A 10–15 minute 2025 review for founders and builders who actually ship
As the year wraps up, I’ve been thinking about how most founders know reflection is useful, but rarely do it properly. Either it’s too vague (“we’ll grow more next year”) or too heavy to finish.
Inspired by Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole’s Yearly Review, I adapted a short 10–15 minute version specifically for founders, builders, and Product Hunt community members:
Here’s the structure if you want to try it quickly:
Year snapshot : Product, role, stage, users/customers, revenue or traction proxy.
3 biggest wins : What shipped + outcome (users, revenue, learnings) + skill demonstrated.
Build lessons : What you learned about product, distribution, tech, or customers this year.
Friction points : What slowed you down (scope, focus, hiring, growth, tech debt) + 1 fix each.
Network & visibility audit : Who helped you most, who you collaborated with, where you showed up
Your builder identity : What you’re becoming known for as a founder or maker.
80/20 audit : What clearly moved the needle vs. what didn’t.
Next year’s 3 micro-goals : One product goal, one growth goal, one personal founder goal.
Credit: This structure is adapted from The Yearly Review by Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole (highly recommend their original work).
Curious to hear from the PH community:
👉 Do you do any kind of year-end review as a founder or builder?
👉 What question has helped you most when reflecting on a year of shipping?
Looking forward to learning from how others here reflect and reset.
Replies
"One question that's shaped our year: 'What's the friction that makes people switch tools?'
Building Globist AI (research → narrative → creative assets on one canvas), we spent months validating the gap: GTM teams use 5-7 tools daily. The switch tax? 23 minutes to refocus, every time. That insight alone changed how we think about product - not "what features," but "what workflow breaks?"
As we close the year, your framework resonates because we're doing exactly this - reflecting on our GTM strategy once again. The yearly review forces you to ask why you're building what you're building, not just what you're building."