Hello, founder! This will help you, fr

During a Sunday stroll through the Botanic Gardens with a close friend and founder, I was hit by a mule.

I asked a standard coaching-flavoured question to learn how they were going with their soon to be venture-backed startup:

"What's the most important thing for you to work on right now?"

I admit - it was a leading question. I believe TALKING TO CUSTOMERS must be a top three priority, by default, always.

We did plenty of customer research at my long ago exited startup - long live WP Curve!

We codified and scaled it post-acquisition at GoDaddy, which was catalyzed by the CEO baptism of a marketing exec who gave a non-answer about why customers were canceling.

Years later, I implemented User Research in Canva China. The spiritual home of the 996 lauds pumping out features instead of listening to customers and figuring out what they need, so I had to advocate and step on some toes to get it across the line and the Great Firewall.

Even with my trio of anecdotes, I had no way of supporting my sentimental attachment to customer research, apart from the fact that it's served me extremely well. And while I've read and recommend the Creative Act, I couldn't justify my position through Rubin-esque vibes.

I knew the work was useful, but for most, especially my bob-the-builder friend, building is OH SO MUCH more fun, rewarding and frankly, energizing, than digging deep into customer need. It's also incredibly accessible thanks to vibe coding tools.

I presented the MULE.

As a founder, I charge you to prioritize the Most Useful and Least Exciting tasks to the top of your to-do list. Think of it as eating your veggies before digging into dessert.

The MULE incentivizes you to do the needful. The necessary. The not-so-sexy but oh-so-useful.

Here's a standard founder to-do list:

1. Prepare content plan

2. Read cringe LinkedIn posts (hopefully not this one)

5. Have a difficult conversation with co-founder

5. File and pay overdue taxes

5. Talk to customers

(all the 5's will slip until your hair is on fire)

Here's what a MULE prioritized list looks like:

1. Have a difficult conversation with co-founder

2. File and pay overdue taxes

3. Talk to customers

(planning is code for procrastination and LinkedIn kinda sucks)

I guarantee that you will make more meaningful progress towards your goals. And before you ask, isn't this just "Eat The Frog"?

...ish.

But who really likes the taste of Cuisses de grenouille?