I have to say this just reads like any other robotic startup founder advice column that we get here. Dime a dozen. Every person who goes down this path has to make decisions like the ones described. Read the YC library, it's full of "how tos".
I think the more interesting lessons and questions are (which they are not incentivized to have you think about):
-- Decide early on who's going to control your path: you, the product, or the money? Many figure out too late who's in control.
-- Are you willing to hand over the keys if some day you discover you're not the right person to lead? What will you do if you find out this isn't what you signed up for?
-- What are you not willing to do in pursuit of growth?
-- Are you willing to walk away from a lot of money today, for something deeper tomorrow?
-- Who do you want to be, and what does this company do for you in your life?
I myself generally hate that things have to become "people stories", but in my experience, these are far more fundamental questions that you will have to confront when you talk to your team, the VCs, the investors, more so than anything about how to manage a feature roadmap or the perennially boring, "when to hire a CMO", etc.
I don’t think it is important to think of any of that on early stages.
All of those are, to me, the same type of distraction as deciding the color of the Maserati you will buy once you get rich with your startup. More introspective for sure, but still a distraction.
I feel that I am perfectly fine making this decisions when the time arrives. Not only that, but it is totally unreal to expect that my answer to those questions now when my startup is generating almost no revenue will have any influence on the real action that I will do when there is a ton of money on the table and the stakes actually matter.
These seem to be real questions for late stage founders.
Ok, rereading I must rectify that my disagreement is only with some of your questions.
I think the distractions are thinking about: handing over the lead and walking away from money. The others I still think they will be a real dilemma in later stages, but I agree that early decisions are already reflecting some of those decisions.
A very good post, but angel investors can also give you terrible, terrible advice that you should completely ignore. If you are founding a company, take the good advice, sure, but ignore the bad advice. Don't just assume because somebody is an angel investor they have any idea what they are talking about in terms of your product/company.
I like the answer (not mine) that you should go with what resonates. Your intuition may not always be right but that way you’ll feel ok with it and adjust your instincts based on feedback.
Truly valuable advice doesn't resonate. Otherwise you would already know it yourself. Good advice is about things you think you get right but you don't. It's also one most difficult to take.
Well if you founded a company then you should probably go with your instincts on what is good advice and what isn't. A random angel investor knows far less about your company than you do, no matter how successful their company was.
Definitely. Get advice from a variety of people with different styles/backgrounds then process that to make your own decisions. Even the most amazing investor will give advice that is wrong for you at times. Great investors respect that.
My other additional advice for founders is get support from other entrepreneurs at a similar stage - that peer support is super helpful especially on bad days!
As a former angel investor (I am too busy these days) it is not that angel investors give bad advice, just advice that matched their experience. Good advice, wrong situation.
The advice I have given that seems to have been most useful is not around product or market fit, but how to resolve internal conflicts. Human nature seems to have not changed much.
Isn't the quality of advice categorically contextual? It doesn't make sense to call inappropriate advice good, any more than cutting your arm off is good advice because there are some situations where it is warranted.
I would tend to categorise bad advice as advice that is always bad, while good advice that just doesn’t fit the situation is on a different level. In some ways this sort of advice is more dangerous since it can make a lot of sense and seem logical, but it just is not the right for the exact situation.
Anyway my experience is very few people are looking for advice, they are looking for validation and cover to do what they wanted to do before speaking to you.
Some angel investors are in it for the short term - flippers so to speak. I have seen them give bad advice to new founders. And since they control the money the bad advice is followed in spite of good counsel otherwise.
Yes I can imagine this sort of advice is always bad, but most of the angel investors I have worked with have not fallen into this group - I don’t want to co-invest with them either.
I liked this post, as i am building a PAAS now. We are still at the product stage trying to go public. Going public is not easy because I think we are too scared it does not get the traction it deserves. So we keep delaying and fix a comma here and there...
The goal is set for Jan 2021. Let's see if we keep the promise
A lot of successful founders have thankfully documented their paths through the startup world through blogs and books. A great one to start with is Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. You can find more startup books here https://www.startuplit.com
I liked how down to earth and practical this advice is. As I work on something early stage myself, I find that this is resonating a ton with respect to what I'm hearing from others and what I /actually/ need to do.
It's absolutely dependent on investors. Hire, send investor updates, choose partner, view from angel investor etc.
Most of these only applies to invested startups and mostly in SV.
Bootstrapped startups cannot hire unless they have hit a certain profit mark and certainly not preemptively.
I think the more interesting lessons and questions are (which they are not incentivized to have you think about):
-- Decide early on who's going to control your path: you, the product, or the money? Many figure out too late who's in control.
-- Are you willing to hand over the keys if some day you discover you're not the right person to lead? What will you do if you find out this isn't what you signed up for?
-- What are you not willing to do in pursuit of growth?
-- Are you willing to walk away from a lot of money today, for something deeper tomorrow?
-- Who do you want to be, and what does this company do for you in your life?
I myself generally hate that things have to become "people stories", but in my experience, these are far more fundamental questions that you will have to confront when you talk to your team, the VCs, the investors, more so than anything about how to manage a feature roadmap or the perennially boring, "when to hire a CMO", etc.