What-if
Todd: Promoting Tech Founders to CEO Overnight at Google Would Have Failed
“You know, you didn't take the techies and turn them into the CEO overnight. That was not, that would have been a mistake. Let the techies do their thing.”
Insight
Todd: Hiring 'safe' people over proven experts is a founder's costliest mistake
“The most expensive recurring theme is not, is working with safe people Rather than people who are real experts and have done that thing in the past, and then continuing to pay for that with time and money until it completely falls apart.”
Insight
Todd: Rigid Productivity Frameworks and Apps Fail Visionary Thinkers
“That push for productivity and efficiency it's a neat concept, but it doesn't work for most people. That's why you, that's why people are hunting for apps all the time. It's like, well, I need this new app to manage my productivity. It's like, no, maybe you're…”
Insight
Todd: Teams Do Not Need to Get Along to Do Great Work
“We don't necessarily have to get along to get something done. You know, I'd rather, I'd like everybody to be happy, but in the absence of being happy, let's, let's do great work.”
Assertion Contradicted
Todd: Company was first to sell residential and commercial HVAC online D2C
“We were the first to sell residential and light commercial heating and air conditioning equipment online direct to consumer, which broke open an industry and capitalized on the wave of e-commerce prior to many people even knowing that e-commerce was a thing.”
Insight
Todd: Without Programming Knowledge, Users Are Confined by Existing Software
“If you don't know what software can do, you just exist within the confines of that software.”
Insight
Todd: Traditional Mentors Offer Value Even Without Tech Expertise
“Ok, let's not confuse the fact that a person doesn't understand the intricacies of e-commerce with the person, with the fact that that person doesn't understand how to grow a business, because you can learn e-commerce. Working with distributed teams, growing a…”
Insight
Todd: Business Engagement Follows a Universal Framework Independent of Technology
“The map of how people engage is the exact same. You just enter, you interchange the technology into it or the ways we can communicate.”
Insight
Todd: Businesses only exist through the ongoing agreement of people
“Our businesses are held together by the thin cord of agreement. It's a keynote I gave to the Better Business Bureau at one point in time, the thin cord of agreement. And it is simply the fact that everybody agreed to continue working in that business, or all o…”
Insight
Todd: Long-Term Visionary Thinking Inherently Blurs Daily Operational Execution
“When you're thinking five years out, the blurrier today gets. And it's not that we can't exist in either of those scenarios. We absolutely can. But we have different levels of importance that we assign to each of those tasks.”
Insight
Todd: An entrepreneur's business reflects their ability to care for themselves
“Your businesses are going to be reflection of your ability to take care of yourself.”
Insight
Todd: Everyone is already wrong in ways they are unaware of
“Know that you are already wrong in some way to some degree you are not yet aware of.”
Insight
Todd: Business Partners Must Expect Heated Disagreement to Succeed
“I think one of the lessons was to figure out how to disagree and expect disagreement to come to the best solutions.
I was on, I think I was unprepared for the amount of disagreement that, that would arise when you have a business partner and the idea that you …”
Insight
Todd: Leaders Cannot Retreat From High-Emotion Workplace Conflict
“And as an adult, you can't retreat. Certainly not, you know, in your own company, you can't just retreat. Not really. You can try. And you're going to screw things up. So the answer is you just can't, you have to stay in it and you have to figure out how to fu…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Todd: HVAC e-commerce business did around $100M in revenue prior to 2011 sale
“The e-commerce company, by the time I had sold it, we had done probably a hundred million through that organization.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Todd: HVAC E-Commerce Startup Scaled to 30,000 US Contractors
“We were working with 30,000 contractors across the US.”
Insight
Todd: Going Down With a Sinking Business Is Asinine
“Don't go down with the ship. That's asinine. You know, get, while that ship's sinking, at least build a life raft and jump off.”
Disclosure
Todd: Hiring safe acquaintances has cost him up to $1M or more
“If you want to broadly paint a figure on that, it's cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not a million or more, for sure.”
Insight
Todd: Running an Organization and Recovering From Mistakes Requires Self-Kindness
“It's also really hard to run an organization if you don't love yourself, if you're not kind to yourself. It's really hard to make mistakes and come back from that if you're not kind to yourself. It's really hard to you know, stand out in front of people and be…”
