20 Lists Every Entrepreneur Should Keep

Leadership, passion, persistence, communication … at the top of every “Most Successful Entrepreneurial Traits” list, you’ll find sexy skills like these touted over and over again. But the one skill we never hear anyone talking about is list management.

I know, right? Bow-chicka wow-wow.

OK, maybe “list management” doesn’t sound very sexy. But SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs who don’t obsessively maintain updated lists of all their contacts, resources, and projects—themselves or through an assistant—are as rare as people who look good in a mullet hairstyle. RARE.

Anyone in the driver’s seat of any team or organization should be able to keep and maintain up-to-date, prioritized, actionable lists, whether they’re on paper, Excel spreadsheets, or apps / CRMs like Evernote, Salesforce, Dropbox, or Trello.

In fact, I’m such an obsessive list-keeper (I make Santa Claus look disorganized), that when thinking about what lists are important for entrepreneurs to keep, I came up with a LIST of lists. For you. You're welcome.

So here are the 20 lists entrepreneurs should maintain if they want to work more intelligently and be more productive and successful.

Lists for managing people, contacts & communications

My first 10 entries focus on lists pertaining to people. Businesses are, at their heart, social organizations with many people coming together to make light work. Even if you’re an insufferable grump, you cannot build a business without having a networking of people you rely on. So maintaining some kind of central list to which you can turn for the right contacts, advice, knowledge, funds, or resources is a pretty essential start for any entrepreneur.

Whom to ask for what (skills & resources at your disposal)

From tech people, PR consultants, and caterers to your existing investors’ skill sets and connections, this list details your own private army of experts to which you can swiftly turn to for advice, contacts, or resources. Just make sure you keep in touch with these people fairly regularly so that when you do reach out for something, you’ll have a decent foundation upon which to leverage their support.

Potential investors & venture capitalists

As a networking entrepreneur mixing in many circles, you’ll likely come across the names of many angel investors and venture capitalists, both directly and indirectly. Whether you’re currently fundraising or not, it's a good idea to immediately capture their details. That way, when you’re ready to start reaching out, they’ll have a decent idea of who you are and the trajectory your business has taken.

Pro Tip: Also keep a log of your conversations with these potential investors so that you can keep communications targeted and efficient when you’re ready for the first or next stage of your fundraising.?

Partners: people you’re currently working with

As a business grows, you’ll find yourself accumulating a burgeoning network of partners in multiple industries and sectors. Keeping a list of all these people, the nature of your partnership, and any additional notes, will facilitate easy communication, whether via exclusive company updates, holiday cards, or any other useful correspondence.

Pro Tip: For actual business partners and clients, I recommend using a CRM system. We use HubSpot at Brainscape and we love it.?

Potential partners: people you’d like to work with

Are there people or companies you’d give your eye teeth to work with in the future? Create a central list of potential partners! Just make sure the person whose details you’ve captured is the best person to contact within that organization. If not, ask them to connect you with the right person.

Pro tip: Also use this list to keep a log of ideas for such introductions and for keeping track of conversations you’ve already had with some potential partners. People are impressed when you remember key details about their business and earlier discussions you might have had with them… and you can only do that if you keep a well-maintained list.

Potential acquirers

Most successful acquisitions are the result of months, if not years, of ongoing conversations between founders and acquirers. So, whether or not you’re ready to sell your company, it’s a good idea to maintain a list of potential acquirers, as well as brief notes on the conversations you’ve had with them. This little up-front effort could greatly grease the wheels for an elegant (and vastly more profitable) exit later on.

Journalists / media people you know

Maintaining a list of journalists and media folk you know makes it easy to quickly get the word out about something news-worthy your company is up to.

Journalists / media folk you want to know

You should also keep a list of influential, industry-relevant writers and publishers you come across in your networking or online meanderings: people with whom you’d like to entrust the messaging of your company or brand.?

Pro Tip: Twitter is an excellent tool for finding and engaging with such people. Comment on their posts and retweet them enough, and they’ll eventually notice you!

Fellow entrepreneurs & CEO friends

Anyone you know who is a fellow entrepreneur, CEO, or start-up founder should make this list because they are incredibly valuable fonts of advice (you can learn from their mistakes and vice versa), as well as conduits through which you can meet other experts and potential investors and partners.

Amazing talent you know

A skilled and experienced writer, a software engineer with a mind-blowing résumé, or an Android developer you can’t use right now but will need once you’ve raised some money… all of these people should make it onto your list of talent you would like to work with in the future.?

People to update

So far, one of my main themes of advice has been to keep in touch with the lists of people and contacts you keep so that you can nurture some kind of baseline relationship with them.

My final entry in this particular category is, therefore, a master list of all your entrepreneurial friends, investors, partners, and journalists, and even friends and family you’d need to update should something newsworthy happen -- particularly if the goal of such communication is to generate hype or raise funds.

