Startup Systems
systems that power startups
Startup Systems
Little decisions compound and then anchor systems.
Our commitment to defending sunk costs keeps those systems long after they’re no longer serving a purpose.
The first thing to do when thinking about starting a project, before you invest in systems design, infrastructure or fancy tools, is to practice getting some customers. And the second thing to do is to find out what it’s like to delight or disappoint those customers.
Customer traction is just about the only thing all successful organizations have in... See more
Customer traction is just about the only thing all successful organizations have in... See more
Choose your customers
- 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
We Don’t Need Perfect Solutions: About the ‘Key Motivators’ Framework
It’s all about the learning. And mediocre successes don’t give you any learning.
Abraham Thomas • Mediocre Success Is Worse Than Outright Failure
But here’s the key for an early-stage startup: "As we’re building our plans, we only focus on those first three months, that first chapter. So we break that down into monthly high-level goals, and that's what I hold the team accountable for,” he says. In other words, don’t try to get detailed for longer than a few weeks out. "At a startup, it’s... See more
The 30 Best Pieces of Advice we Heard in 2023
Eight marketing maxims
- Trust is worth more than attention.
- Helping people get to where they seek to go is more effective than hustling people to persuade them to go where you’re going.
- Choose your customers, choose your future.
- Tell ten people. If they don’t tell the others, make a better product.
- Creating the conditions for the word to spread is the
Eight marketing maxims
Necessary chaos embraces the uncertainty inherent to startups. Here are a few examples:
As growth accelerates and larger teams are needed, people stretch into new roles, teams scale and split, and new processes are formed.
After a promising call with a potential new customer, the product roadmap is re-prioritized to incorporate features that will... See more
As growth accelerates and larger teams are needed, people stretch into new roles, teams scale and split, and new processes are formed.
After a promising call with a potential new customer, the product roadmap is re-prioritized to incorporate features that will... See more
Jean Hsu • Does Your Startup Feel Chaotic? Good.
There’s lots of well-intentioned advice out there about the risks if a business takes off and there isn’t a solid foundation to stand on. But at the same time, it's no surprise that startup leaders see words like "optimizing headcount through capacity planning models" and file it away as unnecessary bureaucracy that’s more befitting of the “BigCo”... See more