Leverage Map Worksheet #4 - Q1 Status, Q2 Planning
It’s been a year since I technically went solo, and started working full-time for myself. One of the first things I did was design and publish the course Building a Mountain of Levers, which helped me think through how to build an effective, scalable combination of businesses that could grow non-linearly compared to my effort.
We use this “Leverage Map” as one of the key frameworks. It shows our current Leverage, our weaknesses, opportunities, and plans for the future. Using this map, I’m able to continuously build leverage, which has completely changed how I think of my career, life, and legacy.
I create a Leverage Map at the beginning of each Quarter. It doesn’t take long, and it is a very helpful way to see progress and re-orient. At the end of the Quarter, I look at progress relative to my expectations and create a new map and new goals for the next quarter.
This is my most recent leverage map from the beginning of Q2 2022. In July, I’ll append this post to reflect on progress and create a new map! This is the fourth map post I’ve shared (First Leverage Map (Q321), Second Leverage Map (Q421), Third Leverage Map (Q122)).
I hope this practice helps you follow my journey and shows you how to build leverage in your own way. Learn more about how to use this Map to build your own Mountain of Levers in the leverage course.
Green Highlights = New additions or focus areas
This quarter, I’m trying to focus on extending the existing levers, not adding new ones. Grow the fund, grow the podcast, and continue the next Almanack.
There are plenty of ideas for adding new levers, but it’s important to establish a strong foundation. Forging even a few long, strong, reliable levers can be plenty for a lifetime. Especially if they are complementary. The urge to tackle shiny projects or add new names to a list can seduce us into creating a tangle of short, brittle levers instead of focusing on a few long, strong levers.
So Q2 ‘22 is all about extending and strengthening my existing levers.
Ideas for Building Leverage in Q2
Action: Grow Rolling Fun
Expectations: We’re off to a wonderful start in the first 45 days of our Rolling Fund. Dozens of brilliant and wonderful LPs, excellent dealflow, and 3 killer startups we’ve invested in. We have more great deals and allocation than we have capital to invest, so we’re still bringing in investors. Larger investors like family offices or VCs are in progress but move slower than individuals, so we hope to see some of those join in Q2. On the publishing side, we’re starting to share insights from investing and fund building: deal memos (like Terran), podcasts (Ep #1, #2), founder pitches, etc.
Action: Complete Manuscript of the Almanack of Balaji Srinivasan
Expectations: The timeline is already sliding on publishing the second Almanack, but the biggest lesson I’ve learned (so far!) about writing books is that craftsmanship takes time, quality of the final product is all that matters, and it’s worth taking extra time and effort to be certain I produce something excellent.
Action: Outsource grocery and home good shopping
Expectations: As the pantry-and-kitchen master of my house, one of the biggest remaining chunks of time in my domestic life still goes into planning, shopping, and cooking. When time gets short our meals tend become simple, repetitive, or unhealthy. By enlisting Ivan (my Athena EA) to create a process for managing recipes, grocery lists, and online shopping I think we can make cooking more fun and meals healthier while spending less time working on it.