founder's mentality
insights, articles, musings and resources to help founders and builders cultivate a healthy mindset and get unstuck
sari and
founder's mentality
Being a founder requires constant calibration between arrogance and humility, optimism and pessimism. You need the arrogance to believe that you have something important to say, but the humility to know most people won’t care. You need the optimism to convince yourself and others (employees, investors, customers) to believe in you. But you need... See more
sari azout • Things I'm Thinking About
“An endeavor achieved without delay, wrong turnings, occasional blank walls and a vein of self-doubt running through all, leading eventually to some degree of heart-break is a thing of the moment, a mere bagatelle, and often neither use nor ornament. It will be scanned for a moment and put aside. What is worthwhile carries the struggle of the maker
... See moreMy philosophy re startup speed has completely changed over the last few years.
I grew up at Uber, professionally, which held speed as the absolute, ultimate goal.
Now, I still value speed, but hold quality as the binding constraint.
Flo Crivellotwitter.comagree w/this point. speed gets less important the more competitive your market is. when the market is already full of crap you really need to rise above the rest
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.
- You start from a systems-level insight ( the internet is growing rapidly )
- Then work backwards to a first best customer who has a burning need ( can’t find book ) that is related to your superpower (
Gordon Brander • The Zombocom Problem
I just talked to a founder whose startup is growing "only" 25% a year and thus felt he needed to get bought. I explained that if he did, he'd need to find somewhere to invest the proceeds, and he'd be unlikely to find any investments that grew at 25% a year.
Paul Grahamtwitter.comAdvertising adds value to a product by changing our perception of it. An example I love that is not mentioned in the book: for years, few people bought “death insurance.” Then some genius changed the name to life insurance and grew the industry by many billions of dollars. After all, life insurance sounds so much better than death insurance.
Sari Azout • Check your Pulse #14
3 ideas to start your year:
1) You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
2) Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
3) Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with... See more
James Cleartwitter.com