// Mornin’! Buckle up, hustlers.
And for any new readers, welcome to Signal // Noise — the newsletter read by founders, CEOs, execs, and scrappy builders every Thursday. Each week, what I’m listening to, one deep dive, notes from the field, three links worth your time. No buzzwords, no bullshit.
While I Was Writing Today’s Signal // Noise:
🎧 Want the whole vibe? The running playlist is right here.
From sound to signal, let’s get this baby rolling with what’s on my mind…
The Signal
One big idea, insight, or take - grounded in the real work, not theory.
The Real Reason Your Team’s Burnt Out (It Ain’t Just the Hours)
A CEO I talked to last week runs a big inspection company in L.A.
Business is up 40% YoY, demand’s pouring in, it’s honestly the kind of stuff he’s been praying for. All the cumulative hard work beginning to snowball with success.
But, his team’s tired.
Slack threads filled with “I’m burnt out,” and “Why do we have to grow this fast?”
The people who used to complain about being bored now say they’re drowning.
He asked me what to do, so I told him two things:
1) First: every company that scales hits the same wall: a point at which demand exceeds capacity.
It looks like success, but it almost feels like failure.
Sometimes the instinct is to sprint harder, fill the calendar, and push through.
Other times the instinct is to slow down, listen to the team, take your foot off the gas.
But the right move is to pause, prioritize, and rebuild capacity after some initial analysis.
2) Second: when your team says they’re burnt out, it’s rarely just about the work.
It’s often about their relationship to the work.
The Work vs. Our Relationship With It
There’s a quote I love on burnout:
“Burnout isn’t just a result of long hours or hard work—it’s also about your relationship to the work.”
I’ve led teams that worked like dogs — long hours, high stakes, complicated projects. Trust me, none of my direct reports would ever say their work was ‘easy’.
But, most of them never resented it (or me).
They cared, because they had a shared relationship with me, and with the work. It mattered.
When that relationship frays, when the purpose fades, or when leadership feels distant (or like they don’t give a shit), fatigue turns into frustration.
And that’s when people stop saying “I’m tired” and start saying “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
Where Burnout Actually Comes From
Most founders mistake exhaustion for laziness or weakness.
But burnout can be about a few different things, so you gotta understand why your team’s tired if you want to fix it.
In my experience, it usually falls into one of three buckets:
Volume fatigue: too many projects, or too many clients.
Complexity fatigue: every client or deliverable is a one-off, custom.
Chaos fatigue: too little structure, too many open loops.
Each one of these warrants a different prescription.
If it’s volume, you need to hire or outsource. Add capacity or throttle intake. Maybe promote your best operator into a buffer role between clients and the frontline.
If it’s complexity, you need to simplify. Productize your work, create tiers, make it okay to say “no.” Make sure you have a narrow ICP. And remind yourself, not every customer deserves white-glove treatment.
If it’s chaos, install rhythm. Define roles, decision rights, and cadences. A predictable operating system is super important.
Every growth cycle basically looks the same:
♻ chaos → structure → growth → new chaos.
If your team’s telling you they’re tired, it doesn’t mean they’ve lost their edge, it can just be proof that you’ve outgrown your last operating model.
Make sure people have clarity, purpose, and a path forward.
A team that’s tired but connected will recover and move on, but a team that’s tired AF and disconnected probably won’t.
Field Notes
Dispatches from the field - lessons, stories, interviews, experiments.
The Lottery & The Leverage
This one hit a lot of people when I shared it Sunday, probably because it’s a reminder that luck and effort aren’t rivals.
Some people talk about the “grind” like it’s the only thing that matters, but the truth’s a lot more nuanced than that. Some wins are inherited — timing, networks, circumstance — and some are earned — resilience, focus, motion. The trick is recognizing the difference. → Read the full post here
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A few Jawns to Check Out
Smart reads, sharp tools, or internet gems.
You don’t need a product team to “talk to customers.” Just listen to your sales calls. That’s where people tell you what they actually care about — not what they think you want to hear. When I took over at Hampton, the first thing I did was watch 20+ sales calls (and jump in myself). That’s gold, Jerry, gold! → Check it out here.
Three years in and already profitable, Semafor might be the smartest media model out right now. They’re not competing with the Times — they’re a B2B events platform disguised as journalism. Nearly 60% of their revenue comes from invite-only conferences funded by sponsors, not ticket sales. → [gated] Check it out here.
Advisors/platforms are pushing privates because fees, “access,” and scale all line up. But it’s important, just as it was to understand load fees and expense ratios, to decode the pitch (iCapital/Opto, retail inflows, 401(k)chatter) before you bit. Try and decide if you’re buying performance or paying for packaging. → Check it out here.
Curious how you’ve handled burnout at your company - what’s your go-to move when your team says they’re exhausted?
Hit reply and lemme know.
And until next time, thanks for reading.
Jordan
P.S. Wanna work on something? Got a pod or content idea? → Email me | Need 30–60 min of advice? → Book here | Want a coach in your corner? → More info
