Essay · 4 min read

Working In the Business vs On the Business

David Cummings · David Cummings on Startups Free Beginner

The cleanest founder-written explainer of the E-Myth distinction, from a repeat founder (Pardot, exited to ExactTarget) rather than a consultant. It names the trap directly, cites Paul Graham's Maker vs Manager schedule as the reason the switch is so hard, and lands on a concrete number: once the business is stable, spend at least 10 percent of your time on the business. Short enough to read in one sitting and set your weekly block against.

  • Early on almost all your time is correctly 'in the business'; the failure is never making the deliberate shift as you grow
  • In vs on maps to Paul Graham's maker vs manager schedules, which is why context-switching between the two in one day is so draining
  • Once you have a working business, hold at least 10 percent of your week for on-the-business work: pricing, hiring plan, positioning, which bets to kill
Open on davidcummings.org ↗

The question it answers

  1. How much time should I spend on the business versus in the business, and how do I even tell the difference?

Read with it

  1. Trenchard has watched a lot of founders run their calendars, and his core move is the one that makes buffer-based planning... First Round Review Article · 15 min read 70% of Time Could Be Used Better: How the Best CEOs Get the Most Out of Every Day Bill Trenchard
  2. This is the E-Myth idea made measurable: Levels CEO Sam Corcos logged 7,922 hours across two years into ten categories and... First Round Review Article · 18 min read An Exact Breakdown of How One CEO Spent His First Two Years of Company-Building Sam Corcos (as told to First Round Review)
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