Weekly Founder Self-Review
Score your leadership weekly and choose three improvements
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 99%
The Weekly Founder Self-Review is a three-question reflection Kagan uses to improve his leadership. Once a week, he asks how he performed as a founder, scores the week from one to five, and explains why with concrete examples. Next, he asks whether his behaviour was consistent, because unpredictable conduct makes collaboration harder even when emotions are legitimate. Finally, he names three things he will do in the coming week. The review creates a recurring observation loop: behaviour is noticed, evaluated, and translated into a limited set of actions that can be checked later. Kagan also gathers team feedback through a separate practice, but this review can be completed without anyone else. Its value comes from repetition and honesty, not from the score itself. Monitoring patterns over time makes incremental leadership improvement visible.
Origin
Kagan says this weekly three-question review has been transformative for his founder and leadership skills. Extracted from The Foundr Podcast.
Core principles
- 01Improvement begins with regular observation
- 02Explain the score instead of hiding behind a number
- 03Consistent behaviour makes a leader easier to work with
- 04End reflection with a small set of next actions
How to run it
- 1
Score the week
Ask how you performed as a founder and assign a score from one to five. Write why, using specific meetings, decisions, or interactions.
Pro tip Include one thing done well and one thing that needs improvement.
Watch out A score without evidence is too easy to manipulate.
- 2
Check consistency
Review whether colleagues could reasonably predict how you would show up. Notice swings in tone or behaviour that made collaboration harder.
Watch out Consistency does not mean suppressing every emotion.
- 3
Choose three actions
Name the three most important things you will do in the next week. Keep them concrete enough to verify at the next review.
Pro tip Limit the list so reflection produces focus rather than another backlog.
- 4
Repeat and compare
Return to the review each week and compare behaviour, scores, and completed actions. Use recurring patterns to identify the next leadership improvement.
Pro tip Add team feedback as a separate evidence source when available.
In the wild
Kagan recalls yelling at someone two weeks earlier. He rated that week a three and used the review to identify the behaviour as inconsistent with how he wanted to lead.
→ The score and written explanation turned a poor interaction into a visible improvement target.
Common mistakes
Scoring without explanation
The number has little diagnostic value by itself. Tie it to concrete behaviour and decisions from the week.
Ending with reflection only
Insight does not guarantee change. Finish by naming three actions for the following week.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders and leaders willing to assess their own conduct honestly each week.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a replacement for team feedback or professional support when deeper problems require outside perspective.
From the transcript
“Review yourself each week as a founder, and this has been transformative for me.”
“was my behavior”
“what are the three things 56 30 I'm doing next week”
From the episode
498: He Lost Millions in Facebook Stock Then Built a $300M Tech Company
Noah Kagan