Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
Remain true to your product vision
(at minute 10:52)
Founder Lesson
It’s always great to see startups hit their stride. I’m fortunate to know the founders of MailChimp and I’ve enjoyed seeing their rapid rise over the past decade. Another company that seems to be experiencing a similar rise is Snapchat.
Two years ago I heard this podcast on Product Hunt Radio. The two founders . . .
Avoid distractions and focus only on what matters most
(at minute 2:27)
Founder Lesson
Everyone has that one initial failure that helps inform their future startup work. For some people it might have been something low-risk while they were in school. For me it was my first startup in San Francisco. For the the founder in this podcast, his first “bad” startup came out of a side project in 2006.
What . . .
Why execution is what really matters
(at minute 52:09)
Founder Lesson
One of the most common pieces of advice about startups is...
The idea doesn’t matter. It’s all about execution.
When founders ponder this statement, they often translate it into “ideas are a dime a dozen” or “ignore competition.” What is often difficult to fully grasp - until you’ve lived it - is how . . .
Consider retention when you have new startup ideas
(at minute 42:28)
Founder Lesson
The notion of retention has always interested me when it comes to new startup ideas. I’m sure there are lots of complicated definitions for that term, but to me it simply means your customers’ propensity to continue to use you app in an ongoing cadence that’s appropriate for your type of business.
One of the topics . . .
Startups are all about testing assumptions quickly
(at minute 4:18)
Founder Lesson
Recently I was meeting with a first-time founder who has been working on his bootstrapped startup for two years. When I asked about his progress, he said that the first version of their app was just released into the app store.
Without going into specifics, this founding team - like most founding teams - has a very . . .
Don’t underestimate distribution
(at minute 26:01)
Founder Lesson
I’ve often said that my startup playbook is a simple, two-step process...
Step #1 - Build a 10x better product.
Step #2 - Layer on a strong brand.
The reason that I believe in this simple formula is that the dynamics that effect startup success have changed drastically over just the past few . . .
Creating an early-stage startup brand (when you are bad at brand)
(at minute 6:07)
Founder Lesson
Over the years I’ve developed a very specific playbook for my own startup ideas. Determine what is most likely to be a 10x better product in a space. Once that’s been tested, layer a very strong brand on top of that product. There are many playbooks to be successful…this is mine.
Put as simply as possible, the . . .
