It’s Not a Productivity Hack Problem. It’s a People Problem.

More entrepreneurs should stop worrying about hacks and worry about finding the right people.

Years ago, I sat down with Ben Chestnut, the co-founder and former CEO of MailChimp.

At the time, MailChimp was scaling fast. Wistia was growing, too, but I was obsessed with optimization. I wanted to level up every workflow, every process, every little productivity hack.

So I asked Ben: “What’s your best productivity hack?”

He looked at me and said: “It’s not about hacks. It’s about hiring the right people.”

That answer completely reframed how I thought about running a company. And he was 100% right.

The best hires don’t just make things easier. They make problems disappear. A great team doesn’t need hacks. They don’t need complex systems. They figure it out, do the work, and push the business forward.

The next time you’re looking for ways to be more efficient, ask yourself: Do I need a better process, or do I need the right person? When you hire the right people, it’s likely you’ll never have to worry about a shortcut in the first place.