Discoveries #10 | The Power of Momentum
Welcome to Edition 10 of Discoveries. Each week, I share inspiration on design, product building, and what's next.
The Power of Momentum
During the July 4th holiday this week, I took a much needed day off and found myself reflecting on the last five years of building BoomPop.
Building BoomPop has no question been the hardest thing I’ve done in my life — there have been moments of pure exhilaration and stretches that felt like uphill battles in the dark. But through it all, one thing consistently moved the needle more than anything else: momentum.
If you’ve ever tried to build something hard, you know this truth in your bones. Momentum is everything. It attracts great talent. It pulls in capital. It lifts morale when things get tough. It’s the signal that cuts through all the noise.
One of my favorite books, The Score Takes Care of Itself, is basically a love letter to momentum.
If you don’t know the story: Bill Campbell took over as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers when they were the worst team in the NFL. (Not “struggling.” Not “rebuilding.” Just… bad.)
And what did he do first?
Not give a rousing speech about how they need to win more games. Not redraw offensive strategies. He told his players to tie their shoes properly.
Yes, literally. He drilled the importance of tying their shoes — perfectly. He wrote a three-page memo on how the office manager should answer the phone. He asked his coaches to dress like they were interviewing for the job every single day.
Why? Because every detail mattered. And if they could get those right — the small, mundane, overlooked things — bigger wins would follow.
Every day, he told his team: just get 1% better. Build momentum.
Twenty-one months later, they were Super Bowl champions. Over the next decade, they became one of the most dominant teams in NFL history.
Campbell understood what many leaders miss: momentum isn’t magic. It’s a discipline. It’s earned through daily consistency, tiny improvements, and relentless attention to the seemingly small stuff.
And that applies to startups just as much as sports teams.
So how do you build momentum?
Start small. Stack micro wins. They add up fast:
- Ship a bit more code than yesterday
- Nudge the conversion rate upward
- Close a few extra tickets
- Watch NPS slowly tick in the right direction
Celebrate it. Reinforce it. Repeat tomorrow.
Because momentum > tenure.
Momentum > headcount.
Momentum > hype.
And that “1% better every day” mantra? It’s not just motivational wallpaper — it’s how you end up 37x better over the course of a year. (Yes, the math checks out.)
If you’re ever thinking about joining a new company, here’s my honest advice:
Pick the one with momentum. Every time.
Product Inspiration
The Dream Recorder is a small AI-powered device by Dutch studio Modem—you just roll over in the morning, mumble whatever fragments you can recall, and it transforms them into grainy, dreamlike video clips.
They somehow capture the exact feeling of a dream: hazy, disjointed, and strangely beautiful. It’s a little eerie, but kind of magical too.
What I'm Reading
🔗 The Disapproval of the Crowd
Some takeaways:
- Conformity suffocates true innovation. Too many startups follow imitation over originality—copying what “worked” before rather than creating something genuinely new.
- Enduring criticism is a founder’s superpower. The ability to hold an unpopular view and keep building in the face of it separates real leaders from trend followers.
- The most original ideas often begin as unpopular. Truly new ideas don’t emerge from consensus—they're often met with resistance or mockery at first.
Other Finds
Have a great week,
Blake
P.S. I'm always looking for feedback. Reply and let me know what you think! (I reply to every email)
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