Real Founder Lessons
The best startup advice from experienced founders...one real-world lesson at a time.
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
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 . . .
New products need a clear vision
(at minute 21:50)
Founder Lesson
How would you like to be a startup competing with Apple? I love competing with big/slow/dumb companies, but Apple isn’t one that I’d want as a competitor.
The founder in this podcast didn’t feel that way. He founded Pebble…a watch that made crowdfunding history in 2012 when it raised $10 million and broke that . . .
The value of side projects
(at minute 31:12)
Founder Lesson
Trying to imagine how your new startup idea will be built, adopted & grown can seem very daunting when you think of all the things that need to happen after the idea stage. One of the main forces in startups that keeps me hopeful and excited is the concept of “side projects”…small projects that people do outside of . . .
The best founders eliminate risk
(at minute 36:16)
Founder Lesson
The notion of “risk” in new businesses has always fascinated me. The best founders that I know believe passionately in their idea and space, but they spend most of their time/energy/creativity removing risk to increase the likelihood that they will succeed. And if they can’t property remove/mitigate risk then they don’t . . .
