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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 1:39
The Maker Schedule vs. Manager Schedule Essay
Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell introduce the episode's premise and the Paul Graham essay on maker and manager schedules that inspired it. Dalton explains the essay's distinction between how programmers and business people organize their time.
- •Episode is about how future billionaires get things done
- •Dalton was inspired by Paul Graham's "Maker Schedule, Manager Schedule" post
- •The essay contrasts how makers and managers organize their time
- •Note-taking in a notebook versus a managed to-do list opens the episode
- 1:39 – 3:55
Why Makers Need Uninterrupted Time
Dalton explains why programmers need long uninterrupted blocks, since loading a program into your head takes an hour or two. Michael recalls how a conversation with Emmett made him understand the cost of interrupting a developer.
- •Most companies run on a manager schedule packed with meetings
- •Programming needs an hour or two to load context, so hourly increments are costly
- •A great maker schedule is something like an eight-hour uninterrupted block
- •Writers and musicians face the same issue
- •Emmett compared interruptions to disrupting complicated word problems
- 3:55 – 5:44
Building Maker Time Into Startups and YC
Dalton and Michael describe how their own work rhythms ended up in the evening or after lunch, and how Michael's team tried to protect the post-lunch period. Michael explains how YC was designed to leave founders maker time, with few events and a hard Demo Day deadline.
- •Dalton's real workday began around 5 or 6 PM when things quieted down
- •Michael's team got little done before lunch and tried to keep afternoons free
- •YC has few events and no all-day classes
- •Weekly check-ins ask founders whether they did what they said they would by Demo Day
- 5:44 – 6:35
Managing Time in Manager Mode: To-Do List First
Michael explains how he prioritizes among his to-do list, meetings, email, and Slack, putting the to-do list first. Dalton adds that an inbox-driven day hands control of your time to other people.
- •To-do list comes before meetings, email and Slack
- •A to-do list is a way of saying what is actually important to get done
- •An inbox-driven approach lets others control your time
- 6:35 – 7:35
Meetings: Write Everything Down
Michael says the core trick for meetings is to write things down, since needing another meeting because notes weren't taken is a self-inflicted wound. Dalton clarifies that if two people agree and neither records it, it is as if it never happened.
- •Some meetings are unavoidable
- •Write down the agenda and what was decided
- •Unrecorded agreements lead to repeat meetings
- 7:35 – 9:30
Keeping KPIs Visible and Memorized
Dalton says the number one thing he and other successful founders did was keep their key metrics on screen all the time. Michael adds that founders who know their stats talk about them differently and know immediately whether they are up or down.
- •Dalton kept his analytics dashboard up 24/7 and memorized the numbers
- •He also knows many of YC's internal stats by heart
- •Founders who know their stats don't round numbers and know weekly changes
- •Michael's team knew in their bones when traffic dropped from one day to the next
- 9:30 – 10:44
Applying Maker Time to Sales and Your Main Focus
Dalton adds that the maker concept applies to sales and customer conversations, not just programming. Michael agrees that founders should clear out time for whatever their main job is, rather than working in 20-minute slivers.
- •Maker schedule applies to sales and talking to customers
- •Schedule long blocks for the main event of your startup
- •Sales squeezed into slivers between other tasks won't go well
- •Make admin work efficient enough to clear chunks of time
- 10:44 – 12:07
What Great Founders Avoid: Social Media
Michael turns to what great founders avoid, and Dalton names social media as the black hole for time. He suggests that a hidden camera audit of time would embarrass many people.
- •Social media is a black hole for time and is addictive
- •A clear accounting of where time goes would embarrass some founders
- •Dalton imagines a hidden camera auditing a founder's day
- •It's hard to maintain a healthy relationship with social media
- 12:07 – 14:09
Tools That Protect Your Time
Michael describes unfollowing everyone on Twitter and installing a Chrome extension that disables most of its features, while Dalton uninstalled apps and turned off notifications. They argue that productive people use tools both to organize and to protect their time rather than relying on willpower.
- •Michael unfollowed everyone and disabled most of Twitter's features
- •Dalton uninstalled Facebook and Twitter and turned off notifications
- •Productive people do abnormal things to protect their time
- •There are tools for organizing time and tools for protecting it
- •Successful people recognize weaknesses and reach for tools
- 14:09 – 16:01
The Mentorship and Advisor Collecting Trap
Michael asks why founders collect mentors, advisors, and credentials instead of building and launching. Dalton calls it a bottomless time suck that feels like progress, and Michael says the real de-risking comes from talking to customers and building and launching product.
- •Collecting advisors and accelerators smells like doing startup stuff
- •Dalton compares it to taking acting lessons in Hollywood for years
- •Founders think advisors and mentorship de-risk their startup
- •Talking to customers and building and launching product are the real de-risking steps
- 16:01 – 18:02
Hedging Bets and Bartering With the Universe
Michael describes founders who keep grad school, job offers, and a startup all open, and asks why they shouldn't hedge. Dalton says people try to barter with the universe for upside with no downside, and that it's more honest to accept the risk and commit fully.
- •Some founders keep grad school, job offers, and a startup open at once
- •Michael doubts anyone can be great at all of these simultaneously
- •Dalton says high-risk decisions mean you may look stupid or regret them
- •Wanting no downside and only upside is bartering with the universe
- •Putting your full heart into what you do leaves you with no regrets
- 18:02 – 20:26
Failure, Pride, and Why Hedging Loses
Dalton shares what he tells founders shutting down their startups: if they gave it their all and learned, it was an affirmative experience. Michael adds that failing at a startup is not like failing a test, and that a non-hedging competing team will beat a hedging one.
- •Dalton tells shutting-down founders he's proud of the job they did
- •Failing a startup is not like failing a basic math test
- •Dalton compares it to being cut in the first year of a pro sports career
- •A equally competent team that isn't hedging will always win
- •Splitting resources multiple ways is not even a good strategy
