Archive - Wildfire Labs Substack

Part 2: Sustaining Performance Culture — The Daily System That Scales

Communication, coaching, failure analysis, and accountability—the daily practices that sustain a true performance culture.

Dec 11 • Todd Gagne

Part 1: From PMF to Scale: The Founder’s Playbook for Performance Culture

Clear goals, single-threaded ownership, and daily rituals that turn ambition into results.

Dec 9 • Todd Gagne

From Zero to Product-Market Fit: Essential Product Management Lessons for Early-Stage Founders

A conversation with Shobhit Chugh, founder of Intentional Product Manager.

Dec 4 • Todd Gagne

From Navy SEAL to Startup: 5 Combat-Tested Principles for Founders

Five Principles from "Wisdom of the Bullfrog" That Work

Dec 2 • Todd Gagne

November 2025

The Social Death Pattern: Why Billion-Dollar Companies Fail When Behaviors Change

How Market Leaders Like Kodak Lost Everything by Ignoring Customer Behavior Shifts (And How Today's Startups Can Avoid Their Fate)

Nov 25 • Todd Gagne

Why Most Founders Approach Fundraising Backwards (And How to Fix It)

How treating fundraising like enterprise sales transforms founder outcomes

Nov 20 • Todd Gagne

The Domain Expert Revolution: Why Industry Veterans Are Building Tomorrow's Billion-Dollar Startups

How deep industry knowledge is replacing technical expertise as startup's unfair advantage

Nov 18 • Todd Gagne

The Two-Bucket Rule: Why Most Funded Startups Still Go Broke

How Top Founders Use the 70/30 Rule to Extend Runway and Drive Growth

Nov 13 • Todd Gagne

When Customer Obsession Backfires: The Netflix vs. BlackBerry Lesson for Founders

How to distinguish temporary customer truths from permanent needs—and build the judgment to scale beyond product‑market fit.

Nov 11 • Todd Gagne

Why Your Startup's Newsletter Strategy Is Wrong (And How to Fix It)

How to Build Genuine Trust Through Your Newsletter When Everyone Else is Just Making Noise

Nov 6 • Todd Gagne

The Flywheel Effect: How Customer Obsession Creates Self-Reinforcing Advantages

How Chewy.com turned condolence flowers into a $10B flywheel that competitors can't replicate

Nov 4 • Todd Gagne

October 2025

The SpaceX Playbook: Startup Lessons from Building Rockets

5 Counter-Intuitive Management Principles from the World’s Most Innovative Aerospace Company

Oct 30 • Todd Gagne

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