Project Management For Startups

90% of startups don’t fail because of: Bad marketing, a weak team, or even a poor product. They fail because they lack a repeatable decision-making process. Here’s the framework I use to make better, faster decisions in business. I call it “The Iteration Loop.” It’s a structured way to identify what’s working, what’s broken, and what to do next, without getting stuck in endless guesswork. It gives you a systematic way to eliminate bottlenecks, optimize execution, and scale with clarity. Here are the 6 phases: 1. Bottleneck Identification 2. Clarifying the Goal 3. Solution Brainstorming 4. Focused Execution 5. Performance Review 6. Iterate & Improve 1️⃣ Bottleneck Identification Before you can fix anything, you need to identify the real problem. Most entrepreneurs spin their wheels solving the wrong issues because they never dig deep enough. To get clarity, ask: + What's the biggest constraint stopping growth right now? + What metric, if doubled, would create the biggest impact? + What’s preventing us from getting there? If you don’t identify the root problem, every solution you apply will be wasted effort. 2️⃣ Clarifying the Goal Once you know the problem, define the exact outcome you’re solving for. I use a simple Three-Part Goal Formula: 1. What are we trying to achieve? 2. By when? 3. What constraints do we have? Vague goals lead to vague actions. Precision forces progress. 3️⃣ Solution Brainstorming Now, generate every possible solution—without filtering. Most people limit themselves to their existing knowledge, which is why they get stuck. Instead, ask: “If there were no rules, what would I do?” This opens up better, faster, and often simpler solutions you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. 4️⃣ Focused Execution Don’t test everything at once—test one variable at a time. Most teams waste months by making too many changes at once, leading to messy, inconclusive results. Instead, break it down: 1. Test one key assumption. 2. Measure one KPI that proves or disproves it. 3. Execute for a set period, then review. 4. Speed matters. Complexity kills momentum. 5️⃣ Performance Review Your data isn’t just numbers—it’s feedback on your decision-making process. Your job is to analyze: + Did the solution work? + Why or why not? + What does this tell us about our business? Every test refines your ability to make better future decisions. 6️⃣ Iterate & Improve Most companies don’t fail from making the wrong move—they fail from making no moves at all. The only way to win long-term is to keep iterating. Instead of fearing failure, build a culture that rewards learning. Failure + Reflection = Progress. If you aren’t improving your decision-making process, your business will eventually hit a ceiling. That’s why I built The Iteration Loop—so every problem becomes an opportunity for better, faster execution. P.S. If you want the scaling roadmap I used to scale 3 businesses to $100M and beyond, you can get it for free from the link in my profile.

If someone had told me last year that we’d rethink our hiring process, I wouldn’t have believed. We used to believe in “move fast, fill the gap” sort of an arrangement. Hire passionate people and you are good to go. But by Feb end, that approach had started to complicate. We needed two new team members and we went the usual way: 🔺 Shortlist  🔺 Assignment 🔺 Interview (2 Rounds) Get someone in before the month ends. This time, though, the cracks showed up early. One new hire came in with an impressive resume but struggled to adapt to our pace and client expectations. Another seemed promising, but after a week, it was clear there was a disconnect around ownership, waiting for instructions instead of taking charge. It forced us to stop and actually map out what we needed, beyond skills. We got the whole team involved in the hiring conversations. We built a short “culture fit” assignment, not just a skill test. We stopped relying on resumes and built a form with questions like 🟢 What do you do beyond work? 🟢 How do you describe your experience in the most creative manner? And you wouldn't believe that 90% of ‘passionate people’ dropped out at the entry. Did not fill the form. Hence, it became a mandate. We next created assignments and set clear expectations in each round. Half of the people dropped when they heard about what they’ll have to do. We looked for red flags at every step. And by the time we reached ‘the one’, we were left with that 1% group that wanted to make it work. High intent folks. Was it slower? Definitely. But now, three months in, the difference is clear: — The team works with less supervision — New people bring their own ideas — We’re not scrambling to fill the same role twice The biggest thing the first half of 2025 taught us? Hiring slow to find the right cultural fit meant we only have to do it once for one role. And building in honest feedback, right from day one, keeps the team sharper. If you’ve made a change this year that actually stuck, I’d love to hear about it. Torchlight #startup #talent #marketingagency

In my experience, trust is forged through shared adversity, not through ping pong tables and free lunch. Culture is the shared language on your team that helps everyone build in the same direction, at the same time - and it all hinges on trust. Trust in each other, trust in the product, and trust in YOUR leadership. It’s built by working through challenges together, creating the kinds of stories that define what it means to be on a team. The same thing applies to startups. You're making hundreds of decisions every day - individually, in pairs, in teams, across functions. You’re not going to agree with every decision, but high-trust environments let you move forward anyway. Trust fills the space between “that’s not what I would have done” and “but I’ll back you up.” That’s what culture should do: fill the communication gaps with enough mutual understanding that progress doesn't stall. And you don’t get that understanding by offering free Red Bulls or a company-wide gym membership. That’s why investing in team retreats, friendly competitions, even the occasional silly game, actually matters. These moments give people something to overcome together. Something to laugh about. Something to carry forward. The stories become the culture. The culture builds trust. And trust lets you move fast. If you want to move fast, invest in the company’s culture.

