Become Like a Billionaire

Obsess over a Wildly Important Problem that has not been properly characterizedIdentify a novel point of technological leverage for solving that problemDiscover a market hurting enough to pay for even a crappy solution to that problemIterate and improve on all the above until you die, fully solve the problem, or hand it over to someone... Continue Reading →

Three Steps to Startup Success (in 15 syllables)

Own a big problem. Make measurable progress. Together.   References 1. Own a big problem Wicked Problem, Horst Rittel Black Swan theory, Nassim Nicholas Taleb Product-market fit, Andy Rachleff Founder-market fit, Chris Dixon Zero to One, Peter Thiel Disruptive Innovation, Clayton Christensen Jobs to be done, Clayton Christensen 2. Make measurable progress Decision Journals, Danny Kahneman One metric... Continue Reading →

What is a Technical Co-Founder?

Most successful startups require both a technical "hacker" and a relational "hustler" to bring them to life.  One common pattern is that a "hustler" has access to ideas and potential funding and looks for a "technical co-founder" to join him or her,  through a process often compared to finding a spouse. Responsibilities A technical co-founder, like any co-founder, is... Continue Reading →

TBC 4: The Process for Products

One of the key insights about entrepreneurship in the last decade is that a startup is not just a small version of a established business. Rather, a startup is an organization formed to search for a business model, rather than execute one.

In particular, this implies that startups should be designed to maximize learning by exploiting surprises. This is the exact opposite of a traditional business, which attempts to increase predictability by avoiding surprises.

To get the optimal structure, we need to be clear on:

Which things we need to learn (the problem)
How we are going to learn them (the process)
Who will own the learning (the people)
What will prove we have learned the right lessons (the product)

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