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Where 140k+ founders read my weekly newsletter offering tactical insights to start, scale, and fund their startup. Real advice from a 3x exited founder.
Hey Reader, The wannabe founders can talk about their idea, the market, the problem statement, all 11 slides on the YC deck template and sound fab. Good founders can go deeper. The players, the mechanics, the moving parts. The network, the sales plays, the - wow this founder really knows their shit kinda founder. Great founders? They know it all. They've lived in the problem so long (enough), gone so deep (enough), it's part of their DNA. They know shit that we don't even think to ask....
Hey Reader, The early days f’n suck. The super-early stage actually lasts way past when you thought you’d be through it. It’s deeply embarrassing. And any sane outsider would believe you shouldn’t even be in business. Your product is held together with duct tape and prayer. Your team is three people working for equity in a company worth 0. Your runway is some black magic of squeezing 6 months out of 2 months of cash. Your biggest customer is your friend, and she doesn't actually use it. The...
Hey Reader, Let's not pretend startups are built on empathy and consensus. Well... the most effective founders understand this is a dual dynamic. Relentlessly empathetic to their users but unapologetically decisive with themselves and their teams. Under the surface, most startups are built on belief, manipulation, and unreasonable conviction, but without the foul names. Don't believe me. Read the headlines. Harvey ($5bn). Lovable ($1.8bn). They are not revolutionizing code or legal AI. They...