The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #108
Hi there
I hope you had a great week!
Here are the topics in today's edition:
- To Cloud, or Not to Cloud, That Is the Question
- Focus Is Key: Is This Still the Case in the Age of AI?
Please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!
Talk soon,
Tom
TACTICS FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
To Cloud, or Not to Cloud, That Is the Question
Before talking about tools and solutions, ask yourself some grey-zone questions about whether to use the cloud or not for a certain use case.
Fifteen years ago, everybody screamed “cloud!” and started moving their applications from on-premise to the cloud.
Today, amid the uncertainty surrounding digital sovereignty, a reverse trend is taking place: People are looking to “bring home” their applications again.
Spoiler: If you’re not a superpower, you can’t kill the cloud entirely. And even if you were, not even superpowers can kill the cloud. At the same time, you still have options to keep your tech stack under control.
In contrast to many other articles, this article is not about solutions and tools. It’s about asking some fundamental questions first, being fully aware that there aren’t any right or wrong answers to those questions.
Just like Hamlet in his monologue on life, death, and suicide, questioning whether it is nobler to endure life’s pain or to end it.
Question 1: Do You Really Need 24/7 Availability?
The cloud is always available. Cloud applications operate from data centers that proudly boast availabilities of 99.9% and more. That’s great, and it’s needed for certain use cases.
But think of your own use case: Do you really need 24/7 availability? Speaking for myself, I’m getting 6+ hours of sleep each day. And when I’m done with work for the day, sitting on the couch with my wife and drinking a glass of wine, I don’t need push notifications from a far-flung cloud server.
Question 2: Do You Really Need Global Availability?
Thanks to the internet, cloud applications are available globally (that is, almost globally, with the exceptions of some countries that block their citizens’ access to certain internet services). That’s great, as they allow you to access your data from anywhere. That is, as long as the cloud application provider grants you access. We took this for granted in the peaceful, quiet years, but it no longer is amid all those geopolitical turbulences we’ve been experiencing recently.
Even if you still have global access to your cloud data, think of your own use case again: Do you really need global availability? Or is it enough to access your data from your laptop and carry your laptop with you?
Even if you think about backups now, there are plenty of good options to back up your data on your laptop without relying on a cloud service. And by the way, do you regularly back up all your cloud data in case your always-on cloud should suddenly become unavailable?
Question 3: Do You Really Need Access from Your Phone?
Let’s take the availability argument one step further. I would argue that global availability isn’t the killer argument for the cloud for most people, but availability from your mobile phone is. Isn’t it convenient to check your emails at the bus stop, manage the charging level of your electric vehicle during a boring online meeting, or check the webcams in your favorite holiday destination from the toilet seat?
And here comes the inconvenient question again: Do you really need to access every single application from your mobile phone? Do you want to sacrifice full control over your data for apparent convenience, even if many cloud applications are way too complex to be useful on a 5-inch screen?
Conclusion: A Prototype Solution
To be clear, I’m not advocating to stop using Microsoft 365 or other widespread cloud services needed to collaborate efficiently. But I invite you to think closely about which services you really need in the cloud, and which services you could also run locally to avoid full dependency on the cloud.
In the old days, office workers would shut down their computers at the end of their workdays, only to restart them the next morning. It was completely normal that you wouldn’t reply to work email late at night, or from the bus during your morning commute.
Nowadays, people manage their solar batteries through their phones using a cloud application, not thinking about what would happen to their energy system if that cloud service became unavailable, or their internet connectivity were impaired. They also use cloud automation tools to automate their month-end tasks that are due only once per month.
Isn’t there a better way?
I’d argue that there is. There are plenty of possibilities to run software locally on your computer. Speaking for myself, I use Docker to run some tools that were originally designed for the cloud on my local machine. I even run a small AI model locally.
Does this solve all cloud dependencies? No, it doesn’t, and it’s not intended to do so. But it keeps some sensitive data under my full control, and it allows me to shut down my computer when I’m done with my work — just like in the good old days.
STRATEGIES FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Focus Is Key: Is This Still the Case in the Age of AI?
Generations of entrepreneurs were taught that focus is key. While this is still valid for execution and operations, what about strategy?
Focus is key. That’s what entrepreneurs have been taught over decades. Don’t venture into too many verticals too early. Say no to some feature requests to keep your product simple. Refrain from talking to interested investors if you’re not looking to fundraise in the next 6-12 months.
In private life, advice looked similar. Stick to your craft. Don’t start a side hustle; focus on your main job.
Focus as a recipe for success is both current and outdated at the same time. Let’s look into that apparent contradiction.
The Arguments for Focus
Focus is a key instrument to work efficiently – nobody can do two things at once. When you pick up a task, it pays to finish it undisturbed before starting the next. Switching between tasks incurs costs in mental energy, time, and context. Furthermore, distractions such as social media divert focus, energy, and time from the task.
Focus is also great when your team has to reach a project milestone on time. Even when a project consists of multiple tasks, some tasks are more important than others: Those that define the critical path of a project.
The Arguments against Focus
Let’s switch sides. For many years, I’ve been involved in several activities besides my job as the Founder & CEO of Yonder, a B2B SaaS company. I’ve served on school boards as a volunteer, I’m an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, and I teach leadership at a local university.
You might argue that I’d better place all my bets on my B2B SaaS company and devote every waking minute of my life to this endeavor. I will argue that cross-pollination from various activities is beneficial for any company. Leading a team of engineers might benefit from my leadership experience in the Armed Forces, the theoretical underpinnings of my university activites, and the practical experience from working with teachers in schools.
If you’re not convinced by my arguments, let’s look at financial investors. At what moment in time did any investor place all their bets on one single asset? Diversification has been key to any successful portfolio for ages.
One more thing. Have you ever thought about the impact on artificial intelligence on the focus discussion? Contemporary large language models are trained on all the information available on the internet. Depending on your task and on the chosen model, their performance is par or even better than human performance. Claude Code is better at coding than many junior developers. ChatGPT can summarize a 200-page report in a PowerPoint presentation better and faster than any business analyst could.
But what happens when you’re talking to the AI model of your choice and you get stuck? You would typically repeat the same instructions in the prompt five times, then say the model is hallucinating. How can you get out of this trap? By un-focusing. When I get stuck in a chat with an AI model, my secret weapon in the prompt field is this: “Let’s try a different approach.” That’s where my un-focused experience in various domains comes in. In contrast to a super-focused human or an AI model, I’m able to connect the dots between different domains and experiences and use them to narrow down a hold-up in a chat on a very focused topic. In the age of AI, this is the key advantage of humans with wide experience.
Conclusion
To be clear, I’m not against focusing. Focusing is great in execution and operations, and helps us to work efficiently on a given task.
However, focus can block the right strategy in a rapidly-changing world. Diversifying your activities and experience can help you choose to work on the right things: Efficiency is great, but never forget effectivity.
About Me
Growing a company in uncertain times is like running a marathon — it demands grit, strategy, and resilience.
As a tech entrepreneur, active reserve officer, and father of three, I share practical insights and write about entrepreneurship, leadership, and crisis management — no AI bullshit, no promos, just my thoughts in plain text.
When I’m not solving problems, I recharge and find inspiration in the breathtaking mountains around Zermatt.
Do you like this perspective? Here is how you can get more:
📌 Read all my articles in one place — without paywall, without popups.
📌 Go deeper with my eBooks — practical guides for tough times.
Don’t like any of these options? You can also tip me for my writing.