‘𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘁’ 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲. Once, I hired someone who "fit our culture perfectly."  • The interview felt easy. Natural.  • He agreed with my vision.  • Laughed at the right moments. Both me and my team liked him immediately. I congratulated myself on finding the perfect culture fit. Six months later, I realized what I'd actually done: I'd hired someone who wouldn't challenge anything. And slowly, the company started growing… but not evolving. Because comfort doesn’t build better companies.  • Tension does.  • Different thinking does.  • People who see what you don’t — do. I think I confused "easy to work with" with "good for the culture." back then. But building a strong culture isn't about cloning yourself. It's about bringing in people who share your values but challenge your thinking. “Culture fit” builds comfort. “Culture add” builds companies. 𝗡𝗼𝘄, 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲, 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳:  1. Do they share our core values (integrity, excellence, accountability)?   2. Will they raise the bar in their domain?  3. Will they create healthy friction that leads to better decisions?   4. Are they on a learning curve that will benefit us? If the answer to all four is yes, I hire them, even if they make me uncomfortable. Especially if they make me uncomfortable. 💙 #Hiring #CultureFit #Leadership

This AI Workflow architecture has cut down the document review time from weeks to minutes for a Canadian startup -- - The workflow starts with CondoScan's property documents, both PDFs and scanned files, stored in Google Cloud Storage. - The documents undergo OCR processing to handle any scanned content. After that, LlamaParse parses, cleans, and structures the text for later use. - Once the text is structured, it gets stored in a Pinecone VectorDB for semantic retrieval. - For analysis, they use Cloud Run Jobs that operate in Docker containers. Here, a FastAPI server orchestrates everything and processes the documents, sending the results to the front-end. - The document analysis engine, powered by LlamaIndex AgentWorkflow, pulls knowledge, recognises key entities, and generates insights like risk scores. - Finally, all the metadata, insights, and raw documents sit in MongoDB. Users interact through CondoScan, asking natural language questions to a chat interface for instant insights. With this setup, CondoScan significantly improves the accuracy and speed of condo document review, letting buyers make better decisions faster. Link to article: https://lnkd.in/gV2WEhZk #AI #RAG #GenAI

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But what does that 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 mean for startups? Startup culture as we know it is being reshaped,  and not for the better 😖 . As Big Tech doubles down on carrots and sticks, slashes DEI efforts, and treats culture as a control system (see my previous post), many founders risk swinging to the same extreme, mistaking pressure for performance and systems for soul. So let’s go one step deeper: What is culture, really? And how do you define it — 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 — before it defines you? Company culture isn’t your office snacks. Or your offsite in Bali. Or your Notion wiki of aspirational values. It’s your 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲. It’s the way things 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 get done. It’s what stays when you’re no longer in the room. Yet most founders only start thinking about culture once things go wrong: people disengage, silos appear, performance drops. 🚫 They try to fix it with perks or slogans. ✅ What they need is 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐒 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞? It’s not what you 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 your company was! It’s what your people 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. Culture starts from you, the founder. And it’s embedded in how your team makes decisions, handles stress, and defines success. To make it explicit and consistent, you need to define four foundational elements: 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 – Why do we exist? What’s our founding story? 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 – What exactly do we do, and for whom? 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 – Where are we going in the long term? 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 – How do we work together and get things done here? These four elements connect your business strategy with your people strategy — and THAT’S what gives you long-term alignment, performance, and engagement. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲: ✍ Start by understanding your own working style as a founder. How do you act under pressure? What do you value most in others? 🗣 Ask your team what it’s really like to work at your company. Get the good, the bad, and the ugly. ❗ Don’t invent “aspirational” values. Name what’s true. Don’t say “empowered” if you're micromanaging. Make it 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 (not a value) if you want it to change. 📣 Once defined, make sure these values show up everywhere: hiring, onboarding, decision-making, feedback, promotions. 🎯 The goal of culture is NOT to please everyone. It’s to 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. And remember, anyone can copy your business model. But no one can copy your culture... unless you don’t define it yourself! #CompanyCulture #Leadership #PeopleStrategy #FromZeroTo1000 #StartupFounders #OrganisationDesign

Your first 10 Hires will make or break your startup. Every process, habit, and inside joke that exists at employee fifty begins with the first handful of people you bring in. They decide what “good” looks like, how fast decisions get made, how feedback is given, and which corners can never be cut. Investors may fund your idea, but it is these early teammates who turn it into reality day after day. Get this group right and momentum compounds. Get even one of them wrong and progress drags for months. Here are some tips from my learnings on how to get it right: ✅ Look for people who love ambiguity. Day one staff need to enjoy figuring things out without a playbook. ✅ Screen for shared values, not just skills. Skills evolve. Misaligned values do not. ✅ Give candidates a real mini‑project. A one‑week paid test shows work style, not just interview polish. ✅ Sell the mission honestly. Paint the upside but also the late nights and messy middle. The right people lean in when they see both. ✅ Hire for slope, not point on the graph. Potential to grow fast is worth more than a perfect résumé today. ✅ Protect the culture bar fiercely. A single wrong hire at five people is a 20% culture hit. ✅ Reference check like your future depends on it. Because it does. Speak to former peers, not just managers. ✅ Pay in ownership and trust. Early team members should feel like partners, not just employees. ✅ Document what good looks like. Even a one‑page living doc keeps everyone aligned on expectations. ✅ Close quickly when you find the fit. Great candidates do not wait. Move fast, stay human, be decisive. The early team will decide how fast you learn, how well you execute, and how future talent judges the company. Choose them like you are choosing co‑founders.

