Quiz By "YouSum Live" 00:00:15 What is the key advice for startups? 00:00:35 Why do many founders struggle with the 90/10 concept? 00:01:02 How does the 90/10 approach benefit founders? 00:01:06 What happens when founders embrace flexibility? 00:02:20 How can startups find paths to product market fit? 00:02:33 When is it appropriate to refine the 10%? Quiz By "YouSum Live"
Non techical founder here, with business degree. Currently working on transitioning to being a Techical founder for past 2 months, there are no excuses.
Non-technical co-founders truly play a crucial role! At JetSoftPro, a software development service acting as a technical vendor, we firmly believe that the success of a startup hinges not only on the excellence of the technical aspect but also on the overall process organization and the effectiveness of the non-technical CEO's role.
Non-tech cofounder here. We have had great experiences using freelancers and outsource models. You just need to have a team that can effectively communicate and manage the development. Now whether investors like that or not is a different story.
This is quite insightful, I really like listening to YC talks as I find them quite enlightening. As an aspiring entrepreneur with a non-tech background, this sounds timely.
It's crazy how we all think that we should start with the idea, & not the problem OR start with the product & not the customer. This vid is so eye-opening. Loved it!!!❤️❤️❤️
I started buying rental properties and I have a property manager that takes care of them. That's my life style business. I'm 30 years old and don't need to work. Life style business are a great base line to set up before taking on high risk scaleable ideas
I found this super helpful. I have a good collection of YC and Michael Seibel talks on my site that anyone here might like cooler.chat/c/WebProductStrategy . Based on the feedback in this video, I just emailed the first few people who signed up for cooler.chat. If anyone from here signs up expect an email asking what feature you want next lol
PG wrote an essay about how to get the start up idea before. Besides the traditional start with the problem route, he also talked about how to find it through different means.
Keep them coming! Michael, I will probably be able to repay you for all the knowledge I have gotten from you when I sell my company :) so see you in 7 years
right! we read the book and did not even think much about it...but we've been facing a similar scenario now but 'miracles' have gotten US through...here's hoping for more!
acting is for Hollywood/Broadway/MSM+ and we've been trying to put something together for 2 years off and on....but get this: the urgency of solving 7 national emergencies and 5 global concerns has been skyrocketing since the virus, George Floyd, inflation fears, shortages of clean water, realization of healthcare inequities & West Coast USA air quality decreases. However, late Sept 2020, Emergence of severe competition to healthcare entities (Trumpcare/TrumpSCARE?) set off emergency alarms such that if we don't do something now....in other words, we can't wait to do this product/market fit thing...hope this helps and/or inspires! If you dare, here's a primer--> 1drv.ms/b/s!AtF-bp5-5OWIuSUHSiyDEnoh8QSi I know Mike likes shorter reads, but I already sent those to the email. (5 minute read)
But there is a point ,missing here. Based on my own experience , You'd be spend 2 years leaning : Python ,Django . Flutter than searching for tech -cofounder. And put your destiny on others' hand.
Sound advice! Interesting culturally... I lived in the Bay Area for a short while and the number of, as you say, ‘scenesters’ was easily 40x what I left behind in Texas and ultimately what drove me back to an exciting place where everyone who is serious enough to have even discovered the startup space was seriously interested in building viable business quickly. It has diluted a bit here in the last 4 years and I attribute these effects to the late majority side of an adoption bell curve where ultimately local saturation of startup entrepreneurship is a great thing even at the expense of additional noise.
