# Begin with the End in Mind 14 minutes From Holloway Edition 1.0.0 Updated August 14, 2024 _Great Founders Write_ You’re reading an excerpt of _Great Founders Write_, by Ben Putano, writer, entrepreneur, and book publisher. He’s the founder of Damn Gravity Media, a publishing house that inspires and educates tomorrow’s great founders. ### How Jeff Bezos Created a Culture of Long-Term Thinking “What the _hell_ is the point of this?” We’ve all read blog posts, landing pages, or long-winded emails that have made us ask this question. This, my friends, is a failure to write with purpose. Writing with purpose means beginning with the end in mind. It’s having a clear intention for both yourself and the reader. Few entrepreneurs have demonstrated such clear, purpose-driven writing as Jeff Bezos. For nearly twenty years, Jeff Bezos, founder and former CEO of Amazon, broke the cardinal rule of publicly traded companies: he didn’t prioritize shareholder returns. Amazon was a public company for nearly five years before it recorded a cent of profit: literally $0.01 per share in the final quarter of 2001. Despite making billions in revenue, it took until 2003—nine years after its founding—for Amazon to post a profitable year. But Bezos proved them all wrong. How? By beginning with the end in mind. Amazon’s success is not only a case study in disruptive entrepreneurship, but in purpose-driven writing. Bezos kept investors laser-focused on his long-term strategy: gain market leadership through low prices and exceptional customer service. Unlike Buffett, who was famous for his clear and concise writing, Bezos sometimes rambled in his annual letters. For example, Amazon’s 2006 shareholder letter read more like a term paper. After seven hundred words of tech jargon, Bezos acknowledged, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m sharing all this.” Despite his long-windedness, Bezos never let investors forget about Amazon’s end goal. They weren’t optimizing for short-term profits, but long-term market leadership. In Q4 of 2017, Amazon posted $1.86 billion in profit, more than the company made in the previous fourteen years _combined_. In 2021, Amazon’s profits soared to over $33 billion—more than Walmart and eBay together. Bezos is famous for his rallying cry, “Today is still Day 1.” It’s a reminder to keep building and striving as if you were just getting started. But Bezos was just as focused on his end goal—the grand purpose behind Amazon’s strategy. ### Writing with No Rudder Nothing great is built alone. The best founders are able to rally support around their vision and purpose. A powerful _why_ is one of the strongest forces behind a successful startup. But we often forget to identify an equally clear vision and purpose for our writing. We start writing without really knowing what we’re trying to say. Josh Bernoff, author of the excellent book _Writing Without Bullshit_, calculated that poor writing costs American businesses $396 billion _every year_. In his survey of workers who write as part of their jobs, Bernoff identified the main concerns they have with bad writing: 1. Too long 2. Poorly organized 3. Unclear 4. Too much jargon 5. Not precise enough 6. Not direct enough These bad writing habits all have the same root cause: writing without a clear purpose. When we don’t know what to say, we ramble. Better writing begins with the end in mind. ### Why Are You Writing This? Start every piece of writing by asking yourself, “Why am I writing this?” Here are other useful variations of the question: - What am I really trying to say here? - What action do I want my reader to take? - What emotion do I want my reader to feel? You can also find the purpose of your writing through freewriting. Just start writing to see where it goes. But here’s where most founders go wrong: they fail to edit their first draft and send or publish it as is. Writing with purpose isn’t complicated, but it does take a few deliberate moments of thought before you share your work with others. ### Defining a Powerful Purpose: Write Like a Developer When you need to define a deep, emotional purpose for your writing, don’t turn to visionary founders for inspiration. Talk to your software development team. Here’s the standard template for a product user story: As a **[specific user]**, I want to **[action]** so that **[definition of success] + [emotional and rational benefits]**. For example: As a **shift manager** [user], I want to **see the time-off requests of all my employees at a glance** [action] so that **I can quickly create next week’s work schedule** [success] **without the stress and frustration of flipping back-and-forth between emails** [benefits]. When developing your powerful purpose, details matter. Get specific with your reader’s actions, benefits, and definition of success. Spend more time than you think you need to define your purpose. Then watch your writing flow with energy and focus. Founders write for many reasons, each of which requires a different approach. In the next few chapters, we’ll explore three specific purposes: - Writing to inform - Writing to sell - Writing to teach and train Let’s get into it.