The backstory is that I had listened to an extremely successful gentleman (chairman of a multi-billion dollar public airline, board member of dozens of other public and private companies, former CEO, extremely successful investor) give his life story and he spoke a lot about how important goal setting and making lists was to his success.  I asked him for specifics on setting goals and he responded with his goal setting framework.  I thought it was useful and wanted to share it here (partly so I’ll have a public place to look back on it a bit more often).

Goal-Setting Framework

Evan –
From the number of questions I’ve had, I can tell that it’s probably time to write out my thoughts on goal-setting.  I’ve not yet done so.

[redacted personal info]

1. Start with the categories of your life in which you’d like to achieve some interim and/or end point.  (These may include family, friends, professional recognition, financial outcomes, experiences, etc.)
2. Brainstorm all the things you’d be thrilled to read about yourself in each of these categories.  (Sometimes it helps to imagine those gathered at one’s funeral and to think of what you’d hope they’d summarize/conclude about you in each category you choose.)
3. Pick a time frame (usually somewhere between 3-10 years) for completion and/or significant measurable advancement.
4. State your goals in a way that you can know when you’ve achieved them — (e.g., state goals in the form of “owning a 3 BR home in Menlo Park by the time I’m 35” rather than “settle in the Bay Area.”)
5. Quantify whatever/whenever you can (e.g., “be able to do 50 push-ups at age 35” is better than, “be in great shape,” therefore.)
6. Share whatever you come up with with a significant other.  This will provide you with an opportunity for feedback as well as commit you to being serious about whatever you seriously intend to pursue.
7. Once you’ve completed brainstorming — writing out everything you can think of (no matter how far-fetched) simplify your list.  While I know people who’ve had dozens of goals, for me, these long lists generally feel like TO DO lists.  So, rather than inspire, they make me tired and discouraged me.  At the least, prioritize your objectives.
8. I like the formula of “A person to BE.  Someone to LOVE.  A work to DO” to find peace and joy in one’s life.  So, these are categories in which I like to have goals.  Setting goals in this way, therefore, might start out with a full      description of the person I’d like to be.  What temperament/attitudes/values would I like to develop?  How might I do this?  If it’s patience I need to develop, for example, I might make it a goal to spend a day/quarter volunteering at a retirement home, etc.  In the second category, I like to review all of the people in my life and consider what I might do to show my care for them.  This sort of thinking has gotten me to make commitments, for example, to write a weekly update to my kids — a goal I’ve achieved for the past couple of years, btw.  (On this, I just carve out 1/2 hour every Saturday morning to write up my thoughts on the week and, then, send them to my kids — whether or not they respond in kind or even appreciate the effort/commitment.  (Of course, my real goal in this is to keep our family close; and this is simply one leg of the execution of that goal.)  And, finally, when I think about the work I want to do, I list of my various categories of assignment —[redacted info]— and write out what “winning” would be in each of them if I were to describe what I’d like an outside observer to write about what had happened in the past 5 years looking back on today.
9. Boil these lists.  Prioritize them.  Set time frames, expected results.
10. Commit to adjusting your list, say, every year.  There’s no reason to let goals that have become irrelevant or have evolved to hang around.  There should be no guilt associated with abandoning or adjusting a goal.  Stuff changes.  You change.  Your goals need to be updated to reflect reality.
11. Post them where you’ll see them.  If you’re not reminded of them regularly, it can be hard to keep them “real.”  In my early years I taped them to my bathroom mirror so I’d be reminded at the beginning of the day what I was trying to achieve.
12. Read autobiographies.  Study the lives of those you admire.  (One way to think about this is to consider if you could have history write about you, what would you like it to say?  This is not an effort to make you think of yourself as an historical figure, but rather a way to force you to describe end points — the key to developing great goals.)

1) Our company, Circle.  If I didn’t 1oo% believe this, I’d be doing something else.

2) Pinterest – I haven’t seen such an engaged online community of women (who overwhelmingly account for purchase decisions) since Gilt and Pinterest is much more powerful as it is more authentic and engaging.

3) Square – This was on my list last year.  It is a no brainer.

