Real Founder Lessons

The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.

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Focus on problem being solved rather than technical difficulty of solution

(at minute 9:22)

Founder Lesson
A few years ago I had an epiphany moment about startups...the best founders are problem solvers. They see the world as infinitely malleable and proceed to think about ways to change it to add value. This might sound obvious, but when you compare "problem solving" to money, power or fame as primary career drivers, . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things customer discovery engagement execution first principles focus lean startup mvp niche products process product product market fit solving a problem stanford university super fans unique playbook value proposition video vision

You can't skip steps

(at minute 4:19)

Founder Lesson
I was recently talking with a founder. Last year he and I were spending a bunch of time together as he manually tested his theory of human behavior. At the time he had a full-time job and the manual test that I helped him execute had some holes, so I don't believe that he validated an intense enough consumer use case in . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things engagement execution focus lean startup mvp persistency pivot podcast process product product market fit solving a problem unique playbook value proposition video ycombinator

Founders need a theory of human behavior

(at minute 13:03)

Founder Lesson
A trusted startup friend came to me the other day with a new idea...

He just bought a house, so he's thinking a lot about paying contractors for large projects and doing smaller projects himself. There are lots of videos on YouTube about small home projects (eg cutting down vines on the side of your home), but . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things engagement execution first principles focus hustle masters of scale my favorites pivot podcast process product product market fit solving a problem traction unique playbook value proposition

Product-market fit isn’t rational

(at minute 15:43)

Founder Lesson
There isn't a topic that interests me more than product-market fit. In the 2007 - 2010 timeframe I went from a lifestyle business (where I could fool myself that it was high-growth) to a high-growth startup (where you didn't have to wonder if it had product-market fit) and that transition completely changed the way . . .

Posted in: 33voices all bootstrapping business model validation counterintuitive things delusion engagement execution focus founders mvp my favorites persistency pivot podcast process product product market fit psychological friction purpose resiliency sidenote solving a problem traction unique playbook ycombinator

It's all about love (not likes)

(listen to the whole thing)

Founder Lesson
There's only been two times that I've referenced a podcast in one of my blog posts, but not referenced an exact moment for the reader to listen to hear the lesson. First there was this one and today I'm going to do it again. In both instances the podcast has so many good lessons throughout that I would encourage . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things engagement execution first principles focus growth hustle lean startup listen to entire podcast masters of scale mvp my favorites niche products podcast process product product market fit psychological friction sam altman super fans ycombinator

Good ideas have to look terrible

(at minute 11:35)

Founder Lesson
Someone from a large company was asking me recently how I evaluated new startup ideas. They asked in a way that made me think of Shark Tank. I suspect that he expected me to say something like "I look for a strong technology patent" or "there has to be a big vision for a big market."

How I think . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things customer discovery delusion engagement execution first principles mvp niche products pattern matching persistency pivot podcast process product psychological friction purpose resiliency sidenote solving a problem unique playbook vision

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 . . .

Posted in: a16z all business model validation counterintuitive things customer discovery engagement first principles focus hustle micromanagement mvp niche products podcast process product product market fit sidenote solving a problem unique playbook

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