After a four year hiatus, Lost and Founder is back. On 3rd February 2026, GoSquared celebrated 20 years in business. Here are 8 lessons I have been meaning to share for over four years: on team, leadership, and focus.

Earlier this week when we celebrated 20 years of GoSquared, I thought it was the perfect excuse to resurrect the Lost and Founder podcast and share some of the lessons I never got a chance to since our last show — over four years ago.

In this episode I share a few lessons I have learned the hard way, from team building, to leadership, to focus. And a few inspiring quotes are thrown in for good measure!

On team:

1. Never underestimate what a small group of focused, aligned, motivated people can do.

2. Celebrate the small wins. Have fun along the way.

3. Most meetings don’t need to happen.

4. Knowing yourself is a superpower.

On business and leadership:

1. Simplicity is a war.

2. If you think you’re repeating yourself too much, repeat some more.

3. Focus is impossibly hard, but without it you’re doomed.

4. Just do it.

Links and further reading

• Timeline of GoSquared over 20 years
• Our update on GoSquared after 20 years in business

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. You can also find me at:

• ✍️ https://www.jamesgill.co
• 🍃 https://ecosend.io
• 📊 https://www.gosquared.com

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye

Podcast hosting: Transistor

Recently when GoSquared turned 16 years old (or young?) we shared a blog post with 16 lessons from those 16 years. We received a ton of great feedback on the post, so I thought it’d be good to share some of those lessons on the show and speak about them a little more.

Here are the first 8 of the 16 lessons we’ve learned along the way so far...

On ideas and building:

1. Build something people want.
2. Share early, share often.
3. Constraints breed creativity — embrace them
4. The details are not the details, they make the product

On customers:

1. Use your own product. Be your own customer
2. Charge the trust battery
3. Your customers are smart — treat them accordingly
4. Treat each customer as unique, but scale your process

Links and further reading

• Timeline of GoSquared over 16 years
• The complete blog post of our 16 lessons from 16 years
• Ideas are fragile
• Trust battery

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesjgill

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye

Podcast hosting: Transistor

I always find January a tough month — all the fun and excitement of Christmas and new years is over, the weather is awful, it’s dark outside, and to top it all off we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic.

But fear not, there’s a world of opportunity out there! I’m spending some time at the start of January to reflect on 2021. I’m not setting myself huge audacious goals because I don’t know what the future holds, and I know the chances of success are low unless I use my previous experience to inform my future actions.

Don’t get caught up in all the “new year, new you” nonsense — be careful what you read on social media! Instead, look at yourself, spend time reflecting on your own successes and where things could have gone better, and use that to channel your next steps as you enter the new year.

Actions / take aways

• Go easy on yourself — the last two years have been hard on all of us.
• It’s never too late to reflect — if you haven’t already, you still have time to reflect on 2021.
• You don’t have to make new years resolutions — instead get clearer on your values.
• If you are clear on your values, channel your thinking around small habits you can adopt day by day rather than setting huge unwieldy goals.
• Give yourself something to look forward to at the end of January — like a trip to somewhere you like, a gift to yourself, or some other treat.

Thanks, and see you next time!

P.S. I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/jamesjgill

Music: Jakarta by Bonsaye

Podcast hosting: Transistor