Good morning, everybody.

I want to share a very real, very current situation that’s playing out for me right now — because it perfectly illustrates something important about asynchronous communication, speed, and how companies unknowingly disqualify themselves.

Async as a Competitive Filter

I’m currently evaluating vendors for a real-time location tracking system for a facility I’m advising. We reached out to four companies.

Here’s what happened.

All four required booking a call through their website. I booked the calls — and then immediately canceled them. In the cancellation reason, I wrote:

“I’d prefer to communicate asynchronously. Here’s my link.”

Two companies immediately engaged asynchronously.

One of those will almost certainly win the deal.

One company… didn’t even acknowledge the option.

Instead, they emailed back asking me to schedule a call. I replied clearly:

“It’s the holidays. Scheduling is tough — but we can start right now asynchronously.”

Their response?

“Totally understand about the holidays. How’s January 6th at 10:30?”

No acknowledgment of async. No question. Just a default back to the calendar.

I’ll be honest — I responded more directly than I usually would. I told them, plainly, that their competitors were already deep in conversation with me and that by the time January rolled around, the decision might already be made.

This isn’t about preference.

It’s about speed and signal.

While one company is waiting three weeks for a calendar slot, I’m already eight messages deep with their competitors — discussing real use cases, real constraints, and real decisions.

That gap is lethal.

Speed Is About Latency, Not Stress

I was talking with Travis, the CEO of Carbon Voice, about this, and he said something that really stuck:

“The real challenge is finding the educational bridge — explaining why async works without sounding aggressive or dismissive.”

Because when you say “stop wasting time with meetings,” some people hear judgment instead of opportunity.

But here’s the truth:

Async isn’t a communication style. It’s a filter.

It filters for:

• Responsiveness
• Clarity of thinking
• Comfort with ownership
• Willingness to meet customers where they are

If a company can engage asynchronously at the very beginning of a relationship, it tells you a lot about how they operate internally — how fast they move, how they handle context, and how they compete.

Speed isn’t urgency.

Speed is latency.

How long does it take for value to start flowing?

If your competitors are already having eight conversations with the buyer and you’re waiting weeks for a meeting, you’re losing — whether you agree with the model or not.

That’s not ideology.

That’s math.

The real question for companies isn’t, “Do we like async?”

It’s, “Are we okay losing deals because we insist on our own comfort?”

And for founders and operators, the question becomes:

Where am I defaulting to synchronous behavior out of habit — not necessity?

Because every unnecessary meeting is just delayed momentum.

New Asynchronous Intelligence Podcast Episode

On a related note, I just wrapped a deep, wide-ranging asynchronous conversation with Nick Holzer — founder of Wisk, now building GitLaw.

This one goes far beyond surface-level AI talk. We dig into:

• Why small, high-agency teams are becoming the default
• How AI collapses roles and coordination costs
• Why spec-driven work is the new operating system for humans + AI
• What actually breaks when teams move fast the wrong way
• Why headcount and fundraising are no longer good signals of strength
• How leadership changes when leverage per person explodes

This isn’t theory. It’s how someone actively building right now is rethinking teams, tools, decision-making, and speed in an AI-native world.

Because this is an asynchronous podcast, the conversation stays open. Nick and I can drop back in at any point as things evolve — and given how fast this space is moving, I suspect we will.

👉 Listen here and watch this space:

https://lessdoingacademy.com

If you’re experimenting with async — or struggling to get others to meet you there — and you want to talk through how to frame it without sounding combative, send me a private Carbon Voice message.

Small shifts in how you communicate create massive downstream advantages.

Make it an effective day, everybody.

Ari