The 3 Levels of Employees: Level 1 — You do what you are asked to do. Level 2 — Level 1 + You think ahead and solve problems before they happen. Level 3 — Level 2 + You proactively look for areas of opportunity and growth in the business, and figure out how to tap into them.
Recruiting the best people is a superpower. When Alabama football won 5 titles from 2009-2017, they had the #1 recruiting class 7 years straight. Harvard grads accomplish exceptional things mostly because exceptional people apply to Harvard. Winning starts by finding winners.
Be patient. Think longer-term than anyone else in your industry. Be impatient. Don't let a day pass without doing something that contributes to your long-term vision.
Reduce the scale, not your standards. Aspire to do exceptional work and apply that standard to everything. Book. Article. Tweet. Doesn't matter the size. In the long run, your brand is the quality of work you do. Sacrifice quality—anywhere—and you sacrifice the brand.
Own your distribution. (In my case, my website and email list.)
Stay small even if you can afford to be big. The more people you have on the team, the harder it is to get everyone rowing in the same direction. The cost of consensus is more expensive than the cost of payroll.
Share the profit with employees. Get the incentives aligned. Everyone should get a slice of the upside. When the business wins, we all win.
If you want customers, write emails. twitter.com/davenemetz/sta…
Favorite startup frameworks I've discovered on the following topics: - Recruiting - Fundraising - PM-fit - Community
For learning a new topic, even better than asking an expert is moderating conversations between two experts and hearing them debate back and forth. h/t @eddylazzarin
Before taking a job at a startup, understand that: 1. Most startups fail aka that equity won't be worth anything 2. The amount you get from a liquidity event won't be life changing unless you're a founder (or maybe an early employee) depending on the size. twitter.com/buzz/status/10…
There really isn't such a thing as a meeting with more than 6 active participants. If it gets bigger it's really a panel or presentation where people should be able to enter and leave quietly. Clubhouse gets this very right. Who will build video chat clubhouse for companies?
Building a startup is a rollercoaster with deep depths and the highest highs. Entrepreneurs are those that learn to roll with it. What changes later on? Nothing much, but you get to share the ride with more friends and lean on each other.
If a team is literally unknown in crypto, just remember they not only have to deliver their idea, but they then have to earn respect from the community Community first founders solve the latter first, so when they pull back the curtain their is a crowd to see it 🎪🎤
It’s infinitely easier to invest in founders who are engaged publicly🤳🏻 These founder’s public networks help from bootstrapping supply/demand sides to code review etc🧾 Active public engagement also spot checks the founder’s ideas for PMF in an evolving space + they can adapt👷♂️
This weekend, I spoke to 5 future billionaires who had no idea they would one day be billionaires, this what I learned....
Start Up Influencers Vs Start Up Builders. Reminds me of my fathers line: Be Influential not an Influencer. twitter.com/zachtratar/sta…
@SahilBloom and @GavinSBaker great thread on Kaizen certainly one of the most important business and life concepts worthy of study and reflection. No company has better exemplified and operationalized this than Danaher $DHR (a portfolio co of ours for over 6 years) twitter.com/SahilBloom/sta…
Taking Venture Capital for your startup is like deciding to play a game that is really easy for the first 3 levels, and then nearly impossible for the last 3
Dear Whoever Needs To Hear This (I did, 3 years ago) If your startup feels like you're pushing a boulder up a hill. And you try this. try that. It just stays uphill. You don't want to quit.. But time is ticking.. Ask yourself this question
Loved this. The difference between Warren Buffet (investing in big operating companies) vs. startup investing. And the jazz band vs. marching band framework is great too. Just gems by @m2jr pic.twitter.com/5NVENMSkAQ
Here's a framework for great startup ideas - Watch when a giant company spends millions building something custom for themselves - Build the same thing, and offer it to all the indie small shops competing w/ the giant Dominoes App --> Slice ($1B+) Starbucks App --> Joe Coffee pic.twitter.com/udd5Vw1L8S
I think hiring a CEO or someone like that to operate a company you start is a great idea in some cases. Sounds great. You get the money and none of the work! But in most cases I’ve seen (1st hand, buds, or books) the hired operator rarely innovates or improves the product.
Focus! I think a startup will fail if a just-off-the-ground founder is doing side hustles, investing, posting on social media constantly and 4 other things while also starting a company. Yes. It can be done by some (aka a few people). But for us mere mortals, focus!
Don't overthink starting a biz: There's a guy in NYC giving a walking mafia tour in NYC. See the cafes, restaurants, locations of famous mob stuff in NYC It's $150 a head. He's done at least 8000 of the tours. That's $1.2m in sales. airbnb.ca/experiences/10…
.@balajis told us how he'd build a huge media biz. He's doing that now with a newsletter that pays people prizes to launch new companies: 1729.com. But to understand what to build, we discussed the history of media. Click the link in the video for full ep. pic.twitter.com/QLmurwGofj
You don't have a track record. You don't have a platform to speak on. You don't have the funds. Here's how 21-year old @balajis would spend his time and build his skill set: pic.twitter.com/aLAPczorqF
ANNOUNCEMENT A very special pod episode just dropped The topic: starting a startup will take longer than you think (with examples) and how to get past that But heres the cool part: we have sound bites from the founders themselves telling their journey. open.spotify.com/episode/4uO28K…
We asked @agazdecki what it was like selling his company and making tens of millions at 29. His answer: it’s scary. pic.twitter.com/jEN8k1Im3k
A highly actionable distillation of Clayton Christensen's "Modularity Theory" in one tweet. twitter.com/rabois/status/…