The Right Direction
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
When a company is successful, it's like a train gathering momentum. The train starts rolling down the tracks because of initial energy—from the founders vision, funding, or product-market fit. Once moving, physics takes over. A heavy train in motion wants to stay in motion.
What many people miss when they join these successful companies is the distinction between the train's momentum and their own contribution. They step aboard a fast-moving train, feel the rush of speed, and mistake it for their own running pace.
This confusion is natural. When you're inside a successful company, surrounded by smart people and growth metrics, it's easy to attribute the success to the collective brilliance of the current team. But much of what propels large successful companies forward is simply inertia: established distribution channels, brand recognition, existing customer relationships, network effects.
I've noticed an interesting pattern among employees at successful companies. Some understand they're on a moving train and ask themselves, "How can I add to this momentum?" Others believe they're the ones pulling the train, or worse, they actively create friction.
The question isn't whether you're important. The question is whether you're pushing in the right direction, and with how much force.
Consider what happens when hundreds or thousands of employees are pushing. Some push forward, adding to the momentum. Some push sideways, causing the train to waste energy fighting to stay on track. Some push backward, creating drag. And some don't push at all—they're just along for the ride, enjoying the perks.
What makes this dynamic particularly frustrating is when employees at these companies don't even use the products they're building. This is a powerful signal. If you work at a company whose product you could use but don't, you're essentially saying one of two things: either you don't believe in the product's value, or you're not invested enough to experience it as your customers do.
If you're not using the product you're helping to build—a product that's presumably valuable enough that people pay for it—then why are you there? For the free lunches? The prestigious name on your resume? The stock options?
The uncomfortable truth is that some employees at successful companies aren't contributing meaningfully to the company's momentum. They might be working hard, but they're not pushing in useful directions. They might even be creating drag without realising it—by focusing on internal politics, optimising for their own visibility, or pursuing projects that don't push in right direction.
The most valuable employees understand the company's momentum and find ways to amplify it. They don't need to be founders or executives to have impact. They just need to push consistently in the right direction—sometimes by launching new initiatives that leverage the company's existing advantages, sometimes by reducing friction in existing processes, sometimes by helping others push more effectively.
What matters isn't your title or even your individual brilliance. What matters is the impulse you create: its direction, magnitude, and consistency. Are you adding to the momentum, or are you dead weight? Are you pushing forward, or are you creating drag?
And if you're not even using the product you're helping to build, it's worth asking yourself: why the hell are you there?