Advice: Pull vs. Push

When other founders reach out to me for advice, I try to make it more “pull” than “push” as much as possible. I can only share my own experiences and stories. It’s up to the listener to decide which parts (if any) to take as advice. If they want, they can pull some stuff from … Continue reading Advice: Pull vs. Push

Don’t Lower The Bar

One of the common traits of successful founders that I see: They don’t lower the bar by comparing themselves or their company with others that underperform or have lower standards. Some of their competitors are badly run companies – misspending investors’ money, suffering from internal drama, you name it. When good founders see these companies, … Continue reading Don’t Lower The Bar

A Heartwarming Story

In a non-work related story: In Jeju Korea, two high school students found a lost credit card at a convenient store. To help find the owner, they used the card to buy the cheapest item ($0.25) so the owner would get the text notification. Then they left the credit card along with $0.25 they just … Continue reading A Heartwarming Story

AI and Job Market

I’ve recently heard two different stories that illustrate the stark differences in how AI is affecting the job market: It seems like AI is making experienced, senior professionals more effective at their jobs, reducing the need for junior employees. But if no one hires juniors, how can anyone become senior? The job market continues to … Continue reading AI and Job Market

Building A Game Changer

A recent conversation with a founder: His company developed a B2B SaaS product. They showed some initial promise but ultimately couldn’t achieve meaningful growth. They didn’t reach product/market fit. Then they kept developing more features. And some more features. All of a sudden, they had a product with 12 different main features, none of which … Continue reading Building A Game Changer

Finding The Right Balance

As widely known by now, research indicates that the highest-performing teams are psychologically safe teams. Leaders must ensure that people feel they are being heard and that anyone can express their opinions freely. However, a leader’s job is to make decisions, which sometimes involves the leader stepping in and making a proprietary decision based on … Continue reading Finding The Right Balance

What Should Lyft Do

Interesting case study: What should Lyft do? At a recent dinner, a few of us were casually chatting about our consumer experience with Lyft (“Do any of you guys use Lyft any more?”) A few things mentioned by the group: I don’t have data, but anecdotally, at least the folks in my circle seem to … Continue reading What Should Lyft Do

We Do A Better Than B

With so many articles and videos on the internet, it’s easy to overthink or take an overly academic approach to GTM. But GTM is really finding an answer to this simple question: “For X, we solve Y problems by providing better solutions than Z” Or, an even simpler version can be: “We do A better … Continue reading We Do A Better Than B

Lululemon’s Day 1

How startups should position their product: Be like Lululemon’s day 1. Lululemon is now a general athletic brand for everyone, but when they started they were about one thing only – yoga pants for women. The key here is not to see yoga pants as they’re worn today. You should go back to the late … Continue reading Lululemon’s Day 1