⚙️ 1 year into The Bottleneck

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Hi Operators ⚙️

365 days ago, I hit 'send' on a tweet. I had no idea I was also hitting 'start' on a new chapter of my life.

I went from COO of a fast-growing startup to a solo newsletter writer with a newborn. Suddenly, I was building a business while learning to change diapers.

As we hit our first year mark, I asked you and 24,000 other Bottleneck subscribers last week to send in questions about our journey. I didn't expect 434 responses.

I consolidated your questions into 4 topics. My goal was to answer each of them with candor, data, and a bit of vulnerability.

In this Q&A deep dive, you'll find:

1. The real story behind newsletter accidental birth.

2. An unexpected metric that could change our trajectory.

3. Lessons from our boldest experiments (and their biggest flops).

4. A glimpse into our future.

This is the story told through my eyes and your questions. It begins with an unexpected viral moment that opened a window I never saw coming.

"This is for my family."

I muttered this as I hit 'send' on my resignation letter, quitting my COO role at a YC company. It was more to quell my anxiety than a profound truth. Now, I see its weight in every twist of my journey over the past year.

In 2021, I became the lead operations executive at a low-profile startup - just how I liked it. As an introvert, I thrived in the quiet hum of operations. But then, our window opened.

Overnight, we transformed from an unknown startup to a high-growth company. We launched multiple products, secured funding, and scaled rapidly. The pace was dizzying - decisions that once took weeks now happened in hours.

Here's the thing about those moments: they don't last forever. The window opens, and you have to jump through it. Because that window will close.

A year ago. I found myself at another window. But this time, I opened it myself.

Late one night in NYC, my wife and I shared a pizza amidst a sea of moving boxes. Our topic? Our imminent move to Houston for our first baby. With over 100 family members within a 20-minute radius in Houston, it seemed like a no-brainer. Little did I know, this choice would open an unexpected window of opportunity.

A week post-move, I casually tweeted about my career shift. Unexpectedly, it went viral—100K views from my meager 500 followers. Suddenly, I had an audience clamoring for insights on business operations. The Bottleneck newsletter was born from a moment of vulnerability that resonated.

In my COO role, I had clear objectives: optimize processes, scale teams, drive growth. Now?

I was learning content creation, audience building, and monetization while navigating fatherhood.

The initial motivation was simple: keep writing until I figured out my next career move. But as you and thousands of others subscribed to the newsletter, I realized something. You were craving practical advice on everyday operational challenges.

I see the irony. The introverted back-office guy now 'speaks' to 24,000 people weekly.

So, the real reason I started The Bottleneck? I didn't. Life did.

I just had the good sense to grab on and start building.

Key Takeaway for You: Your initial plan may evolve based on unexpected opportunities and audience feedback. Stay flexible and attuned to your audience's needs, even if it means altering your original vision.

45%.

That's the percentage of our audience who said they were interested in something I hadn't even considered: one-on-one coaching.

Not the high-tech tools or elaborate content strategies I'd been dreaming up, but good old-fashioned, personalized guidance.

This data came from our Operators Quiz, where we explored your challenges and preferences. But I didn’t believe it at first. We cross-checked engagement patterns, combed through email feedback, and hopped on calls to get the complete situation.

We uncovered intriguing patterns by digging deeper:

1. The highest demand for coaching was shown by mid-level managers and newly promoted executives.

2. This demand correlated with engagement on our leadership and strategy content.

3. The most voracious content consumers were most interested in coaching

I didn't see this coming. At all. Like every founder upon launch, I was sure I understood my audience's needs

I figured you wanted in-depth content, some video tutorials, or industry-specific analyses. This metric, however, tells a different story. I'd been so focused on scaling our written material and building a network that I hadn't thought of offering high-touch, personalized services.

This discovery threw our entire roadmap into disarray, but in the best possible way. We're now considering how to integrate coaching services in a way that complements, rather than overshadows, the content that brought you here in the first place.

Data doesn't just inform decisions; sometimes it completely upends your assumptions. And that's exactly what happened here.

Key Takeaway for You: Don't assume you know what your stakeholders want – let data guide you. Regularly collect and analyze feedback, and be prepared to challenge your assumptions.

Trust is built in drops and lost in buckets.

That eventually became my mantra as I navigated The Bottleneck's first year. I launched seven initiatives. I deprecated five. Each felt like a mini-heart attack. By launching so many products over a short span, I’ve realized I can lose your trust if the products didn’t meet your standards.

