Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
The only metric that really matters for an early startup
(at minute 7:05)
Founder Lesson
Momentum is oxygen for startups. This is something that I’ve experienced many times. Momentum can be anything that motivates you and your team. Getting selected for a big conference. Convincing a local angel to invest. Getting a good press story. All of these small victories keep the founders going and make the difficult . . .
It's really hard to get minimum viable product right
(at minute 24:01)
Founder Lesson
Since product-market fit is maybe the most important step in a new startup, deciding what to test and what initial product to create becomes pretty important. I find that most founders do the “kitchen sink” method of including everything. This methods takes too much time and money. Another group goes the Lean Startup route . . .
Just fu@%&ng launch already (what's most engaging)
(at minute 33:47)
Common Founder Issue
Anyone who’s ever launched the initial product for a startup knows the drill. The temptation is to add lots of features because you don’t know which will be most popular and your ultimate vision for the business is huge, so you might as well start on that big vision now.
The reality is that your small startup . . .
In the early days hustle is more important than scalability
(at minute 18:03)
Common Founder Issue
One of the best things that I’ve ever heard about startups is the connection between promising businesses and how much those teams are constantly getting done. Related to this topic, I’ve grow to believe that it’s so difficult to connect the dots in the very early days that teams just need to work their asses off and . . .
Most startup products are 10% better. 10x better is required to beat incumbents.
(at minute 16:33)
Common Founder Issue
Founders typically try to get as many users as possible as early as possible. What typically works better is for a startup to find 100 super fans initially because "it's a lot easier to take something that has a real depth of appeal - something that people really love - and grow that than it is to take . . .
Paid advertising is the tax you pay for not being remarkable
(at minute 43:12)
Common Founder Issue
I often hear founders launch the the first version of their product and then complain that they have a "marketing problem" when initial customers aren't signing-up as quickly as expected. When this happens, I typically think this isn't a marketing issue...it's about the product.
Context
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How do you validate a new startup idea?
(at minute 5:30)
Common Founder Issue
One of the biggest struggles I notice with founders is how do they know that they are onto something (in the very early days) that has the potential of being a high-growth business.
Context
At this point in the podcast, this successful founder explains how an offshoot of a product got very early . . .