To-do lists for start-up businesses

So those are my essential lists for managing people, skills, and resources. Keep a list for each one or consolidate them in one grand spreadsheet (or in your CRM system): whatever works best for you. Just make sure you update and organize it regularly, so that it works for you.

My next 10 entries are focused more on to-do lists and project management…

11. Short-term CEO tasks

Tasks you need to get done in the next few days as items of priority and urgency. Have this list somewhere easily accessible and updatable, like an app or project board on your phone. Even better, choose a program that seamlessly syncs across all your devices. (I just use the simple Google Tasks widget that comes with Gmail.)

12. Long-term CEO projects

For the medium to longer term, maintain a list or project board (like Trello) of CEO-relevant tasks, goals, ideas, and projects you eventually need to get to. Keep this board up-to-date, organized, and prioritized, and consult regularly with your team to make sure you're working on the right goals and projects at the right time.

13. Short-term product tasks

This is a spreadsheet or project board of products, tasks, etc. your team is currently working on. Seeing this helps you keep a finger on the pulse of your company, the productivity of your team, and their progress on various projects. It also helps you to remember what’s priority and what isn’t, preventing you from bothering them with trivial new ideas when they’re working on something important.

Pro Tip: Keep a communal list or project board and instruct each team member to update it as they add new tasks / complete older ones. This’ll save you the work of doing it yourself (and harassing them for the necessary information to flesh it out).

14. Product backlog

Every company has a suite of products, services, or features they eventually want to add. But if you were to focus on all of them now, you'd be spread thin and would go out of business.

Maintaining a list of future products or features gives you a place to "compartmentalize" all those ideas so you can stay focused now, and so that you have a ready-made prioritization discussion tool for your next strategic company offsite.

15. Upcoming conversation talking points

As a founder, you likely have dozens of meetings a week, many of which are recurring. Keeping a list (or spreadsheet) of all your talking points will not only make those upcoming meetings more efficient when they come. It will also give you a place to dump your ideas whenever a random talking point pops in your head while you're walking down the street.

It's much better than being that annoying CEO who just always fires off an email, Slack message, or phone call whenever you have a random idea to share. Save it for your upcoming meeting if it can wait!

16. Your email inbox

Rather than simply leaving important emails unopened until you have the time to get to them, read them, and then either reply and archive them or leave them in your inbox until you do so. If you’re obsessive about archiving emails that have been addressed, your inbox will effectively become an active reminder of all the emails that require action. Inbox Zero FTW!

What about emails that require longer-term action??

Add them to one of your other to-do lists or project boards, or “snooze” them until a suitable time and date so that they pop back up later on when you’re ready to take care of them. (Boomerang, Mailbox, and Google Inbox are useful tools for this.)

17. Blog posts to write

Publishing well-written and time-relevant content establishes you as a thought leader in your particular industry and helps to build an online presence for you and your company/brand.

So whether you like to write your own posts or pay a talented writer to do it for you, it’s a great idea to keep a list of topics you’d like to publish to your business blog, LinkedIn page (or other social media), and/or major publication as a guest author.

Plus, this list will give you somewhere to dump all those "hot take" ideas you have while you're at the gym or watching a random TV show.

18. Marketing ideas

Think: slogans, mottos, mission statements, ad campaigns, competitions, promotional videos, giveaways, brand ambassador activities, email blasts, and any and every other marketing idea you think could benefit your business.

As you come across what other brands have done—ideas you like—keep a list of them in a shared Google spreadsheet or Trello board where everyone on your team can see them and add their own ideas. Just make sure you organize and prioritize this list weekly.

19. Books to read

The hallmark of a successful entrepreneur is someone who constantly seeks to better themselves, their skills, and their education… and books are a key way to accomplish this. So, keep a list of those business / self-improvement books you come across or that get recommended to you so that when you’re ready to start one, you can cherry pick the most relevant to you at the time.

Pro Tip: Also make note of the person who recommended the book to you so that you can thank them later, once you’ve read it, even if it takes you years.

20. Future business ideas

Plugging away at those day-to-day activities that tend to swamp a CEO’s desk can really atrophy your innovative, creative muscles so it’s important to pay attention to that inspiration when it strikes. Maintain a list of exciting ideas and goals for the future of your current business, or maybe even your next one, even if they’re outrageously ambitious or dumb. Many dumb ideas can become the compost for a truly great one.

A final note on the importance of list-making

Having spent a ton of time with entrepreneurs and business owners over the past decade, I’ve come to see that the most successful founders tend to be those who are meticulous about organizing their ideas, contacts, and resources.?

Naturally, they do this through list-keeping.?

Even those who have ADHD, which is a pretty common condition among entrepreneurs, are good at maintaining lists; in fact, it’s often through list-keeping that they compensate for their shifting focus and forgetfulness.

The more organized you become as an entrepreneur, the more effective and efficient you’ll be, and the more effective and efficient you are, the more successful you’ll be!