Common principles yielding disproportionate # of successes: 1. Find fragmented industry with low customer NPS score 2. Create vertically integrated company 3. Address pain points with simplified value prop -> creates more compelling experience
Veteran tech here. Carefully assess the ages of your co-workers. Count how many are in their 20s. Count how many are in their 30s. Count how many are in their 40s. Count how many are in their 50s. I mean across the organization. In the developer ranks, in QA, in the "C suite" jobs. In marketing and sales. Create a spreadsheet with your findings. Then say to yourself "I know I'm going to be 40 years old eventually. Then 50. What became of all the 40, 50 year olds who came before me? I'm seeing a hugely lopsided distribution of people in their 20s, some in their 30s, then almost no one over 40." One strategy is this. I used to tell my students this strategy. 1) "Most startup stock vests over 4 years" 2) "About 1 in 5 startups (roughly) will result in your startup stock being worth something." 3) "So for a 10 year period, work at 5 different startups (that give you an equity stake) for 2 years each. That way you will vest 2 years worth of startup stock at 5 startups, 1 of which will go big.." 4) "After 10 years, one of those 5 companies will provide a cash windfall for you. That way, when you hit 40, you will have options that a lot of others in tech do not." 5) "There is a huge risk staying at one company too long, especially if it is not a startup (and thus you got no startup equity)." You can enhance the above strategy by: 1) working only at startups (that give you stock, an equity stake). I worked for 2 1/2 years after college in a 'non-startup' tech company, then I worked with a recruiter to find a job in a startup. Sometimes, startups want someone not just out of college and working with a recruiter, *WHILE YOU STILL HAVE YOUR OLD TECH JOB*, and telling the recruiter "I want to go to work at a startup" is one way. Another way is to find tech events online, attend them and make contacts with people working in startups. Tell them you want a startup job. Stick to that and eventually an opening will appear and you'll have a contact who knows you. 2) vest 2 years of stock at each startup then move to a new startup 3) do that your entire career, meaning do this until you run into the 'age friction' issue Companies do not care about your long term situation. That's okay, because it's YOUR long-term situation, NOT THEIRS. The company does not exist to "let's make sure Henry has a good long-term situation". But Henry exists for that reason. HENRY: "I'm going to take the steps I need to maximize the chances I will have a great long-term situation." Generally THAT MEANS AVOIDING lazily working at the same company for a long time because you're afraid of change. Of course, if you have $10 million or more liquid net worth then you can make adjustments to the above strategy IF YOU WANT. But **GET THERE** Employees pass a lot of filters to get hired and when hired are treated well, generally, while they're younger and seen as benefiting the business. So the employee will naturally fall into "I found a home - I'm treated so well here - I'm going to stay here forever" DON'T DO THAT. It is a huge gamble. Yes there are long-term employees who have explosively great careers but just like movie stars, athletes, and beauty contest participants, you gotta be real with yourself and say "am I one of those? Or do I need to take steps that will ensure a startup payoff so when I hit 40 I have options other than hoping and praying I get hired as an older worker" WHY IS THEIR AGE BIAS IN SILICON VALLEY? 1) young employees have no family and thus no one at home telling them 'stop working until 10pm every night and on weekends' 2) younger employees are healthy and won't tap the company health insurance plan 3) younger employees are not jaded by years working in industry, younger employees are 'moldable' to the company's culture, younger employees have less 'baggage' picked up during an older person's career 4) younger employees have the latest knowledge since they've recently finished college 5) younger employees are very eager to work after college; anxious to apply their knowledge 6) younger employees do not have a salary history. They're eager to work, and they won't toss out an employer because "I wanted a 20% salary increase over my last job and this employer isn't offering that". 7) younger employees don't have a family and thus do not have the "bills to pay" that older workers 'suffer' that leads to older workers wanting/needing a higher salary **OBJECTIONS** 1) "but doesn't experience count? Aren't my years of experience valuable?" Not so much. Old tech knowledge is almost useless. Tech companies INNOVATE so if you work in tech you really have a 2nd, unpaid job keeping up with the changes. Every 6 to 18 months, all your 'tools' and skills might change. If you don't like the facts behind the above strategy, you can 'position' it as a DEFENSIVE CAREER STRATEGY that is designed to benefit YOU and not the EMPLOYER. It's not the job of ANY employer to worry about the reliability of your source of income when you hit 40. **remember: THE CLOCK IS TICKING** . .
