How to Go From -1 to 0

Start with an ambitious, high-potential idea, but challenging and full of ambiguities — the rough shape of a nascent great idea. It typically isn’t new, but solves many problems in a simpler, more intuitive way. It ignites people’s curiosity and self-motivation. At the end, it should seem “obvious” so that others want to copy, because there aren’t ... See more

eing well-resourced and well-organized matters.

In one of my favorite essays, Choose Good Quests , Trae Stephens and Markie Wagner write about the moral imperative for founders who’ve gained experience, resources, and connections building easier companies early in their careers to use their experience, resources, and connections to tackle really ha... See more

Take, for example, the ambition to “make your venture-backed startup profitable”: to develop, market, and distribute a product or service that’s never existed before, in a form that’s valuable and accessible enough for large numbers of people to want to pay you for it, in sufficient quantity that your revenue consistently exceeds your costs.

If you... See more

The more you see, the more skeptical you become. Optimize for skepticism and curiosity. Having been a VC and invested as an angel in well over 100 companies, my inbox flows with ideas of all kinds from aspiring and repeat entrepreneurs. In the earlier days, I’d get excited by ideas especially the first time I saw them. But over time, I soon realize... See more