This edition is brought to you by Athyna

Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself. 

If you enjoy this, feel free to forward it along to a friend or colleague who might too. First time reading? Sign up here.

Today’s edition:

Cheers,
Alex

P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.

Stories of Excellence

Person: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, is widely regarded as one of the greatest leaders in American history, renowned for his unwavering commitment to preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, and healing a divided nation. Born in 1809 in a log cabin in Kentucky, Lincoln's early life was marked by poverty, hard work, and a thirst for knowledge. Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, including losing his mother at a young age and struggling to find his place in the world, Lincoln's determination, integrity, and eloquence propelled him to the highest office in the land.

Key Lessons from Abraham Lincoln:

• On integrity: "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true."

• On perseverance: "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."

• On leadership: "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

Read more.

Company: Plenty of Fish

In 2003, Markus Frind, a recent graduate and programmer, launched Plenty of Fish (POF) as a way to improve his resume. Working solo from his Vancouver apartment, Frind built the dating site for just $500 - mostly the cost of a computer. By keeping it free and simple, POF grew rapidly through word of mouth. Frind's lean operation and advertising model let him run the site profitably from day one. By 2008, POF had $10 million in revenue with Frind as the sole employee. His willingness to learn, adapt and evolve the platform fueled its rise to become one of the largest dating sites. In 2015, the Match Group acquired POF for $575 million.

Key Lessons from Plenty of Fish

• On starting lean: "By the time I found out what VCs were, I was already making millions in profit, and I didn't see the need to raise money because I wouldn't know what to do with it."

• On staying lean: "It's funny, once you start adding people to the company, the amount of time you have to work goes up." Frind was the sole developer, designer, and manager for POF in the early years. His self-reliance kept costs low.

Read More.

Hire remote employees with confidence

Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant , and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made. From marketing to customer support, it’s helped streamline work and boost productivity.

Athyna is a service that finds top remote employees in <5 days in Latam, Africa, and Sth East Asia. They cover roles in finance, creative, engineering, and product, sourcing top talent from companies like Google, AWS, Microsoft, and more.

If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.

Accelerants

High-performance tool

⎯

MEDDIC

Every few weeks, I’ll share a tool or hack I’ve been trying that’s improved some aspect of my life. I have no affiliation with these and will always clearly share when that’s false.

The MEDDIC framework examines the various factors that contribute to the purchasing process. By emphasizing the customer buying experience, sales representatives can gain a clearer insight into the needs of their prospects. This understanding enables them to qualify buyers effectively, ensuring they concentrate on those who align well with their offerings.

Why are qualified customers important? Qualified customers are more likely to succeed with your product. They'll stay longer, refer other customers, and spend more.

Read more.

A trend I’m watching

⎯

The Big 4 consulting firms raked in a whopping $200B last year, but their reign may be coming to an end. As AI rapidly advances, it's opening up huge opportunities for startups to disrupt traditional services businesses. While clients still prefer humans for high-touch advisory work, there's massive potential for AI to augment and streamline lower-level tasks.

A few promising business ideas that could ride this wave:

• Selling AI-powered software to law firms, banks, and even the Big 4 themselves to help automate rote work and boost efficiency. Imagine Casetext or Kira Systems on steroids.

• Focusing on 1-2 key jobs-to-be-done for a specific industry vertical and productizing the heck out of them with AI. Mechanical Orchard is doing this for software development by tapping into the Pivotal Labs talent network.

• Building an AI-enhanced "consulting in a box" platform that pairs self-serve software with on-demand access to expert advisors. Kind of like Deloitte meets Superhuman.

Read More.

Tactical reads

⎯

> When you need to build a culture of experimentation
Building a Culture of Experimentation (Read it here)

> When listening to 'expert opinions'
Expert opinion (Read it here)

> When you need to disagree
The most successful people I know disagree often & disagree well (Read it here)

> When understanding the care economy
The Future of the Care Economy (Read it here)

When building independenceWhen looking for inspiration
Frugal vs. Independent (Read it here)

1 question

That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Have a wonderful rest of week, all.

Recommendation Zone

⎯

Hire remote employees with confidence

Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant for the first time. Since then, I’ve recommended many people do the same. It’s been one of the highest leverage things I’ve done, helping with everything marketing and customer support (for The Intelligence Age) and personal matters and email management.

Athyna is a service that quickly (<5 days!) finds remote employees across 150+ countries for you or your team. They cover roles from sales and marketing to creative and product, and have worked with companies like Facebook, Zoom, Uber, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon.

I’ve personally used Athyna and recommended them to my Brother, Will, who runs a fashion label, and several close friends running their own businesses. To date, they’ve all had very positive experiences.

If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.

Why Faster Than Normal? Our mission is to be a friend to the ambitious, a mentor to the becoming, and a partner to the bold. We achieve this by sharing the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world's most prolific people and companies—and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.

Faster Than Normal is a ‘state' of being’ rather than an outcome. Outlier performance requires continuous, compounded improvement. We’re your partner on this journey.

Send us your feedback and help us continuously improve our content and achieve our mission. We want to hear from you and respond to everyone.

Interested in reaching Founders, Operators, and Investors like you? To become a Faster Than Normal partner, apply here.