Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
The first question to ask when you are considering a startup
(at minute 51:04)
Founder Lesson
If you are a first-time founder considering launching a startup, here’s the first question that I’d recommend you ask yourself...
Do you really want to be a founder?
In this podcast a serial entrepreneur comments on what it truly means to be a founder.
Here are some of his points…
- . . .
Startups are always messy
(at minute 4:56)
Founder Lesson
I’ve wrestled with a topic behind the scenes in writing my blog over the past two years…should I speak about startups topics cleanly (but less exact) or be as exact as possible (and risk watering-down the message)?
In writing about startups it has struck me that most “educators” or "advisors" on topics . . .
Going from doer to manager
(at minute 4:09)
Founder Lesson
Everyone knows that startups are “hard.” Ask anyone why this is the case and they’ll say things like “startups are risky” or “raising money is difficult.” While those things are true, they are only surface-level characteristics of startups. They don’t truly pinpoint why founders find the startup journey much more difficult . . .
What's your unique insight?
(at minute 14:01)
Founder Lesson
The more time I spend around startups the more I value the origin story of the founding team. And I’m not alone here. Pay attention to the VCs that you most respect. When you listen to them interview startup founders and the founders immediately launch into a product demo or describing traction, you’ll often hear the . . .
Founders need to lie (especially to themselves)
(at minute 15:20)
Founder Lesson
Startups are tricky business for many reasons. One of the trickiest of reasons is the notion of “truth.”
When you have a new idea that you think will make lots of people much happier, but you haven’t built anything yet, you have to weave such a dream that you make everyone believe in your vision. Then you have to . . .
Are you working on the right thing right now?
(at minute 19:48)
Founder Lesson
I left my last startup about two years ago. Ever since then the topic that has most fascinated me is how disruptive companies are launched from the earliest moment that the founder has a special insight...what I call the "idea stage."
In order to focus full-time on this problem, I joined a long-time . . .
The pit of despair
(at minute 30:49)
Founder Lesson
The common belief is that you become a founder the day that you leave your day job to focus full-time on a new startup idea.
I’m beginning to believe that the path is more like this...
Step #1 You start off with a problem that you want to solve.
Step #2 You have a vision of what the future with . . .
