The Distance Between You and The Work

Welcome to Signal // Noise — the newsletter read by CEOs, execs, and scrappy builders every Thursday. Each week, you’ll get a feel for what I’m listening to, one deep dive, and three links worth your time. Zero bullshit.

While I Was Writing Today’s Signal // Noise:

From sound to signal—let’s get this baby rolling with what’s on my mind…

// The Signal

Hierarchy Is a Slow Death

Last year I was working with an advisor, and he told me something that was kind of annoying, but turned out to be absolutely right:

“There are too many layers for a company your size. You’ve got to flatten the org chart - asap”.

For context, I was the CEO of a 2-year old startup, about 18 full-timers, we had hockey-sticked like a motha, we were on our way to $10m ARR, and the team (and product) were mostly doing great.

I felt like we were scaling.

And I’d read all the usual advice for founders & CEOs:

1. Delegate more.

2. Work on the business, not in it.

3. Scale yourself through others.

So that’s what I did: We hired talented peeps. Some owned product, others handled ops, customer service, growth.

And they mostly reported to me.

But what happens when you grow and have success? Then those people need support—so we hired, gave them people, and those people reported to my directs.

Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

I won’t say it happens unintentionally, but you do it so things don’t break and so customers aren’t frustrated and so the revenue chart goes up & to the right.

But the next thing I knew, one core area of the biz was three layers beneath me.

I remember exactly what was happening. We were having issues in that area—and by the time I could get my report to talk to their report, who then had to talk to the customer to get feedback, and then all that information had to find its way back to me… shit, a week had gone by. The damage was done.

Add in the occasional vacation, sick day, or missed email—and suddenly, I was the CEO, sitting, trying to be patient, but really, in anguish.

By the time problems reached me, they were softened. Delayed. Filtered. I wasn’t hearing raw feedback—I was hearing the whisper-down-the-lane version. And the shit i wanted to get done? They took forever to implement because they had to go one… by one… by one.

The bottom of the org was close to the action. The top was making decisions. And the middle was stuck translating.

And as someone who (a) hates hierarchy, (b) hates bureaucracy, and (c) really hates meetings—I was pissed off at myself.

So I jumped on it. Started to flatten the shit out of that org. My directs could have direct reports, but that was it—for a company of our size.

And I made sure the whole team—every single person—stayed close AF to the customer.

Before I left, I probably had 8 or 9 direct reports. Yeah, it was a lot. But I’d trade a few extra 1:1s any day for fewer layers between me and the truth.

That advisor was right:

If you’re running a sub-$20M business, ask yourself:

• How many layers are between you and your users?

• How long does it take for truth to reach you?

• How many people are translating, softening, or sitting on it?

You don’t always need more people for more leverage; early-on, the more you can shrink the gap between action & insight, the better you are for it.

👀 A few Jawns to Check Out

📕 Great post | Fullstory’s Big Move: Going Enterprise | My boy Rob Litterst unpacks how SaaS company Fullstory went from VSB to SMB to enterprise without bloating the product or losing their edge. Smart lessons on packaging, positioning, and staying sharp as you go upmarket. Check it Out Here.

🔥 Hot take | Mental health is the next software upgrade | The next mental health revolution ain’t gonna be meds, yoga, or Wim Hof—it’s gonna come from brain tech. Neural implants, neurofeedback, and AI-enhanced cognition are turning our inner world into the next great software frontier. Reid Hoffman just backed Sanmai with a $12m round. VCs are frothing, obvs. This is quickly becoming one of the hottest places to park capital—and it’s just getting started. [gated] Check It Out Here.

💭 Mind Matter | Father Figures | On Father’s Day, I thought about my dad—the one who taught me to “come out of the gate strong,” “work before play,” and that “life throws curveballs.” Man was I lucky as shit to have a great Dad. But it’s crazy how rare that has become in America - more of a social class luxury than anything. It’s omnipresent in middle - to - upper class, but devestatingly absent elsewhere. Why is it such a privelege to have a Dad? Rob Henderson breaks it down with his post, A Tax On Life. Check It Out Here.

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Have a good weekend, you animals.

Love yous.

Jordan