Startup Advice
sari and
Startup Advice
- To create a product that grows organically, you need to “surprise and delight” your customers. You can’t do that by simply meeting a user’s expectations, you have to surpass them. And doing that takes time. (h/t Scott Belsky)
Things I'm thinking about
I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of ads trying to sell you the greatest new tactics to get more customers, make more sales, and earn a bazillion dollars while you sleep.
The problem with most of these ads is that they’re selling you recycled tactics with new catchy names pulling you away from your goals.
I say this because tactics without a... See more
The problem with most of these ads is that they’re selling you recycled tactics with new catchy names pulling you away from your goals.
I say this because tactics without a... See more
Superhuman
Sam Altman on why you shouldn’t track absolute user growth in the early days of a startup
“Nothing but a great product will save you; you can get everything else right and it still won’t work.”
He points out that almost all startup founders get the following... See more
Here are (some) steps founders can take to get reporters to write about their companies (a thread). (Caveat: this thread is not exhaustive and really applies only to me)
✡️ Jon Shieber ✡️twitter.comThe Jenga situation
seths.blog
The early days are exciting. Customers are seen and heard and served. Variations are created and value is produced as problems are solved.
In the early days, the most celebrated employees are the ones who figure out what someone needs and then determines a way to fill that need.
Once the organization gains traction, it’s possible that a short-term profit maximizer will join the team. They push to treat the customers as replaceable flanges, almost identical, income opportunities to be processed. And the employees? They are expenses, not part of a team.
It can seem like the fastest way for a stable business to increase profits is simply to remove some sticks. Process more flanges with fewer expenses. Lower overhead, measure the easy stuff, do it faster.
We spend too much time dealing with shaky towers. The resilience of people connecting, of organizations evolving, of service and clarity and generative work is far too important to be threatened by a few hustlers who insist on measuring the wrong thing.
It is no coincidence that these three skills – managing the pace of change, elevating the next generation of leaders, and enabling the entire company to hit its goals – often make the difference between a functional leader topping out as an SVP and a cross-functional leader accelerating their trajectory as part of the C-Suite.
Superhuman
“Working on a startup is like riding a broken bicycle. You have to both ride and fix it at the same time.”
How We're Working Without Managers at Buffer
Remember: you + your cofounder vs The Problem
“I encourage founding teams to do everything they possibly can to remember that their co-founders are on their side”
Amy Buechler, Founder Coach at YC