Ten principles of Hostinger: What’s the antidote to stagnation?

Artūras Anisimenka, Senior Product & Regulatory Lawyer at Hostinger

Launching a project or finding the perfect way to start a blog post can sometimes feel like an endless task, right? But waiting until everything is perfectly planned can mean missing the opportunity to move forward.

As a Senior Product & Regulatory Lawyer at Hostinger, I work in an environment where technology moves fast, regulations evolve, and decisions often need to be made without having every answer upfront. I’ve learned that making progress doesn’t always mean eliminating uncertainty. Sometimes, it means understanding the risks, making an informed decision, and taking the next step.

That’s why I believe bias toward action is crucial to our success at Hostinger.

Taking action simply makes sense

Overthinking requires as much energy as taking action but yields far fewer results, if any. Often, endless discussions and considerations prevent progress or severely delay desired outcomes and new opportunities. If taking action demands the same effort as thinking about taking action but is far more productive, then it is only rational to prioritize the action. 

Overthinking is a natural human reaction when faced with complexity and a fast-changing environment. By testing out different scenarios and outcomes in your head and analyzing various possibilities, you try to reduce this complexity and develop a low-risk solution based on previously known information, prior assumptions, and past experience. But it can only bring you that far. It is not conducive to a rapid learning process and delays iterations that lead to growth. 

Embracing the unknown

While seemingly safer, this ‘measure nine times, cut on the tenth’ approach leads to indecision and inaction. It limits learning opportunities and reduces the possibilities opened up unexpected outcomes. This approach results in analysis paralysis and frequently becomes an excuse for inaction – not all unknowns are considered, not all variables are accounted for, not all relevant data are gathered, and not all people are consulted! 

And thus, stasis reigns.

You can never gain full knowledge of the situation. There is always an element of uncertainty, which is precisely what can open new opportunities – but only if you take action, learn from the outcome, and adapt accordingly. From this perspective, there are no failures, only learning experiences. It is much more efficient to act and see what works and what doesn’t rather than trying to figure it all out through endless analysis. 

The only failure is hesitancy

Inaction can mean lost opportunities to grow and learn. Sometimes, the biggest obstacle isn’t a lack of ideas or resources, but the hesitation to make the first move. 

Last year, I worked with our Product team to bring Hostinger Horizons (now Hostinger AI Builder) to market in just 3 months, followed by Hostinger Reach in only 2 months. Today, new products are being launched even faster. 

The faster pace has also changed the way I work. For me, it’s about identifying and addressing the risks that matter most early on, while helping the team find practical ways forward. Legal shouldn’t just explain what could go wrong, but help figure out how to make things work.

To me, that’s what bias toward action is about: making informed decisions, learning along the way, and moving forward without unnecessary hesitation.

Acting while others wait

Bias toward action gives the company a better chance to gain a competitive edge by facilitating innovation and allowing for greater agility and adaptability to changing circumstances.

On many occasions, this action-oriented approach has helped Hostinger take advantage of changes in the business environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly changed our operations and adjusted our product offers and marketing campaigns to match new market needs.

Being proactive strengthens our business and helps us respond to emerging opportunities rather than merely observing changes from the sidelines.

Being fast, not reckless

While learning by doing is valuable, I fully understand the risks of acting too quickly. Bias toward action does not imply recklessness or acting without thinking or competence. Instead, it recognizes that many things can be learned or adjusted along the way. It’s also important to remember that many decisions are reversible.

Of course, not every decision can be approached in the same way. Some decisions, particularly those involving legal obligations, regulatory compliance, or customer trust, require more thorough assessment before action is taken.

The key is identifying early risks that can be managed along the way and those that must be addressed before moving forward. Bias toward action isn’t about ignoring risks. It’s about understanding them well enough to make decisions confidently and without unnecessary delays.

If we only had this one principle, there would indeed be a risk of reckless decisions. However, we achieve a proper balance because we apply bias toward action with other principles like ownership, customer obsession, focus, or the highest standards.

These other principles promote mature and responsible action. Sometimes, we do need to sacrifice speed to ensure our customers’ satisfaction or the company’s financial sustainability isn’t compromised. We must not rush for the sake of rushing but rather act with purpose, firmness, and competence.

Feedback is crucial

I believe that the culture of transparency at Hostinger is key to making wise decisions. It fosters honest and effective feedback, allowing us to quickly determine whether something is working. Feedback provides an opportunity to identify significant potential early on and direct more energy and resources toward accelerating promising projects. 

It’s important to receive proper feedback from the start and not shy away from it being critical. Not all ideas are worth implementing, and not everything works out in the end. That’s natural and shouldn’t stop us from doing things. What truly wastes time, energy, and resources is gathering feedback only after a task or project is fully completed. The feedback loop must be continuous because it helps us recognize early on when we need to change direction or make adjustments.

Feedback is especially valuable at Hostinger, as we have a high concentration of smart people and competencies. It also reduces the risk of overthinking and allows you to take action more confidently, knowing you can rely on your colleagues’ support, advice, and insights. 

Opening up new paths

Effective communication is key to decisive action, which I believe is well above the industry average at Hostinger. The way we articulate and share our plans and goals ensures that everyone can participate in the action, share relevant data and feedback, and support learning through action.

This is particularly important when different teams bring different perspectives to the table. Product teams focus on building solutions that customers need, while legal team help ensure those solutions can be delivered responsibly.

In my experience, good collaboration starts with asking the right questions and understanding what the team is trying to achieve. When these perspectives come together early, we can challenge assumptions, explore alternatives, and sometimes discover opportunities we wouldn’t have seen on our own.

All of this positions us, both as individuals and as a company, for better growth and success. It also benefits our clients, who receive more innovative products and new functionalities. The solutions currently available shape the client’s perception of their needs. So, if we want to offer them something truly new, we must step away from familiar paths and embrace the unknown to create things that haven’t been done before. 

We won’t achieve this by merely speculating, theorizing, or hypothesizing. We must take a trial-and-error approach, exploring new possibilities and testing things in the real world, learning and adapting as we go. 

Big leaps start with small steps

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that taking the first step doesn’t require having the entire journey mapped out. It’s about breaking down a bigger goal into smaller, manageable tasks and making progress one decision at a time.

For example, holiday planning might start with buying plane tickets and renting a car. Similarly, the key at work is to take the initial step, begin iterating, and keep the bigger picture in mind while setting smaller goals.

When you get used to taking action, it gets easier and easier to proceed that way.

The time gap between thinking and acting must be reduced in an ever-faster-moving world. You cannot expect to learn everything first and then act accordingly. Instead, action is often a precondition for learning.

Let’s act on our ideas without unnecessary hesitation.