Brian Balfour: 10 lessons on career, growth, and life

Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies—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.—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-balfour-10-lessons-on-career-growth-and-life/—Where to find Brian Balfour:• X: https://twitter.com/bbalfour• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/• Website: https://brianbalfour.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://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—Referenced:• Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/• Frank Slootman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman/• Artifacts: https://artifacts.reforge.com/artifacts• Ray Dalio’s 5 Step Process: https://commoncog.com/dalios-5-step-process-to-getting-what-you-want/• Building effective teams: https://www.reforge.com/blog/building-effective-teams• Scott Belsky’s website: https://www.scottbelsky.com/• MOOCs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course• The Creative Act: A Way of Being: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Act-Way-Being/dp/0593652886/• A Breakdown of LinkedIn’s AI Assisted Growth Loop: https://brianbalfour.com/essays/a-breakdown-of-linkedins-ai-assisted-growth-loop• Lex Fridman Podcast: https://lexfridman.com/podcast/• Acquired podcast: https://www.acquired.fm/• Unsolicited Feedback podcast: https://www.reforge.com/podcast/unsolicited-feedback• Elena Verna Analyzes Airtable’s Shift to Enterprise and Slack’s Product Roadmap: https://www.reforge.com/podcast/unsolicited-feedback/episode-5• The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led-sales-elena-verna/• How to become a category pirate | Christopher Lochhead (author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, Category Pirates, more): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-become-a-category-pirate-christopher-lochhead-author-of-play-bigger-niche-down-category/• Dharmesh Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharmesh/• The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta-co-creator-of-the-framework/• How to sell your ideas and rise within your company | Casey Winters, Eventbrite: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/• Target the Right Market: https://hbr.org/2012/10/target-the-right-market-2• Douglas Atkin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doatkin• How Linear builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linear-builds-product• How Notion builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-notion-builds-product• Aaron White on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmwhite/• Ariel Diaz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arieldiaz/• Ray Dalio’s website: https://www.principles.com/• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296• The Wolf of Wall Street on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/70266676• Margin Call on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Margin-Call-Kevin-Spacey/dp/B005UT29Z0• The Big Short on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80075560• The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f• Halt and Catch Fire on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Halt-Catch-Fire-Season-1/dp/B00KCXIHJG• Vuori: https://vuoriclothing.com/• The man in the arena: https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Culture-and-Society/Man-in-the-Arena.aspx• Startup Dads podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-dad/id1693312339—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe