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+
+# startup workflow
+
+the operational patterns from a neurotech startup i interned at. a "perpetual state of hackathon."
+
+## weekly cadence
+
+### tuesday morning — takeoff
+sync on state. everyone gets aligned on what's happening, what needs to happen. this is [[resyncing]] made structural.
+
+### monday night — re-entry
+the most structured ritual. format:
+1. conclude work at 6:30pm
+2. 30 minutes solo reflection with pen and paper
+3. group report: context → what you set out to do → how you performed → what each member could've done better
+
+the solo reflection before group reporting is key — you need to process your own week before you can communicate it. slides required. always have a growth number.
+
+## the growth number
+
+"if we didn't have any of the position we gained this week, how much faster could we have gained it with all the skills we learned?"
+
+this measures learning velocity, not output. a week where you shipped nothing but learned a lot still gets a high growth number. this connects to [[impostor-syndrome]] — "acceleration is much better than position."
+
+## subteams
+
+- **science** — research, testing
+- **engineering** — products
+- **growth** — people development, habits, zoom outs (see [[zooming-out]])
+
+the fact that "growth" is a dedicated subteam, not an afterthought, says a lot about this startup's culture.
+
+## 80-15-5 rule
+
+- 80% mission-focused work
+- 15% slightly tangential exploration
+- 5% something completely whacky
+
+this prevents the monotony that kills creativity and [[intentionality]]. it also means the [[critical-path]] question doesn't strangle serendipity.
+
+## speed of decision-making
+
+"anything under $500 don't ask me." this removes friction and empowers people. the cost of slow decisions often exceeds the cost of wrong ones at this scale.
+
+## energy philosophy
+
+"expending more energy frequently works." evolution optimized us to save energy — there's no reason to conserve it anymore. this is counterintuitive but matches my experience: the times i've pushed harder than felt natural, i've gotten more than proportionally more out.
+
+## knowledge stacking
+
+the CEO envied friends who just knew more. started aggressively learning via LLMs. "knowledge is super useful" — not a groundbreaking insight on its own, but the action (aggressive learning) is what matters.
+
+## being forceful
+
+"in pursuit of open-mindedness, was too passive in arguments." fix: be forceful in exchanging ideas, trust the other party not to collapse. this connects to [[feedback-and-honesty]] — honest friction is productive.
+
+see also: [[resyncing]], [[team-dynamics]], [[operation-optimization]], [[zooming-out]]
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