Here are 20 things I’m learning and unlearning as a first-time-founder:
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Ambition is good provided there is some level of direction; even Icarus knew in which direction he was flying.
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Draw up best- and worst-case scenarios before pursuing anything to manage expectations early on.
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Anyone can start a company, not just anyone can — or wants to seriously — build products people love to use.
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Emotion and ego can be good motivators, but keep both in check to avoid bad decisions.
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Read others’ stories, listen to advice, and develop the required discernment and pattern recognition.
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Be as agentic as possible; we answer to ourselves at the end of the day.
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Sometimes pivot, and other times wait it out and grind out a full rep. More importantly, have conviction in whichever you choose.
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Burning bridges isn’t inevitable. Try your best to not let this happen by playing fair always.
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Follow your intuition, and believe that things will fall into place. Yes, another ode to conviction.
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You’re better off being more trusting than not. This applies to most things.
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There are few to no reasons to use door-to-door sales. It’s an outdated, high-friction, tedious, and largely ineffective method of user acquisition.
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People tend to get naturally energised by ideas they believe in. If in doubt of their enthusiasm, there’s the answer.
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Mind games are a waste of time; you’re better off taking things at face value.
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Velocity is far more important than speed.
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Word-of-mouth is the most powerful lever. The goal is to build something users can’t stop telling others about (for good reason).
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Be wary of big talkers with little risk appetite.
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Building for high-trust markets is only worth it if you have the network advantage or a truly pressing solution. Otherwise, you’ll burn months gaining ‘trust’ before realising the idea was mediocre and/or undesirable.
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Don’t completely avoid working with friends, but simply choose [very] wisely.
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Having a group of people you can count on makes this thing 10x easier.
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Having a group of people you can celebrate little wins with makes this thing 100x more worth it.