4) Nest – Tony Fadell is a genius and amazing product guy who learned directly from Jobs.  The thermostat is just the beginning.  They are going to make big waves in the home appliance market.

5) Simple – This one is a huge hope as I desperately need online banking that works.

6) Trialpay – CEO Alex Rampell is damn bright.  They could very well IPO in 2012 or soon thereafter.

7) MinoMonsters – Watch Josh Buckley over the next 15 years and be amazed.  This could be the next Angry Birds.

8) Lookout – Mobile security is going to become more and more important.

9) Andreessen-Horowitz – Although, I believe they have already done it, pretty much everyone else will agree that they are the number one Venture Capital firm in existence.  They will be able to get almost any deal they want (besides ones where other firms are paying leaps and bounds more) and will consistently be the entrepreneurs’ first choice.

For me, taking time each month to reflect seems to be a more effective timeframe.  Jack Dorsey tweeted today that his resolution was (and always is) to Simplify and that really resonated with me.  Running a startup is incredibly stressful and full of necessary decisions, thoughtful analysis, and unexpected turns.  To make the company most likely to succeed, it makes sense to simplify every other part of my life so I don’t waste time and energy on things that simply don’t matter like what to wear, what to eat…

I want to make sure that everything I do gives Hawthorne Labs the best chance of making a huge impact on the way the world works.  The other thing that is important is accountability on a consistent basis.  ”That what is measured, improves.” I believe companies as well as ourselves should be metric driven and consistently analyzed, and that is how we can best improve.

Below is my plan for life simplification and accountability.

Professionally:

-Create a “Daily Impacts” list in the morning of the things I can do that day that will be impactful on the success of the company and follow up at night with which items I have completed

-Create Weekly Updates that go to a select group of personal and company advisors to make sure we are progressing as rapidly as possible on a weekly basis

-Set aside 1 hour each week to reflect on the professional positives and negatives of that week and whether anything should be changed

-Have a monthly plan for the company that is shared in-person to a group of company/personal advisors

Personally

-Morning hardcore workout 3 times per week

-Sleep a maximum of 7.5 hours per day (3:30a – 11:00a)

-Food (Same exact healthy diet each day)

-Come up with one simple and elegant outfit and buy in large quantities and wear each day

-Play Ultimate frisbee 2 hours every Saturday

- 1 night per week, do something totally different that could inspire me, hopefully with somebody that also inspires me (rave dance party, go to an orchestra concert, have magic tea, check out a museum etc)

- Set aside 2 hours each month to make sure I communicate with all the people that really inspire/better me to keep connected with them

That is pretty much every moment of my life encompassed in 12 bullet points.  I’d love your thoughts.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/fashion/sean-parker-brings-facebook-style-skills-to-new-york-social-scene.html

Tell an entrepreneur he can’t do something and he will.

One motivation for a number of great entrepreneurs is being able to prove people wrong.

You will constantly be told you can’t do something.  Use it as motivation.  One of the greatest investors of all time once said about one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time: “The best way to get Vinod Khosla to do something is to tell him it’s impossible.”

Do something that people said couldn’t be done and it changes the entire mental game.

Surrounding yourself by amazing people is a necessary component in achieving organizational success.

At LeWeb, Sean Parker noted that having an amazing group of people at Facebook was the key to the company’s success.

Just as important is removing people from your life  or organization that do not contribute to positive performance and individual and organizational growth.  Parker also mentioned that one of his greatest failures was in hiring the wrong people at Napster.

It is important to keep a clear distinction of people that will contribute to your success and I do it through keeping lists of people that I have come across in life.

Two such lists that I keep are 1) Personal Influencers and 2) Detractors.  The first list is people that I hope to be able to work with some day (some I am lucky to already be working with) and criteria which includes intellect, hard work, loyalty, and proven success.  These people have powerful insights into life and consistently impress me with their abilities.  They are people I would start a company with in a second if given the opportunity and if not, folks that I simply want to get involved in my life in whatever way possible someday.  I learn from them on every single interaction.  The folks on this list are:

Marc Andreessen

Reid Hoffman

Keith Rabois

Peter Fenton

Jim Harbaugh

Coach K

Scott Weiss

Jon Schmidt

Bill Campbell

Jack Dorsey

Alex Rampell

The second aforementioned list is of detractors.  Unfortunately (or fortunately since it taught me invaluable lessons), I have met or worked with numerous people that have been extremely disloyal, demotivational, or simply not net positive in my life.  I have found that by removing these people entirely, my own effectiveness and ability to grow increases exponentially.

