Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
What's your earned secret?
(at minute 8:07)
Founder Lesson
Talk with a dozen successful founders and you'll hear a few very common themes of general startup advice...
Team. Nothing matters more than great people. The hugely successful Techstars accelerator values team so much that they say that the five things they care about (in order) are "team, team, team, . . .
Iterate your first product with a small group ideal users
(at minute 2:24)
Founder Lesson
What I like to believe about startups is that two passionate founders who love a problem have a unique insight in a space and work on that problem until something clicks.
But lately I’ve been thinking about an alternative path.
What if founders just try to solve a problem without a big mission from the . . .
Every startup is a series of pivots
(at minute 0:33)
Founder Lesson
Last week I was having dinner with a founder who had a very good exit for his startup. Halfway through dinner he begins to reminisce about the journey. It is well-known that this startup had four distinct (large) pivots, but his narrative didn't describe it that way. Because he was the person on the front lines of this . . .
Think differently about procrastination
(at minute 2:56)
Founder Lesson
Startups are creative exercises. This is true because the path to creating a tool/brand/mission to solve a problem isn't known. If it were known/correct/big, it would already exist.
If you've ever done much long-form writing, it's like that. The basics of your story are in your head (eg a new college . . .
