Steffen and I have never really liked talking too much about ourselves. But sometimes we have to. Reflecting on it, we probably both learned from an early age that results matter much more than talk. Writing something smart on a website (or social media) isn’t what matters. Results matter.

“Writing something smart on a website (or social media) isn't what matters. Results matter.”

I grew up in a dojo and learned how to fight from a young age. Martial arts (whether it’s Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling or Boxing) at higher levels teaches you many life lessons that I think everyone ambitious will need to learn sooner or later in life. Fighting humbles you. It teaches you that the fight you have in front of you is often more internal than external, it teaches you that the loud competitor is not the one to worry about and it teaches you that time in the dojo is what builds winners.Steffen grew up playing competitive water ball.In these arenas, you don’t win by talking - you win by doing.

“Fighting humbles you.”

I often tell our managers that your team is a product of you. The good and the bad. If it doesn’t work, then you are the problem. If the results are weak or your people don’t know what they’re doing, then you should look in the mirror and you’ll find the problem.And similarly, I am sure that mine and Steffen´s personal backgrounds influence what kind of organization and culture we have at seventhings.At seventhings, we’ve never been noisy. We spent our first five years bootstrapped. No marketing, no sales: full focus on product and engineering. We kept our head down, knowing that if you want to build a high-rise, then you need to spend a lot of time building solid foundations.Since building seventhings on someone else's platform was never an option (how is that ambitious?), we knew that building a truly next generation AMS would be insanely difficult.So we went back to what came natural: be bold, be fearless, think long-term and spend time in the dojo perfecting the craft.

“No marketing, no sales: full focus on product and engineering.”

seventhings is a bigger organization today. We serve thousands of customers around the world and employ a lot of people.We’re good at building products and we’re good at selling our products. We’re also very good at managing the finances of our business - we’ve been cash flow positive, profitable and grown quickly since we started.The management style at seventhings is simple - everyone is an individual contributor, so leaders do before they delegate. We don’t believe in spectators or armchair specialists. Our leaders lead from the front. They have a leadership role at seventhings because they know how to get the job done. They exist to multiply their teams output, not delegate or coordinate. Sometimes, they’ve got to step up and be the team’s strongest individual contributor; other times, they’ve got to be head coach.

“Everyone is an individual contributor, so leaders do before they delegate.”

At seventhings, we know that our success comes from making better-than-average decisions over a very long time-horizon. It’s not the feature, the deal we won or the campaign. Waking up every morning, making marginally better decisions compounds into dramatically better results.We’re relentless in our pursuit.