Real Founder Lessons

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

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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, . . .

Posted in: a16z all business model validation counterintuitive things creativity customer discovery execution first principles focus mvp my favorites pattern matching podcast process product purpose solving a problem traction unique playbook

Make one doughnut

(at minute 13:01)

Founder Lesson
There’s a doughnut shop in my neighborhood called Revolution Doughnuts. As a neighbor I can attest that they are a tremendous local success story and their ratings on Yelp put them in the top 15% of all restaurants in town.

Silvrback blog image
I lived nearby before they launched their first location, so I saw how the owner . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things delusion execution first principles focus growth hustle lean startup loose threads mvp my favorites niche products podcast process product product market fit solving a problem super fans traction unique playbook value proposition

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

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

Permission to say "it's not working"

(at minute 0:22)

Founder Lesson
I've been a casual advisor to a well-known B2C brand/founder in Atlanta for a few years now. When I met him in 2014 I was super impressed by his love of the problem and his ability to walk through walls. And I wasn't the only one...he's been able to raise capital from some great investors across the country.

. . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things first principles focus focus groups mvp niche products pivot process product market fit psychological friction resiliency solving a problem traction unique playbook video 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

Share your idea with lots of people

(at minute 15:43)

Founder Lesson
A few weeks ago a first-time founder emailed me to meet-up. One of my favorite things is meeting new founders, so I'm always excited to get emails like that. However my enthusiasm quickly declined when I read this at the end of his email...

"Please see the attached mutual NDA and let me know if you have . . .

Posted in: all business model validation counterintuitive things customer discovery execution first principles focus focus groups founders how i built this hustle mvp pattern matching podcast process product market fit solving a problem unique playbook

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