Jonathan Endicott on Entrepreneurship

(01) Entrepreneurship

Jonathan Endicott on entrepreneurship.

Jonathan Endicott has founded and operated direct-to-consumer e-commerce businesses. This page gathers what that work taught him about entrepreneurship, in his own framing.

Customers vote every day

Selling directly to customers removes the buffer between a decision and its result. If a product page, a price or a promise misses the mark, sales say so within days. Jonathan Endicott's habit is to treat that feedback as the most honest data a business has and to act on it quickly.

Test the riskiest assumption first

Plans are stacks of guesses. He tries to identify the guess that would hurt most if it were wrong and test it cheaply before anything else. The long version is in Evidence Over Opinion.

Momentum over the perfect plan

A rough first version teaches more than a polished plan. Shipping early starts the conversation with reality, which is the only conversation that matters. See Start Before You're Ready.

Get through the middle

The stretch between launch excitement and real results is where most ventures stall. Steady inputs, small daily units of work and fixed routines carry a business through it. See The Boring Middle and Discipline Is a System.

Distribution is part of the product

A business nobody hears about is a hobby. Where customers already gather, what they trust and why they would tell a friend are design questions to settle early, not marketing questions to settle late.

Subtract before you add

Every new product line, feature or channel has hidden costs in attention and complexity. Before adding something, ask what can be removed.

More from Jonathan Endicott: about, reading list, principles.