It is important to know who in your life you should keep as close as possible and who to remove.

Phase 1:  “I don’t need money.”

Duration: 2-4 weeks

In this phase, you are seeking your “anchor investor” who will be the first person to put in money.  You are meeting with smart angel investors (and potentially firms if they do seed investing) who are a fit for your startup.  You are interviewing them to see whether they are a good fit for you.  Do they ask smart questions?  Do they understand your industry?  Do you get along with them?

Spend 95% of the meeting talking about your product, users, and market and 5% talking about funding.  Tell them “I don’t need money right now, but when do you think it makes sense for me to begin raising?”  If they are really interested, they will ask about valuation, talk numbers, or tell you they want to invest.  If they say it makes sense now AND they are interested, get them to commit and have them become the anchor.

Phase 2:  “Closing.”

Duration: 3-4 weeks

You have your anchor, your term sheet, and your first money.  Now you need to set your deadline (3 weeks from today) and tell potential investors you have “investor x” leading and ask if they want to be in the round or not.  Ask your anchor for intros to any angels they think will be a good fit.  If you are dealing with an experienced angel investor, they should decide within 2 meetings.  If you are dealing with a firm, it should be, at MAX (depending on the amount) 3 meetings.  First with one partner, second with a couple of partners and third a full partnership meeting (NOTE: this advice is just for a seed raise and not an A or anything after).

You are never asking for money nor do you ever need it.  You are either meeting with investors to talk about your business or asking them whether they want to be included in the round you are about to close.  

(PS… we are launching our invite-only beta app next week.  signup to be a beta tester!  Http://lal.com/home)

Our team just closed a round of funding of a little over $5 Million from a16z.  We are excited to welcome Jeff Jordan (whom numerous top entrepreneurs have described to me as “the top operator in the valley”) to our team and are honored to be his first investment/board role at Andreessen Horowitz.

We moved around some things in the Hacker House and have offered for him, his wife, and his kids to move in if they’d like.  We are eagerly awaiting his (expected positive) response.

Ultimately, our decision of what firm to work with was easy.  Andreessen Horowitz is disrupting Venture Capital.  In only two years, they have established themselves as the top firm in the valley.  I like to surround myself by people who have already done what we are trying to do: create and grow a revolutionary technology company.

Marc, Ben, John, Scott, and now Jeff (they need to add some names that are a bit more unique!) have all been immensely helpful to us even in the short few months that we have begun working together.

Marc, in particular, has become a close friend, advisor and personal mentor.  Our first meeting resulted in a 6 hour, Scotch-induced jam session, to discuss our theories on life and we have since shared countless creamery milkshakes and email conversations at 4am (he is also on the Hacker House daily schedule).  The rest of the a16z team has been similarly accessible and helpful.  These guys know how to add value to companies that want to go big.  They are the future of VC and we are excited to work with them.

Jeff knows how to scale an organization as good as anyone in the world.  After leading a multi-billion dollar public company (Opentable) and being head of Paypal and eBay’s business units, he has learned a thing or two.  Most exciting, he knows how we can grow, but still keep our hacker culture that keeps us so productive.

We are still in just the first quarter of the game and know we have a long road ahead, but we have the right team and resources to go out and win.

Our company vision is the same today as it was when we launched the original likealittle.com: To connect people who are near each other.  These resources simply help us accomplish that goal faster. In the past 6 months, we have brought together the top hackers and designers in the world to the LAL team and are looking to continue to bring together the world’s elite.

We have exciting developments coming very soon.  To add yourself to the LAL VIP list and be the first to test out our new products please click here.

You can also follow us on twitter or become a facebook fan.

Thanks for all your support,
evan
(email me anytime: e@lal.com)