21 hours ago
- Pick good cofounders: they are the most critical factor for startup success, similar to location in real estate.
- Launch fast: launching early teaches you what to build and engages users, even if the initial product is imperfect.
- Let your idea evolve: treat a startup as iterative, like an essay, where most ideas emerge during implementation.
- Understand your users: the key to creating wealth is improving users' lives, and the hardest part is knowing what they need.
- Better to make a few users love you than a lot ambivalent: focus on deep satisfaction of a subset before expanding.
- Offer surprisingly good customer service: go beyond expectations to make users happy, which also helps you learn.
- You make what you measure: tracking metrics like user numbers naturally improves them, but be careful what you measure.
- Spend little: being cheap prevents running out of money and enables rapid iteration, keeping the startup agile.
- Get ramen profitable: achieve just enough revenue to cover living expenses, changing your relationship with investors.
- Avoid distractions: day jobs, consulting, and fundraising can derail focus; minimize them to stay on track.
- Don't get demoralized: startup pressure is heavy; consciously manage morale to avoid failure.
- Don't give up: persistence often overcomes challenges, especially with continuous idea evolution.
- Deals fall through: treat deals as background processes to avoid morale damage and improve chances of closing.