founder's mentality

Those who really win (an industry, or in a career) did so by delaying gratification. One of the greatest competitive advantages in a startup team — or any bold new project or turnaround — is simply sticking together long enough to figure it out. This is hard because our natural human tendency is to crave short-term rewards and seek short-cuts to... See more

My notes from Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham: The way to create something beautiful is often to make subtle tweaks to something that already exists, or to combine existing ideas in a slightly new way. There are only two things you have to know about business: build something users... See more

Put a bag of cookies in the break room and it might sit for days.

Open the bag and leave it out, and within an hour, all the cookies will be gone.

We are happy to take a tiny slice off the thing that’s being shared, but we hesitate to open the bag.

The same is true with all of the initiatives in our culture. Design, movements and ideas are all... See more

No one will remember if it was on time, but everyone will remember if it was bad

— Michael Beirut quoting Massimo Vignelli (Typeradio 2/2)

I look at product as an act of, how does this get communicated through the distribution channel we need to use. Said another way: if this product doesn't make a pretty compelling social ad -> we ain't doing it.

So but how do we build software that can be anything without falling into the Zombocom trap? I believe that Bezos interview shows us exactly how.

1. You start from a systems-level insight ( the internet is growing rapidly )


2. Then work backwards to a first best customer who has a burning need ( can’t find book ) that is related to your superpower (

... See more