The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #110
Hi there
I hope you had a great week!
Here are the topics in today's edition:
- Automation Tools for Entrepreneurs: Microsoft Power Automate or n8n?
- Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis: Be Cautious, Then Strike
Please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!
Talk soon,
Tom
TACTICS FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Automation Tools for Entrepreneurs: Microsoft Power Automate or n8n?
Using a simple case study shows that if an automation tool feels difficult, look for an alternative before spending too much time on it.
When I recently automated my month-end tasks, I experimented with both Microsoft Power Automate and n8n.
The experiment was swift and decisive, ending with a win for n8n, even though we use Microsoft 365 at Yonder, the B2B SaaS company I co-founded. Nevertheless, it was right to test both tools in real-life, as the suitability of a tool depends heavily on your use case, your tech literacy, and on your personal style and preference.
Let’s look at some of my learnings.
Power Automate
I started my investigations with Microsoft Power Automate. The reason for this is that it comes with Microsoft 365, and it is tightly integrated into Microsoft 365.
Using Power Automate is great for simple workflows, for example sending an email with an attachment to a recipient list when I drop a new file in a certain folder. I built this workflow to send out credit card statements or investor reports automatically. Already for those simple workflows, the Power Automate UI felt cumbersome and somewhat Microsoft-y.
So far, so good. When I started building more advanced workflows, the cumbersomeness of the Power Automate UI became a limiting factor. Try copying the newest file in a OneDrive folder and rename it in Power Automate. It’s cumbersome because some file operations are handled by OneDrive, while others are handled by SharePoint.
n8n
I’m not the most patient person on Earth, and I’m an engineer. So when something as simple as copying the newest file in a folder is cumbersome with one tool, I quickly look for another tool. I often say, “It can’t be that difficult”, and surprisingly, many things aren’t difficult if you’re using the right tool to get them done.
True to my entrepreneurial DNA of doing more with less, I started using n8n’s community edition running in a Docker container on my local machine. Besides being free, the local version offers the advantage of reducing your dependency on the cloud.
More generally speaking, what I like better in n8n than in Power Automate is the powerful scripting engine for JavaScript and Python code, plus the fact that n8n has preconfigured nodes for many SaaS tools beyond the Microsoft 365 universe. And it has a much cleaner, more intuitive UI than Power Automate, making both building and testing easier and faster.
The price you pay for using n8n is that it’s a more technical tool than Power Automate. And if you’re using it locally, you will have to create API keys and shared secrets to use many cloud tools, including Microsoft 365.
Conclusion
This simple example shows that if an automation tool feels difficult, you should look for an alternative before spending too much time on it.
To be efficient and effective with the myriad of tools out there, I suggest you test widely, iterate quickly, but focus after an initial test phase.
As a final thought, there is no right or wrong choice of tools to focus on. Which tools you choose depends on your use case, your tech savviness, and finally your personal style.
STRATEGIES FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis: Be Cautious, Then Strike
What options do entrepreneurs have in times of crisis? If you want to seize the moment in rough times, you have to be cautious first.
It’s February 28th, 2026. The morning news reports that yet another war has broken out in the Middle East. Israel and the United States have attacked Iran, which started to strike back at the Gulf states immediately.
I sighed.
It’s only the 4th time since we incorporated Yonder, a B2B SaaS company serving the aviation market, that a major crisis has hit.
COVID-19 in 2020.
The war in Ukraine in 2022.
The war in Gaza in 2023.
And now the war in Iran in 2026.
What can entrepreneurs do, and what should entrepreneurs do? As a leader, you need the skill to endure tensions and uncertainty. But being able to endure tensions and uncertainty doesn’t mean doing nothing. So let’s look at the non-options and the options available to leaders and entrepreneurs in our troubled times.
Non-Option 1: Hyperventilate
When bad news hits the screens, most people start panicking. Don’t. The news ticker of your favorite newspaper doesn’t show the whole reality. It shows eye-catching moments that some journalists thought would increase the click rate. In the case of the war in Iran, your favorite newspaper shows all the buildings hit by drones and missiles on both sides. But it doesn’t show all the buildings still intact.
If you base your judgment on the news ticker, you will inevitably start hyperventilating. The best thing to do is avoid the news ticker altogether. It’s enough to read the news once a day.
Non-Option 2: Do Nothing
The opposite of hyperventilating is doing nothing. If bad news doesn’t make you think, something is wrong. As a leader of a business in a global industry, you need to care about the developments in geopolitics, economics, and technology.
In 2008, when the financial crisis hit, Sequoia Capital circulated a slide deck with their portfolio companies named “R.I.P. Good Times.” One of the core messages was that if dire times hit and you do nothing on the cost side, you will be doomed:
Option 3: Be Cautious
So much for what you shouldn’t do. But entrepreneurship is about doing things, not about discussing things.
When adversity strikes, my advice is to act cautiously. This is especially true for the first phase of adversity, when the outlook is still foggy. Let’s return to the war in Iran. A few weeks after it broke out, it’s still unclear (at least to me) which scenario will materialize. Will we see a swift victory of the United States and Israel over Iran? Will the Iranian regime survive and quietly continue working on a nuclear bomb? Or will there be anything in between, possibly sucking other countries into the conflict?
Let’s look at the potential economic consequences of this war. As long as it is unclear if we will slide into a global recession due to the Iran war, I wouldn’t be too ambitious on growth. Call me conservative; maybe I am. Maybe it’s because of my nationality – Swiss business people are more cautious than American business people.
Option 4: Seize the Moment
Look at the Sequoia Capital chart again. If you’re not cautious in troubled times, you’re running the risk that things go south very quickly. On the other hand, if you’re cautious until the fog of war has cleared, you can seize the moment when your competitors who were a little less cautious at the start of the crisis are busy fighting the consequences of their earlier actions.
Always remember, you cannot seize the moment if you’re constantly running behind. That’s an argument for being cautious before you can seize the moment.
Conclusion
Leadership is difficult. It’s difficult because there aren’t any right or wrong answers. And because of that, leaders need the skills to endure tensions and uncertainty. They constantly walk on a tightrope between uncertain outcomes.
And just like on a tightrope, there are two things leaders shouldn’t do: Hyperventilate or do nothing.
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.
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