The Journey is your builder’s reference library. Crack open the full archive here → https://6catalysts.substack.com/archive
The year, it’s winding down. Frantic wrap-ups to make the quarter, family stuff, holiday parties, snow (here in Canada), and did I mention… snow?
I’ll be taking a hiatus from weekly features through to the week of January 12th, but man am I excited for what’s coming next year!
Here’s what’s in the pipeline :
An interview with Anita Bruinsma, founder of Clarity Personal Finance (and one of my favourite conversations to date)
An interview with Andrew Morehead, Global Standards Manager at GS1 US.
A new weekly feature with a top-secret collaborator… and let’s just say that it’ll be roasty.
Going Live, for the First Time
Shout out to Khadejah J, who graciously invited me to guest on her 12 Days of Expert Conversations // Storymas feature on her Substack about crafting a highly-engaging personal narrative for professionals.
Me and my potty mouth might have forgotten for a split second at the very end that we were live. Oooooops. Check out the replay here :
In closing, I’ll leave you with a remixed version of a Christmas classic. See you in 2026.
’Twas the Close of Q4 (A Builder’s Christmas Tale)
’Twas the close of Q4, and all through the firm,
The dashboards were pulsing with data to affirm.
The forecasts were polished, the targets aligned,
With visions of next-gen growth fresh in each mind.
Slack pings were silenced, Zoom links all expired,
Decks had been pitched and the clients inspired.
The coffee mugs sat in the sink with a clink,
As founders and builders all paused just to think—
When out on the feed there arose such a thread,
I sprang from my desk to see what had been said.
Away to the Substack I flew like a flash,
Clicked through the CTA, burned through the cache.
The glow of a newsletter fresh from the press,
Gave clarity, courage, and banished the stress.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But frameworks and tools for a sharper new year.
With a founder so lively, so nimble, so slick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Click—
More agile than VCs, with pivots they came,
And they whistled, and rallied, and called us by name :
“Now Operators! Strategists! Hackers and Hustlers!
Now Branders and Coders and DTC Musclers!
To the top of the stack! Let no blocker stall!
Now dash away! Scale away! Ship it all!”
As dry powder flies when the cap table’s tight,
When met with new markets to enter by night,
So up to the whiteboard the visions they flew,
With a sleigh full of insights, and Saint Click too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the Slack,
The quiet ping-pong of ideas coming back.
As I leaned in to learn, and was turning around,
Down the funnel Saint Click came with a bound.
‘Twas dressed in plain denim, from laptop to shoe,
With a founder’s old hoodie, and AirPods in too.
A bundle of roadmaps they’d slung on their back,
And they looked like a builder just opening a pack.
Their eyes—how they twinkled! Their pitch—how compelling!
Their stack was all tight, and their copy was selling!
Their drole little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And their backlog was tidy, in Monday’s dark mode.
The stump of a stylus they held in their hand,
And the notes that they scribbled were perfectly planned.
They had sharp founder energy and no time to nap,
With a glimmer in their eye and a Gantt in their lap.
They spoke not a word, but went straight to the task,
Reviewing our roadmap and questions we’d ask.
And laying a finger aside of their screen,
They nodded and vanished like a ghost in the machine.
They sprang to their inbox, to their team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the tail of a missile.
But I heard them exclaim, as they ghostwrote the story—
“Happy Holidays, Builders—now go ship some glory!”
If today’s post hit on a challenge you’re dealing with, I’m available for project-based work and ongoing advisory. Book a call and we’ll pressure-test what you’re building : https://calendar.app.google/DKBuFJSjry6NBDeb9.
Feedback
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