Recruitment is often seen as a rigid, process-driven task. But for me, it was anything but conventional. Here’s how I did it: 1️⃣ 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝟑𝟎-𝟔𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 I believe it’s nearly impossible to truly judge someone in that short span. That’s why I mostly hired people I had been observing professionally. I kept an eye on their work, habits, tone, and even how they carried themselves on social media. 2️⃣ 𝐈 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 Most of the folks I hired fell into one of two categories: - I approached them: When there were openings in the team, I reached out to people whose content or knowledge I admired on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, or even in WhatsApp groups. - They approached me: When candidates reached out, I often scanned their social media profiles before conducting formal interviews to get a sense of their personality and thinking. More often than not, one can get enough hints. Social media can be a double-edged sword, but can be used positively by candidates. 3️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 I mostly used to conduct the final round. My interviews generally started with me explaining the role and that turned into a conversation. Very rarely I asked any technical questions. During this, I gauged: - Their expressions - The words they chose - Their keenness to listen - Their willingness to learn - The questions they asked at the end 4️⃣ 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 I wasn’t looking just for skillsets, that earlier rounds have checked; I was looking for alignment with my team’s ideologies, hunger, and passion. I needed to feel that they could gel with me and the team. And yes, after years in the corporate world, I trusted my gut. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬? Many of my colleagues, and even HR, agreed that I had built one of the best teams in my company. And I take immense pride in that. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 When I committed to someone, I didn’t just think about their role with me. I thought about their entire career. I made sure they grew, even if it meant supporting them after they moved on. To me, they were more than team members - they became friends.

It's frustrating to hear 'they just won't fit in' after we've sourced, screened, and interviewed a candidate who aced everything—only to be rejected by an ambiguous vibe check. In HR, I often see culture fit often measured too vaguely. It needs to be clear and intentional. Work with your team to define what you're screening for in a structured way—focusing on behaviors, values, and goals, rather than superficial similarities. Because here's the thing: when everyone thinks alike, you miss out on fresh ideas and creative solutions. Innovation thrives on diversity. -> So, how do you move from "culture fit" to "culture add"? 1. Start by defining the culture: Focus on the behaviors you want to reward, and the values and goals that truly matter. Don't settle for superficial alignment. 2. Welcome diverse perspectives, from new candidates & employees: - Seek candidates who bring fresh ideas and unique experiences. Ensure your existing culture embraces challenging ideas and encourages unconventional thinking. 3. Screen for adaptability instead: - Look for candidates who are open to growth and change. They will help your team thrive in the long run. My takeaway: don't just hire for culture fit. Hire for culture add. Bring in people who will enrich your team with new perspectives and drive your business forward, in a more interesting and unique way. Have you seen this happen in your own hiring process? How are you rethinking the culture-fit part of your interviews? --- #HR #Innovation #DiversityAndInclusion #CultureAdd #HiringStrategy #TeamBuilding #Leadership

Your business shouldn't collapse when someone takes vacation. Yet most creative firms operate exactly this way. While building Essajees Atelier, I took pride in our personal approach. Every project relied on - individual expertise - relationships, and - institutional knowledge in people's minds Then reality hit. When a key team member called in sick or left, projects would stall. Our trusted contractor handled approvals seamlessly, but when he moved on, we realized we had no documentation of his process. It's like being just one resignation away from chaos. That's when we got feedback from one of our clients, which stung, but it was accurate. Our business depended entirely on people being available and engaged. That's not scalable and definitely not sustainable. We went from being people-driven to systems-driven. 1-This meant documenting everything: When that contractor handled approvals, we had to break down every step he took. What documents he reviewed, whom he notified, and which checkpoints he monitored. The level of detail required was exhausting. 2-We started tracking clear metrics at every handoff: This included timelines met, budget variances, client satisfaction scores, and error rates. These numbers showed us whether our process changes actually improved consistency. Because the devil is really in the details. The hardest part isn't building systems. It's enforcing them. People naturally revert to old habits when they've developed their own shortcut.  I had to find a way to keep us all aligned. » Every morning we review which workflows stalled overnight and why. » When someone deviates from documented procedures, we coach them. » This cycle of build, audit, and adjustment became our daily discipline. That's how you scale without sacrificing quality. I discovered that I love designing systems because it's creative problem-solving. Making people follow them requires different skills entirely. You have to make a system so clear and useful that following it becomes an instinct. Now when team members take time off, projects continue smoothly. Our knowledge lives in systems, not just in people's heads. Do you run a people-driven or systems-driven business? #business #systems #operations #entrepreneurship