First time founder? Don't make these mistakes!
Not an exhaustive list...but it works for now. Take notes!
#55
The Biggest Mistakes First-Time Founders Make”- Michael Seibel
You can listen to the whole episode here:
But these below are notes written by Anuj Abrol @nujabrol. I found this on Twitter and thought to share. Definitely resonates with me (I made 5 mistakes out of the 8 stated here🤦🏾♂🤦🏾♂) when I first started in formal entrepreneurship.
Anyway, Anuj is former Chief of Staff to Justin Kan @justinkan who built Twitch and now runs Atrium. Prolific angel investor as well. I have some posts written about him so check those out, if the spirit moves you.
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Disclaimer: All rules have exceptions. To improve odds, try to minimize exceptions.
Solving a problem you don’t care about
many examples of founders that learn to love their product/ problem at a later date
a lot of startups that fail basically fails because they lose motivation to work on it. they didn’t really like problem they were working on
either tried to pick:
a problem they thought people might want
would grow quickly
would be cool
Ultimately something they’d be willing to devote a significant amount of time (5+ years) to. Didn’t have deep connection to problem
Helping users you don’t care about
Choosing co-founders you don’t know well
are exceptions
nice to have pre-existing relationship to see if you can get through hard times together. helpful to have some context
Not having transparent conversations with your cofounder
tough conversations
performance
goals
roles
resentment can build up, which leads to fights
need to have open transparent conversations
Not launching
people don’t remember launches
move up as soon as possible
most non-regulated businesses can do it in less than a month
Not using analytics
Not knowing where your first users will come from
means you aren’t solving a problem you have
first users should come from people you know or already identified
Poor prioritization
wrong things: conferences, sighing, investors etc.
right things: pushing product, getting feedback, iterating.
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If you have any questions on these or want to have a conversation about my experience, feel free to message me.
Article List— What I’m reading (10 articles a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 3360 articles a year).
The 32-Year-Old Founder of Startup Canva Gets $3.2 Billion Value: I like Mary Meeker and her Internet Trends reports. Good play with Canva.
Piaggio Fastforward: Would you buy one of these? I wouldn’t.
Milk Bar banks Series B funding for cult-favorite cookies: Watch out for Tracy’s with Baked. Check them out here— @bakedgh
Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore: And why I need to get out of this office!
The Millennial Urban Lifestyle Is About to Get More Expensive: It’s the Millenial Lifestyle Sponsorship and it’s business as un-usual. It’s almost like no one wants to make a profit anymore, but ride on valuations. Anyway, you’d learn about Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV) in this article. ALMIGHTY unit economics!
Goldman Sachs unloaded some of its WeWork shares before its investment bankers pitched investors on what it once considered a $60 billion-plus IPO: Investment banks peddling worthless stock to unassuming retail investors. What’s new?
WeWork Accounts for Consciousness: If you ever wanted an explanation for “Community Adjusted EBITDA”, take a look. NB: It’s pure nonsense.
Podcast— What I’m listening to (1 podcast episode a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 podcast episodes). Broadening my experiences through others’ stories.
Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is back! Listen to founders pitch to VCs and learn what makes investors tick and what makes them…flick your idea to the wayside.
Book— 1 Chapter a day x 7 days x 4 weeks x 12 months = 336 chapters. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so 1 year = 28 to 33 books. And my book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
One of my big brothers recommended “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki. I didn’t start it yet but any book recommended by him is elite. BTW, Pierre Omidyar recommends we read the last chapter first. Message me for the PDF. Would share my notes later, too.
📱📱Quote of the day
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. —Samuel Johnson
Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”