Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

I spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms at the end of last year (everything's fine now). But it taught me some hard lessons about productivity and leadership I hadn't seen in books or conferences.

Most productivity advice falls apart the moment real chaos hits. But as it turns out, a crisis is one hell of a teacher.

Here's how I learned to thrive in it 👇

📒 DEEP DIVE

How to Build a Business That Survives Chaos

3 ER visits in 15 days taught me more than most founders learn in a year. Why? Because crisis strips away everything except what matters.

Six days before Christmas, my wife needed emergency surgery. It was total chaos, hitting with no warning and no time to prepare.

But here's what most people miss about a crisis: It's not about if it'll happen—it's about what you do when it does.

The timing couldn't have been worse. 

We got her home on Christmas Eve, and we were lucky to live just three blocks from the hospital. But managing kids, work, and multiple emergency room visits creates the kind of pressure that reveals exactly what you're made of—and what your business is made of.

These moments teach you 2 things fast:

1. How well you personally handle extreme pressure

2. How well you've built your business to run without you

The Hospital Room Effect

Something weird happens when you're sitting in a dark hospital room at 2am: You find perfect focus.

Not because you're trying to be superhuman. But because all your normal distractions disappear. Maybe it's the slight edge of sleep deprivation or adrenaline kicking in, but it's like time slows down.

No meetings. No Slack notifications. No drive-by questions.

Just you, your laptop, and the steady beep of monitors down the hall.

My team was shocked when I shipped a new AI feature that week. They couldn't understand how I was coding from a waiting room. But when you’re in crisis you only have 2 options:

→ Spiral into worry

→ Channel that energy into building

I chose to build. 

Not because I felt compelled to work—I was actually thankful for it. 

Something about that no-distraction space turned into my most productive workspace.

The Forced Delegation Test

While I found unexpected productivity in hospital rooms, I still faced a different challenge: I was running a major project as acting CTO.

This is where most businesses break. I had to hand it to my #2 and trust them to run with it.

Was I nervous? Absolutely.

If I'm being honest, I was probably holding on a bit too tightly because I knew how crucial it was for everything to go right. Many founders think delegation means "fire and forget." But it's not about completely removing work from your plate.

It's about converting 6 or 8 hours of direct project work into 30 minutes of targeted guidance.

Real delegation means:

→ Quick check-ins

→ Being available for questions

→ Making small course corrections when needed

The sweet spot? Giving people enough rope to truly own the outcome while staying connected enough to prevent disaster.

But there's a catch.

You have to give them slightly more responsibility than you're comfortable with. This does 3 critical things:

1. Lets them prove themselves

2. Shows you where you need more training

3. Tests the discomfort muscle so you can actually grow

When pressure hits, you learn exactly how well you've prepared your team. 

Every stumble, hesitation, and question shows you where your training and documentation need work. But you’ll notice people almost always rise to the occasion when given real responsibility.

The project I handed off? It kicked off and is running successfully today. 

Sometimes it takes a crisis to show you just how capable your team is.

Building Crisis-Proof Systems

Your business shouldn't take a hit just because you took a hit.

This isn't about whether you can work from a hospital room or not—it's about building systems that work when you have to take a step back. 

That means:

→ Documented processes people can actually follow

→ Clear async communication channels

→ Trained backups for critical roles

Every process you create needs to be pressure-tested in calmer times. 

Because when a real crisis hits, you won't have time to fix broken systems.

🎙 EPISODE OF THE WEEK

Did you know you could start your business in 2 hours?

This week on Build Your Business, Matt and I give you the exact blueprint for launching your company the right way.

It only takes 3 simple steps: LLC formation, EIN setup, and business banking.

Ready to stop procrastinating and start building? Listen here.

BEFORE YOU GO…

Every founder faces their hospital room moment eventually.

You rise to the level of your training. Your team rises to the level of their training. And your business? It rises to the level you've prepared it for.

Don't wait for an emergency to find out if you've built something that can handle chaos.

Start building those systems now. Because crisis isn't a matter of if—it's a matter of when.

So tell me: What has a crisis moment taught you about you and your business? Reply to this and let me know.

Talk soon,

Chris.