Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
Everything you always wanted to know about validating B2C startups (but were afraid to ask)
(at minute 8:57)
Founder Lesson
Yesterday I was talking with a first-time founder about the process of validating her B2C startup idea. Before she even decided to pursue her idea she did a survey with a bunch of consumers asking basic questions about the space and their habits.
People responded as she expected, so she decided to go all-in.
. . .Focus on the what not the how
(at minute 5:58)
Founder Lesson
If you spend any amount of time around startups, you won't hear many phrases more than "product-market fit." It's used so much for good reason...until some percent of your users love what you are doing, nothing else matters. Sidenote: the definition of "love" can be found here.
Whenever . . .
Savor the surprise
(at minute 31:15)
Founder Lesson
I'm working closely with two startups right now that are somewhere between launching an MVP product and getting their first few hundred customers. Both founders are trying to determine if they have product-market fit, but not quite enough customers have used the product. Over the next six months both will be able to do . . .
Don't grow until you have product-market fit
(at minute 2:11)
Founder Lesson
A few days ago I ran across this blog post. It’s the announcement from Shyp that they are cutting headcount and closing expansion markets to focus on profitability. Too many similar outcomes come to mind recently…Sprig, HomeHero, Zirtual, Beepi, Good Eggs & Homejoy. And these are just the ones that immediately come to . . .
The first three phases of marketing
(at minute 39:55)
Founder Lesson
One of the things that has most surprised me about launching Switchyards Downtown Club is the skills that new founders are requesting. My guess before launching was that new founders would want developers first and then designers right after that. Idea-stage founders are certainly looking for those skills, but much to my . . .
MVP lessons from a burger joint
(listen to the whole thing)
Founder Lesson
I’m really loving How I Built This, a new podcast from NPR. They say it’s "a podcast about innovators, entrepreneurs, and idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.” The founders tend to be from large businesses that people know and the podcasts dive into their origin stories.
When I started . . .
Posted in: allbootstrappingbusiness model validationcounterintuitive thingscreativitycustomer discoveryengagementexecutionfirst principlesfocusfoundershow i built thislean startuplisten to entire podcastmicromanagementmvpmy favoritespodcastprocessproductproduct market fitpsychological frictionrisksolving a problemsuper fanstractionunique playbookvalue proposition
Focus on single actions
(at minute 5:31)
Founder Lesson
How do you know that consumers love your product?
What I hear most often is “just last week a customer told me how much they loved using the product.” Or founders will say "our daily active users (DAUs) or monthly active users (MAUs) continue to increase.”
These are both decent ways to keep your . . .
