Leif Abraham

Leif is the Co-CEO of social investing app Public, which recently closed a $65 million Series C. Prior to Public, Leif was co-founder and CEO of AND CO, which he grew to become the largest freelancing software in the world.

On his morning routine.

Most days I’m up around 6:30, then hop in the shower to wake myself up. 

I’ll eat a quick breakfast with my family and depending on my schedule, either jump straight into meetings or take my kids to school. We kick off the day with a 10-minute team meeting at 9.

From there it’s off to the races.

On structuring workflow.

I block out times throughout the day that I can dedicate to executing a specific task. I do my best to preserve that block of time and ensure no distractions. 

Throughout the day, I’m heads down on running the company.

That means managing the team, pushing things forward, putting out fires, and just making sure deliverables are ready. 

I often have the evenings to myself.

This is when I finish the work that’s fallen in my lap throughout the day. Once the kids are in bed, I jump back online and tie up any loose ends.

On managing stress.

I’ve trained myself to be good at context switching. That’s been massive.

For instance, a few minutes before a call I’ll dive into email threads or catch up on any relevant notes to familiarize myself with the context.

This quick prep session is wildly valuable and increases the productivity of any call or meeting I’m hopping into.

When things get tough, it’s normally a sign of a bigger issue and I’ll sacrifice other things to solely focus on the issue. 

When I’m in that mindset, context switching can be admittedly tough.

On finding common ground.

My co-founder, Jannick, and I are in this together.   

We’re on the same wavelength and transparent with each other when it comes to dealing with the business. That’s why we work well together. 

Never say never, but I think it would be very hard for me to be a solo founder.

I need that person to bounce with, help break things down, and comprehend everything that’s happening. Before COVID, every Tuesday, our wives knew that we’d be staying in the office working late. Once the team left the office, we’d sit down and talk about all aspects of the business and any issues we were facing.

It’s the time where we focus on the long-term, without distractions of the day-to-day. Tuesday evenings was when our company was built. 

These evening sessions were some of the most valuable sessions that propelled us to where we are today.

On balancing work and family.

It’s extremely hard to balance work and family, to be blunt.

It would be naive of me to say it’s easy to start a company and have a family with two small children. Right now, Public is at that stage where I need to work on scaling the org whenever I get the chance, be it in the morning or late at night.

It’s extremely hard to separate work and home life.

As a founder, I’m emotionally attached to my work and I bring that home, whether I like it or not. If work was stressful or if I had a bad day, I bring that home with me, which I’m aware of and have to work on.

If I have an amazing day, it’s much easier for me to enjoy home life and give my kids my full attention. Balancing the two is extremely important but hard.

On his evening routine.

About an hour before bed, I’m most likely playing Need For Speed with my son. That’s his current obsession, and it’s a great break to just spend time with him.

Once he’s in bed, I’m back on the computer until around midnight.