The key message to the W24 @ycombinator batch was: Velocity, velocity, velocity 🚀 But what does velocity really mean, and how can you move as fast as possible? Here are the 10 commandments for shipping product at lightning speed: 🧵

1️⃣ Minimize external dependencies If your team's success is dependent on someone else's backlog, you've already lost control of your velocity. Keep your critical path in-house whenever possible. Choose tools & services with minimal lock-in.

3️⃣ Prioritize ruthlessly velocity += value Every feature request can feel urgent, but they can't all be a priority. Focus on the most critical tasks that deliver the most value. Use a simple framework like RICE to objectively stack-rank your backlog.

4️⃣ Empower your team Velocity is a team sport. It's not about how fast any one individual can go, but how fast the team can go together. Hire great people, align them to the mission, and then trust them to execute. Follow @DanielPink 's Autonomy, Purpose, and Mastery framework.

5️⃣ Stay agile Planning is useful, but plans are useless. Don't get attached to plans. Stay focused on getting to the right outcome and finding the shortest path to value. Work in short sprints with clear goals. The sooner you learn, the sooner you can iterate meaningfully.

6️⃣ Automate to accelerate Working smart amplifies the impact of working hard. Automate the mundane so you can accelerate the meaningful. Invest in tools that eliminate repetitive tasks so your team can focus on high-value work. Create templates and reusable components.

7️⃣ Bias towards action Make decisions quickly based on available information. Avoid analysis paralysis or waiting for perfect conditions. A decent decision made quickly is better than a perfect decision made too late. Acting swiftly helps learnings compound faster.

8️⃣ Communicate impeccably Like a car's wheels, your team must remain aligned for optimal velocity. Clarity accelerates action. Instead of long, meandering meetings, insist on clear agendas, actionable outcomes, and concise, asynchronous communication.

9️⃣ Celebrate wins and learn from failures Instead of quickly moving onto the next thing, pause to celebrate your wins, or run a blameless post-mortem when things go awry. Celebrating wins keeps morale high, while learning from failures prevents you from repeating mistakes.

🔟 Maintain a sense of urgency Create aggressive deadlines that force you to prioritize what’s most important and avoid scope creep. Velocity is as much about mindset as it is about process. When everyone feels a sense of urgency, obstacles get solved and things get done.

Putting these 10 principles into practice is a sure-fire way to increase your momentum and the velocity at which you ship product. Focus on what matters most, eliminate perfectionism, communicate effectively with your team, and prioritize learning as fast as possible.

These learnings come from my 20 years of experience building my own startups contrasted with time spent working at larger companies like Google and YouTube. I'm happy to deep dive on any of these topics, just let me know which!

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