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Running a business sometimes feels like solving a puzzle where the pieces keep changing shape. You think you’ve nailed the product roadmap, then it slips. You try to optimise for search, and your audience vanishes into TikTok. You delegate a task and it boomerangs back, messier than before. This week’s newsletter is about those shifting pieces – and the people and ideas helping you pin them down.

Enjoy!

From scrum fatigue to shipping momentum

If you’re a founder frustrated by missed deadlines, bloated backlogs or endless sprints that never seem to land, this episode of Lenny’s Podcast is well worth a listen. Ryan Singer – former Head of Strategy at 37signals (makers of Basecamp) – shares the thinking behind Shape Up, the product development framework he helped pioneer. Unlike traditional Agile or Scrum, Shape Up is all about fixed timelines, flexible scope and shaping work before you throw a team at it. It’s refreshingly practical, especially for growing businesses hitting that tricky 30–50 person mark where things start to creak. Expect smart strategies for scoping, decision-making and bridging the gap between design and engineering – plus insights into how PMs can move upstream and drive real product momentum. Check it out here.

Don’t SEO for Google – optimise for people

Search is no longer just about keywords and Google rankings – it’s about showing up wherever people are already looking. And for Gen Z, that means TikTok, Reddit, Discord and other platforms where discovery feels more like conversation than clicking through blue links. Two excellent deep dives explore this shift. Search Engine Land reveals how Gen Z is rewriting the search playbook, ditching Google in favour of faster, more visual and more authentic content journeys that unfold across TikTok and Reddit. And if you want to understand how to actually get discovered in this world, Metricool’s comprehensive 2025 TikTok SEO guide is packed with practical steps to help your content rank, engage and convert.

Outthink the competition by understanding their every move

If your strategy sessions feel like they’re stuck in a planning loop, this might be the reset you need. Business management guru Roger Martin makes the case for reverse-engineering your most formidable competitor’s strategy – not to copy them, but to learn from the choices that make them distinct. Martin walks through how to map a competitor’s moves using his Strategy Choice Cascade framework, showing how to spot the subtle signals that reveal true strategic intent. Because the fastest route to clarity on your own direction often starts by studying someone else’s. Get the story here.​

Who’s the wealthiest Dragon in the Den?

I’ve always loved Dragons’ Den – part business masterclass, part reality TV soap – so this article from Startups was a great read. It rounds up the show’s most familiar faces and ranks them by net worth. Beyond the money, what really stood out was how varied their paths were – from ice cream vans to telecoms empires to vitamin dynasties. And while it’s tempting to focus on the biggest bank balance, it’s a good reminder that the right investor is the one who brings the sharpest thinking, not just the deepest pockets.Worth a read, even if you’re not prepping your pitch for the fearsome five just yet.

The credibility gap (and how to close it)

Of course, once you’ve targeted the right investor, you still need to convince them you’re the real deal. And that’s harder than it looks. Rob Blackie – an advisor who works with deep tech startups – breaks down why so many founders struggle to prove their credibility. Whether it’s getting lost in the weeds of technical jargon, overestimating what your audience knows or presenting proof points that feel too good to be true, credibility can be surprisingly fragile. His advice is to keep it simple, relevant, and – when in doubt – let someone else do the talking. Preferably someone your audience already trusts. Read the article here.

The alternative content calendar

It’s simple enough to find a ton of template content calendars online, filled with the obvious marketing moments such as big sporting events or significant gifting days. Advertising agency MullenLowe, however, has put together a much more interesting take on 2025’s noteworthy dates, from movie launches to pop concerts to video game releases – all backed by stats supported with credible research. Take a look here and see if there’s something that your business might be able to connect with.

AI vs AI: Cloudflare’s clever trap for rogue bots

Rather than play whack-a-mole with bots scraping the web for AI training data, Cloudflare has come up with a more devious defence: lead them astray. Its new tool, AI Labyrinth, lures bad-faith crawlers into a tangle of convincingly written but ultimately useless AI-generated pages – content designed to waste time and resources while protecting the real thing. It’s a smart evolution from simply blocking bots (which often adapt fast) and acts like a honeypot 2.0: fingerprinting new bot behaviours while keeping human users blissfully unaware. Cloudflare says this is just the first step in using generative AI to defend against, well, generative AI. Find out more here.

Do you really need a brand name? Here's how to decide

Not every great idea needs a new brand name. In fact, slapping a shiny label on every product, service or feature can drain budgets, confuse customers and dilute focus. In this smart piece, branding expert Joanna Seddon breaks down when naming something adds value – and when it’s just a vanity exercise in disguise. She outlines the strategic (and often overlooked) factors that should guide naming decisions, from brand elasticity and legal risk to market segmentation and long-term business goals. Discover why restraint, not enthusiasm, is often the mark of a savvy brand builder.

Slower thinking, deeper living

I came across this lovely one-pager on eight Japanese concepts and it’s been sitting on my desktop ever since. There’s a quiet wisdom here that feels especially useful in a world obsessed with speed and perfection. Worth a quick read – and maybe a slower reflection.

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Drop me a line

Thanks for making it to the end – always appreciated. I know there’s no shortage of things competing for your attention, so if anything here earned a mental bookmark (or a raised eyebrow), that’s a win. I’ll be back next week with more things founders should probably know but don’t have time to Google and, in the meantime, do let me know about anything interesting that’s on your radar.

Cheers!
Adam

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