When I launched The Bottleneck, I naively thought I'd have time for core work plus any side project that caught my eye. Reality check: I didn't.

After launching a series of failed paid products, I made a change. I ruthlessly prioritized the newsletter, focusing on a core 'Write, Grow, Monetize' model. Here's how:

1. Write: I committed to two newsletter sends per week, no exceptions.

2. Grow: I focused on two growth channels - Meta and LinkedIn - ignoring everything else.

3. Monetize: I doubled down on sponsorships instead of chasing every revenue stream.

But I realized I was missing a piece here. I needed to add a fourth step. Initially, I was asking the wrong question. Each week, I wondered, "Is the content I'm creating helping my readers excel?" But I realized this approach was flawed.

The question should have been, "What do my readers need to excel?" I didn't have an answer. So I started asking you directly. And listening. Really listening.

This feedback loop became our fourth step. I joined over 240 calls with operators from Fortune 500 companies to one-man shops to understand how to best serve you. Besides calls, I've chatted with hundreds for insights through emails and surveys to identify your priorities.

(A lot of you are revising policies…)

After a year of building, here's how I view growing this business with the limited resources I have:

1. Set clear success metrics (and be prepared to laugh at how wrong they are). For each new initiative, we should define specific KPIs. This allowed us to quickly identify what was and wasn't working

2. We need to deeply involve our audience in the development process, gathering feedback early and often (turns out, mind-reading isn't a viable business strategy).

3. Kill underperforming initiatives ruthlessly (even if it feels like abandoning your favorite child).

4. Immediately plan the next product or evolution of current products

Our biggest operational insight wasn't about how to prototype or fail fast. It was about creating a system for rapid experimentation within our resource constraints.

Not too shabby for a sleep-deprived new dad with a penchant for overcommitting.

Key Takeaway for You: Set clear success metrics, establish timeframes for evaluation, involve your audience in the development process, and be ruthless about cutting underperforming initiatives. Remember, your most valuable resource is attention – allocate it wisely.

It's 2AM and I'm staring at a whiteboard covered in sticky notes, each representing a 'brilliant' idea for The Bottleneck. My wife walks in, takes one look, and says, "You know you can't do all that, right?" She's not wrong, but ambition is a tricky beast. It drives us to achieve great things, but can also leave us feeling perpetually unsatisfied.

As The Bottleneck enters its second year, I find myself at a crossroads, balancing the desire to grow with the need for sustainability. But I love to daydream.

I can imagine a world the newsletter could evolve into a venture studio that builds specialty products, services, and content for operators like you.

We wouldn’t just discuss operational challenges – we’d build solutions. This means incubating ideas from our community’s pain points, developing products to solve those pesky problems, and providing hands-on support to help these ventures take off.

The beauty of this model is how content, community, and building feed into each other:

1. Content: Our content strategy would evolve. We could explore moving beyond standalone articles to create a curriculum for operational excellence. This could serve as the foundation for everything else, informing our community and inspiring new product ideas.

2. Community: Our community could be more than just a network. Imagine a squad of peers ready to help tackle tough challenges, beta test new products, and collaborate on real-world projects. It would help us identify challenges that we can address.

3. Building: We could develop products based on the needs identified by our community. Then, these solutions will become case studies for our content, creating a cycle of continuous improvement.

This evolution wouldn’t be easy. We’d need to scale our content without losing quality, keep our community tight-knit as it grows, navigate product development, and ensure the right people are in the right roles.

With these challenges come incredible opportunities. By integrating content, community, and building in this way, we could create a unique ecosystem that not only educates and connects operators but also provides them with the tools they need to excel.

But that’s all a dream (for now).

Key Takeaway for You: Balancing ambition with focus is crucial for sustainable growth. While it's tempting to pursue multiple exciting ideas, successful operations require prioritizing initiatives that align with your core mission and resources.

The Road Ahead

Looking ahead to year two, we're excited to evolve.

But most importantly, we're committed to growing alongside you. The Bottleneck is a partnership between us and every person who engages with our content.

The Bottleneck isn't just my baby; it's our collective creation.

How do you see yourself fitting into the evolving Bottleneck ecosystem? Do you have any operational puzzles you'd love to see us crack? Or ideas for cool tools to make your work life easier?

Let's hear your ideas. Who knows? Your suggestion might be the next big initiative we launch in year two. After all, the best way to foresee the future is to build it.

Here's to another year of learning, growing, and excelling. Thank you for being part of this journey.

— Rameel from The Bottleneck

P.S. Don't tell my wife I admitted she was right about those 2 AM ideas.

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