The Language of Business

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. Purchase now for lifetime access to the book and on-demand video course.

Writing and entrepreneurship have been linked since the beginning of time—literally.

Historians believe writing was developed for record keeping in ancient Sumer (modern day Iraq). In fact, one of the oldest known pieces of writing, called the Tablet of Kushim, is a business receipt:

“29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim.”

Kushim, the person who signed his name at the end, was not a royal figure or prophet. He was an accountant.

Business has evolved dramatically since the times of Kushim, but the importance of writing has not. If anything, writing has become only more important to the modern entrepreneur.

Thanks to software and the internet, nearly all the traditional barriers to startup entry have been torn down. You no longer need to procure expensive hardware, office space, or even a full-time team. You can build your entire company with on-demand tools and freelance contractors. You can even build a technology company without writing a single line of code.

Anyone can start a company today, and more people are doing just that. Competition is fiercer than ever. You are now competing in a global market, and technology is upending every industry. In the twentieth century, three- to five-year plans were the norm. Today, even twelve-month plans risk becoming obsolete.

The way we work has also changed dramatically. We spend less time in the same room with coworkers. Remote work was already growing in popularity, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed this fringe trend to the mainstream.

YCombinator, often considered the world’s top startup accelerator, has had a front-row seat to this dramatic shift. Data from their startup-focused jobs platform illustrates the change:

“In 2019, just 15 percent of small companies and 10 percent of large companies on the platform were building remote organizations. In 2021, that shifted dramatically to 86 percent of small companies and 85 percent of large companies.”

What do these massive shifts in entrepreneurship mean for founders? There are three big takeaways:

1. Writing is now your primary mode of communication, especially if you lead a remote or hybrid team. Even if your team works in-person, there’s a good chance your customers, suppliers, or business partners are dispersed around the globe.

2. Most companies can no longer compete on logistics, distribution, or even technology. Instead, messaging is your most reliable competitive edge: what you do, for whom, and why they should care.

3. You must be more adaptable than ever. You need the flexibility to change your strategy, build new skills, and lead in new ways. Most importantly, you need to build a deeper understanding of yourself. Writing and journaling are the primary tools for this self-development.

This shift to globalized markets and decentralized work is just the beginning. The future is becoming less predictable. What worked five years ago will not work today, and what works today may not work tomorrow.

Are you ready?