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The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #97

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Hi there

I hope you had a great week!

Here are the topics in today's edition:

• What Is the Hard Side, and How Can You Win It Over to Scale Your Product?
• Farewell Events: Modesty or One Last Show Time? My Choice Is Clear

Please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!

Talk soon,
Tom

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LEADERSHIP FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS

What Is the Hard Side, and How Can You Win It Over to Scale Your Product?

To scale your product, you need to win over the hard side: That’s the minority of users who create disproportionate value to your product.

One of my favorite books, “The Cold Start Problem” by Andrew Chen, explains how to grow a product’s user base, using examples from well-known companies such as Slack, Tinder, Uber, Wikipedia, and more.

Growing users is all about creating network effects. To understand what a network effect is, consider the telephone: The value of the telephone system increases exponentially with the number of users joining the network. It’s the same for all SaaS products that require user interactions.

In this article, I will discuss one of the key concepts needed to succeed in the early stage of a networked product: The hard side.

What Is The Hard Side?

In every network, there is a minority of users that create disproportionate value and, as a result, have disproportionate power.

This is the hard side of your network. They do more work and contribute more to your network, but are much harder to acquire and retain.

An Example: Wikipedia

Let’s make this more tangible by using an example. Because just like Yonder, the B2B SaaS company I co-founded, Wikipedia is a product that focuses on digital content, I am using Wikipedia as an example.

Did you know that Wikipedia consists of more than 55 million articles? And did you know that out of those hundreds of millions of users, there are only about 100,000 active contributors a month? And when you look at the small group of writers who make 100+ edits a month, it’s just about 4,000 people.

Those 4,000 people form the hard side.

Wikipedia is no exception. The metrics look similar for Uber, YouTube, and many other products.

Users on the hard side put in more effort into a networked product than regular users. As a consequence, they have more complex workflows and higher expectations regarding features. They will also try competitive products to compare your product against others.

These are the reasons the hard side is difficult to engage and retain.

What Can You Do?

Engaging the hard side works differently for B2B and B2C products. For my entire career, I have been involved with B2B products, so I will only speak about this product category.

At our scale, there is a very easy thing you can do to engage and retain the hard side: Talk to those people regularly. In this way, you will learn more about their workflows, their roadblocks, and their frustrations. By talking to them, you will learn what features they would like to see in your product. And by not just talking to one hard side user but to many, you will start to see patterns, helping you to prioritize your product roadmap.

Is it all that easy?

Yes and no. Yes, because talking to people is a good idea in almost any situation. No, because many people are still afraid to pick up the phone and talk to people.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were products such as Wikipedia, Uber, or YouTube. But somebody started at some point to take the hard side seriously. And most probably, this started with talking to the first few power users.

What are you waiting for? Go pick up the phone and call one of your power users.

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LIFE HACKS FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS

Farewell Events: Modesty or One Last Show Time? My Choice Is Clear

Observations from 4 different farewell events in the Swiss Armed Forces – the commonality is modesty and camaraderie. Spot the side notes.

The end of the year is the time of farewell events. Those who change jobs or retire see their colleagues for the last time, and their superiors thank them for all their work.

If you lead a small team, farewell events might be a small thing. If you’re a C-Suite executive or a public figure, they might be big and prestigious — or not.

As an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, I went to quite a few farewell events this year, for two reasons: First, I changed functions within the Swiss Armed Forces myself. And second, a leadership transition at the very top of the Swiss Armed Forces took place.

Having attended two farewell events due to my own transition, and two events of top generals leaving the service, let’s look at some cultural elements of such events.

Modesty

I admit it, I’m a simple mind. I’m a countryside kid, happy with little. That’s why I always felt at home in the Swiss Armed Forces — they are built on modesty and camaraderie.

Military ceremonies in our country are simple and modest, too. The passing of the flag and the national anthem are the formal parts, and the thank-you speeches leave room for personality. Presents — if given at all — are usually small and symbolic. That was the case for my own farewell event, and it was the case for the farewell events of the top generals leaving the service at the end of the year.

What I truly appreciated were the personal words in the thank-you speeches. No matter if the chief of defense or a regular active reserve officer was to depart, all the speeches I heard this year went beyond protocol and empty phrases.

That’s what camaraderie looks like. Even if you’re the minister of defence and you have to say goodbye to a top general, you treat him like a comrade. Even if you’re the commander of a division and you speak to a rank-and-file active reserve officer who leaves the service after many years, your words are personal and heartfelt.

Ego Derailments

It would be too good to be true if there weren’t any derailed egos in the rank and file of the Swiss Armed Forces. Alas, derailed egos aren’t a problem of the Swiss Armed Forces; unfortunately, it happens in almost all large organizations.

Back to the Swiss Armed Forces. How did some egos shimmer through in the farewell events I described above?

In one case, an inappropriate, extravagant present was given. In another case, a covert afterparty was organized — although treated as a secret, everybody knew it would take place.

Conclusion

Although the ego derailments described above are negligible in a wider context, they left a hollow aftertaste.

After many years in a leadership position, why do you want your ego to shine one last time on the finish line? Why not finish on a high note, with everybody keeping you in the best of their memories?

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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.

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