EPISODE 55

Kevin and Jason tackle the three things every founder pretends they have under control: sleep, the first 90 days of taking over a company, and the say-no muscle. Kevin explains why sleep is the ultimate performance enhancing drug, then unpacks his contrarian take on the first 90 days — by week three you better have an opinion or people start writing you off. He walks through his recent takeover of Search Engine Journal, including the five-question email that stack-ranked his team, the day-zero move to close every credit card and reissue them through Mercury with a named human owner, and the surprise that 15-20% of expenses simply never came back. They close on the say-no muscle, the 14-hour flight test for shutting work off, and how AI tools are creating new leverage to delegate the work you'd otherwise feel obligated to do yourself.

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Cold open: Sleep is the ultimate PED

00:51 – Welcome and the three topics

01:00 – The founder sleep crisis

03:52 – Topic two: Taking over a new company

04:00 – Why consultants get more leverage than FTEs

07:09 – Getting acquired and the listening tour

09:02 – The week three framework (not day 90)

12:13 – Search Engine Journal takeover and the five-question email

16:03 – Closing every credit card on day zero

20:17 – Topic three: Building the say-no muscle

24:31 – The 14-hour flight test

26:25 – Five key takeaways

LINKS

Sleep masks Kevin recommends

Alaska Bear • WAOW

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