounderLessons #GrowthStrategy
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Told 3 times, Jun 15, 2026 – Jul 27, 2026
· LinkedIn · Open
Across four companies and 25 years, my go-to-market got better every time. Here's the most important thing I learned.
Stop trying to do everything at once.
Most growth problems look like marketing problems.
But when I dig in with founders, the issue is usually lack of focus.
Too many audiences.
Too many messages.
Too many priorities.
Too many opportunities.
What actually works: one audience segment, one message, one channel, one objective. Run it long enough to learn something.
The lesson isn't about marketing.
It's about decision-making.
The companies that grow fastest are often the ones that say no most often.
What's one thing you're working on right now that you know should probably wait?
· LinkedIn · Open
Most stuck practices aren't under-resourced. They're over-complicated.
I see it with almost every coach and consultant I advise. Three audiences. Five offers. Two newsletters, a podcast idea, a course half-built, a website redesign in progress. Everything is "almost working," which is another way of saying nothing is.
When growth stalls, the instinct is to add more: channels, offers, effort. After 25 years of building companies, I trust the opposite pattern. Momentum comes from removing decisions. A few things running well compound faster than many things running at half strength.
A practice has one engine: a clear person, with a clear problem, hearing a clear promise, through one reliable channel. Everything beyond that is optional until the engine runs. Most of what fills a stuck practice-owner's week is complexity that will never compound no matter how well it's executed.
Here's the exercise I run with clients. List everything you're doing to grow. Then ask one question of each item: if this got 20% better every month, would it change the trajectory of my business? Most items fail the test immediately. The one or two that pass — that's the business. The rest is noise wearing a to-do list.
Cutting will feel like retreat. Give it two weeks and it starts to feel like focus.
What's the one decision that, if you made it this week, would unblock everything else in your practice?
#IndependentConsultant #Coaching #ConsultingBusiness #GoToMarket