Tales of an Accidental Startup

Since publicly announcing?FOAF, the fraction-of-a-fractional CXO network,?in the Vatican Review?this March, I've been building something entirely new, and it has required a steady series of leaps outside of my comfort zone -- while periodically returning to some comfort zones I wasn't anticipating.

For the founders, entrepreneurs, and others among you grappling with new endeavors, here are a few experiences I've had. I welcome hearing more of yours sometime.

Before I begin though, I have to single out two people who have served as teachers during the process and also sherpas who guided me to new terrain: Chris Heuer ?of AdHocnium and Jaime Schwarz .

Chris joined as one of the first FOAFers, and he and Jaime?are collaborating on a new program that should be invaluable for those going through transformative moments. They'll share more on that soon.?FOAF?has benefited from putting some of their models into practice, and it's been fortuitous timing to get to work with such thoughtful strategists.

I?should call out all the FOAFers here too, since I keep learning from every single one who has joined. But we'll name more names in time. For now, here are some of the lessons?10 weeks in.

An unintentional community

I was not trying to start another community when founding?FOAF. I was trying to bring some skilled practitioners together for servicing a wider range of clients with a flexible model that filled a niche. But as we got to 25 members, it turned out that?FOAF?is a network of executives who all have a shared interest in supporting each other's careers.?

At the outset, it had some of the hallmarks of a referral network. But even at this early stage, it's also a federation, a community, and even a team.?

I don't want this to get too big, especially not anytime soon, so the strength of it won't be judged by the size. On the contrary, the better everyone knows each other's strengths and expertise, the greater the potential for?FOAF's success.?

My name is David, and I'm a communityholic. I guess there are worse addictions.

The cohort effect

Originally, I was welcoming?CXOs?into?FOAF?after talking to them, as long as we?realized it was a mutual fit. This included people I've known for 15-20?years and people I was meeting for the first time. As we got past 20 people, one FOAFer mentioned it would be helpful to onboard people as a group.?

I also drew inspiration from the?Progress Partners Executives in Residence Program, which uses?a cohort model, letting in a limited number of EIRs quarterly. The EIR program has become one of my favorite communities, and a lot of that is thanks to Jessica Geran Straw , an EIR who became the EIR Director in January.

Since implementing cohorts, it has been freeing to have breathing room with onboarding as I build more of the structure (more on that below). Also, it gives a chance for both sides to make sure we really want to move forward. I went with a cadence of welcoming members in every two months, and we'll have our next cohort (the first official one to join that way) joining around July 1.?

The current cadence of 6 annual cohorts, assuming we stick with this, should work well as we iterate quickly. As we get more established, I could see a cadence of 2-4 cohorts annually making more sense. If you have a group where there's minimal onboarding and it relies more heavily on network effects, you may veer the opposite direction and choose monthly or even?weekly?onboarding.

Why? Because we like?you

I've discovered over the years?with?Serial?Marketers?that?the main reason I've had to keep it going?is because it had to?exist, and I was the one who was best positioned to run it. Not best qualified, but best positioned. It has consistently been a loss leader, except I haven't been concerned with what it led to. I just had to keep at it.?

And yes, there's some of that "Field of Dreams" vibe.

It became part of my identity. And I love it, even on days when it exhausts me. Maybe for you, that describes your approach to running. Or writing. Or beekeeping. Stingers be damned, you love the honey!

FOAF?came into existence in a similar way. First came the idea as I was trying to describe some work I was already doing and how it differed from other models. Once I had the idea, I validated it with some Google searches, and then I bought a few related domain names, and then I drafted a landing page, and then I started building the network.?

Now that it was willed into existence, I know it must exist, and I must see if it can thrive.?

Grappling with that makes me want to give every founder I meet a hug. It is daunting giving birth to an idea you can't let go of.

The encouragement economy

Last week, I?spoke to a private executive network about my latest entrepreneurial endeavors. When attendees were generously enthusiastic about the?FOAF?model, I told them how much that meant to me. I added that before it was financially successful, such encouragement was keeping it going.

Encouragement is currency.?

Sure, it's fun to read those stories where a founder gets revenge on all those naysayers who doubted them.?But I also feel like quite a few of those founders are the ones who wind up in prison.

I'd rather read?about the founders who thanked all those who wished them well along the way.

No structure is a structure

Oh no, are we getting all Zen? Structures are easy to see when they're designed to be visible, but they're often there when they're invisible too.?

When I started?FOAF, there was barely any structure. That was by design. Even the?FOAF.pro site has an air of, "We don't need no stinking structure!"

But as I started working with the?FOAF?team, it became clear that some structure is needed. Working with Chris and Jaime has been critical here.

One of the most important topics we get into is where structure is needed and where it isn't. What must?be put on paper, and what doesn't? What needs a process, and what processes can form organically? This is going to vary for every organization. While I've accepted a ton of their suggestions, I've told Chris and Jaime more than once, "Just because your recommendation is the right way to do it doesn't mean that's what we're going to do."

They haven't fired me as a client yet.?

At least by going through all of this with them, there is little that is accidental now. When there isn't a clear structure, it's for one of two reasons: I haven't gotten around to it yet, or it won't exist anytime soon. And that seeming lack of structure becomes a critical aspect of the overall structure.

Standing optional

When I hosted the Bagels with Berky educational, interactive series on emerging tech at 360i (a series I still want to bring back in some form), I had referred to it as the only recurring optional meeting on people's calendars. Now, I've got a new version of a recurring optional meeting: the?weekly?FOAFer team call.

I was debating how often to have such a check-in, especially at an early stage. Was this too much of an ask? I hesitated with this.

First of all, the meetings are optional, and when there's a need for more?people?to join, I can make that clear.

Usually, it's somewhere between 5 and 10 people who show up, and they are engaged, giving feedback, riffing off each other, asking great questions, and making all of our work better. We're all learning by doing, and it's a relief that with all the questions I have, no one has all the answers.?

There's also some relief in knowing that if we can't get to something one week, there's always another.

Let the record show

I learned about?4149?from Jeremy Caplan 's always-useful?Wonder Tools, and the AI-powered app?produces impressive summaries of meetings. The more popular?Fireflies?does?AI summaries too, along with searchable meeting recordings. I've been slow to embrace adding bots to meetings, but I'm becoming a convert. They're best for meetings that tend to have several action items, and/or for when some people can't attend but would want to catch up afterward.

That's just the start of a very long list of things I've learned building out?FOAF?so far.

What's something you're building, and what's something you've learned?

David?

PS: I've started using Lu.ma to share events, and I love it. Check out a mix of in-person and virtual events coming up in the next 6 weeks at?lu.ma/db. I'd wager at least one is up your alley. They include two AI-themed events - one virtual and one in-person, with a friend who is always teaching me a ton,? Jeremiah Owyang , so be sure to check those out.