One hour a month sounds like nothing.
I run a monthly event for the Trends VC community. Founders show up, get matched and have one-on-one conversations with someone new. Attendance is low. It sits outside the flywheel I’m building.
I kept it for two years because it didn’t seem like a huge investment. One hour. Once a month. Twelve hours a year. Who can’t spare that?
But I also run masterminds for Trends Pro. Eight people per group. The math looks similar. The alignment is completely different.
I listed each thing I spend time on and asked one question: does this feed the flywheel?
Trends Tribe didn’t survive.
That was one commitment. Stack up a few like it and you’re losing a day a month. You’re bleeding out from cuts too small to notice.
Each cut looks rational on its own. Poker works the same way. I’ve been using an app to practice. Each hand has three options: fold, call or raise. In most positions, the right play is fold or raise. We “call” too often. We keep things around because the cost seems small. But calling bleeds your stack one hand at a time.
Each decision you face is a hand. Trends Tribe was a call. Masterminds are a raise. The flywheel audit forced a fold on Trends Tribe.
The filter is fold or raise. If it compounds, raise. If you’re keeping it because the cost seems small, that’s a call. Calling is how you bleed out.
A soft yes is a hard no.
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Where are you calling when you should be folding or raising?
