Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
Expect a new startup to take 18 months to find product-market fit
(at minute 8:25)
Common Founder Issue
I didn’t believe this when I started and this constantly surprises first-time founders, but a good general rule is that new startups will take about 18 months to find decent product-market fit. Sometimes it happens as quickly as 12 months and often (of course) it never happens, but 18 months is what I’d expect if I . . .
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 . . .
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 . . .
Here's why you should share your best startup ideas with lots of people
(at minute 16:13)
Common Founder Issue
This is the link that I share most with new startup founders. Many new founders worry about people stealing their ideas. But even once they get past this notion, it takes a while to truly appreciate (and be able to mentally accept) feedback from other people. And even once that happens, being able to reconcile their . . .
