5 Tips for First-Year Founders
Last month marked a big milestone: my one-year anniversary as a founder. As such, I’ve been spending some time reflecting on the journey so far, everything I’ve learned, and the people who have contributed to that learning (it really goes take a village, fam.)
Great advice is worth sharing, so without further ado - in no particular order, here are five amazing pieces of advice that I received in my first year as a founder (+ the smart people who they came from.)
(1) It’s not your job to evangelize your business via Tony Wilkins
This has become such a part of my personal philosophy as a founder that I’m contemplating getting a needlepoint made in its honor ;)
The advice: instead of spending time trying to turn everyone into a believer, focus on finding the right people.
Especially as a woman, I’ve had to work hard to unlearn some things as a founder - specifically, seeking approval from everyone. At the beginning of my fundraising journey, I went into every meeting trying to do everything in my power to hear yes. Even if an investor clearly didn’t understand my business or share my vision, I still felt hardwired to seek validation and convince them. Boy, has that changed.
This rings true in hiring as well. I’ve been extremely fortunate with early hires and have yet to recruit a single candidate. I’ve learned that the right people come into your orbit organically when you clearly share your mission and values in public. The right people already believe what you believe without you convincing them to do so.
(2) Instead of focusing on what you’re building, focus on how to build it via Eric Bahn
I hit the founder lottery last week and won an hour long session with both of the incredible GPs behind Hustle Fund, Eric Bahn and Elizabeth Yin (#fangirl mode activated.) That hour was packed with insights, but this one absolutely stood out as the most important.
The advice: Bias for distribution. It’s not “if you build it, they will come.” It’s “if you can sell it, then build it.”
I’ve certainly been guilty of focusing on the “what” behind my business when I should have been focused on the “how.” Especially in a crowded space, I’ve spent countless hours obsessing over differentiation, but a common misconception is that the only way to create differentiation is to build something super proprietary to your product.
In reality, sometimes you win because you’re simply executing better. Moving faster, selling better, and thinking outside the box are all very real mechanisms for differentiation. I’m been spending a lot more time with our “How” these days and it feels good.
(3) Cheap costs more via George Khalife
While I initially read these words in a LinkedIn post about a wallet that George has been carrying around for 6 years, they became the perfect mantra to explain a hard lesson that I was learning as a founder at that exact time.
The startup reality is trying to do “all of the things” with none of the resources. This creates a natural temptation to penny pinch.
The advice: Invest in the things that matter.
There is one critical resource that many startup founders forget to put a monetary value on: time.
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t paying yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’ve convinced the world’s best engineer to work for you for $60k a year. Time is the most valuable and scarce resource that your team has.
Unfortunately, time is often the silent culprit of why cheap costs more for startups. Whether it be choosing a cheap development partner and racking up technical debt or spending hours per week coaching an intern who has been tasked with a subject matter expert-worthy problem, you ultimately pay more with the hours that it takes to manage or cleanup the fallout of the “less expensive” solution.
(4) Startups are not democracies via Matt Pauker
Matt has been an amazing source of advice since indiFIT’s literal day one. Earlier this year, he authored a great article - Logo Design is not a Democracy. I first read it months ago at a time when indiFIT didn’t have a single employee.
Fast forward to June, when I found myself in a room with my team… over-engineering a decision… about a logo. I laughed at the irony.
The advice: get comfortable making executive decisions as a founder.
A company of 100 people doesn’t seek the approval and alignment of all 100 people to make a decision, so why should a team of 4? If anything, as a small but mighty team, it’s actually more important to use time effectively and keep up your decision making velocity.
I know first hand that when your team is so personally connected and collaborative, it is tempting to involve all of them in every decision.
Getting comfortable making executive decisions is critical - and here’s the thing: your team is better off that way too. Seeking alignment within a group on a relatively subjective topic is an energy-zapping exercise that basically nobody enjoys. Conversations like those are not needle movers - and if you have the right team, they will sleep better at night if that needle is moving.
(5) When you’re in the trough of despair, just keep going via Peter Shallard
Peter Shallard wisdom has easily been one of my favorite benefits of being an Entrepreneur in Residence with Human Ventures.
In a fantastic workshop, he shared that the startup journey is an upside-down bell curve that goes something like this:
Phase one: uninformed optimism - you feel great because you haven’t done anything yet and anything is possible.
Phase two: informed pessimism - things are starting to happen and difficult realities are setting in.
Phase three: trough of despair - things feel really hard; reality is diverging significantly from what you imagined in phase one.
Phase four: informed optimism - things are actually working. Your optimism is now rooted in reality.
Phase one feels good, really good. And Phase three feels bad, really bad (I can confirm as someone who spent a little time there.)
Therefore, a natural human reaction when you’re in the trough is to seek escape by turning back in pursuit of the sweet dopamine high that comes with uninformed optimism. A lot of founders do this by giving up or changing their idea prematurely.
The reality, however, is that the part that comes after the trough is the best part of all - optimism rooted in real progress.
The advice: when things are impossibly hard, just keep going. The best is yet to come.
I can’t think of a better note to end on than that! ✌️
p.s. as a bonus add-on to #5, I’m currently wrapping up Shoe Dog. Holy wow did Nike go through some $hit in their early days! Highly recommended read. In Phil Knight’s words, “Just keep going. Don’t stop. This ended up being the best and only advice ever.”
