Startup Systems

Momentum is Everything

Most founders implicitly realize that in order to get a startup off the ground you need to will it into existence and keep momentum high.

This is good for the startup but it’s also essential for the founder — when momentum is high most founders feel more optimistic about what they’re building, which is obvious to anyone they’re... See more

I tell founders to think about the problem they’re solving, specifically my LUV framework:

1. Large: Is the problem you’re aiming to solve large enough—customers, users, spend, etc.?


2. Urgent: Is the problem urgent to your users/customers—will they be interested in a new offering, change their way of solving this problem today?


3. Valuable: Are people

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• Trust : Does the product work the way your user is expecting it to? Do they have to second-guess their interactions? Or, considered another way, is it clear that you trust the user to be able to complete tasks without error?


• Purpose : Do your users know why they’re there? Are their behaviors clearly tied to customer, business, or their personal

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Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation—anchored in understanding customer’s needs, prototyping, and generating creative ideas—to transform the way you develop products, services, processes, and organizations.

When using design thinking principles, you bring together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is... See more

Product-market fit always starts with the customer. And Dan Olsen’s PMF framework starts from the bottom up.

Killer utility theory argues that the more general-purpose a device, the less individual applications matter and the more important hardware differentiation becomes. It is the collective killer utility of all the apps that matter, not the existence of one killer app. Consumers buy an Xbox solely for gaming and, for many, solely for Halo (at least,... See more

Customer math for a new business

How much does it cost to get a new customer?

How much do you make from every interaction with that customer?

How long does the customer stick around?

How many new customers will existing customers bring you over time?

To actually engage in deep work, they not only have to create the time on their calendar, but also have to experience the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with being offline. Getting more precision around what you find aversive is the first step in learning more effective ways to deal with the emotions that come up.