Field Notes
Field Notes & Trench Stories
Unvarnished lessons on scaling businesses, protecting your sanity, and doing the messy work required to build something real. Read my field notes below, join the ComMOOnity, or Raise a Bull Flag if you think I'm full of it.
Field Notes is where Josef Schmidt writes about the real work of building companies — not the polished version you see on stage, but the decisions, mistakes, and frameworks that actually move the needle. Topics include entrepreneurship, hyper-growth, founder mental health, modern slavery, supply chain ethics, and purpose-driven leadership.
Josef has scaled two INC 500 companies, co-authored Entremanureship, founded Freedom United — the world's largest anti-trafficking movement — and spoken at the United Nations, Delta Air Lines, and eTail. These field notes are the unfiltered version of those experiences.
Featured Essay
The first published Field Note will appear here.
Recent Field Notes
From the Trenches
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Welcome to the EntreManure ComMOOnity
In Entremanureship, Tom and I built the ComMOOnity so founders wouldn't have to navigate the trench-level journey alone. Have a "Small Bet" story, a dock-diving leap you're committing to, or a fast failure that saved your neck? Submit your story below.
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Got a Beef with One of My Posts? Raise a Bull Flag.
If at any point while reading my field notes you think I'm full of it, I want to hear about it. No sugarcoating, no corporate PR. Sound the bullhorn below, test my Bull-o-meter, and let's debate it.
ComMOOnity Reader Features
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Unvarnished thoughts on business, mental health, and building a life of significance. No spam, no hype.