Lenny Rachitsky’s Post

I can't say enough good things about this podcast episode. Lenny hosted Mike Maples, Jr, a seasoned early stage VC, to discuss insights from his latest book Pattern Breakers, Why Some Start Ups Change the Future. As someone who loves foresight, design strategy, and early stage start ups, he ties together these threads organically on what it takes to create a breakthrough start up: leave the present, immerse yourself in the future, then come back to make it happen. He argues that start ups aren't playing a fair fight against incumbents so they need to offer a radical alternative to win. They shouldn't engage in the same conversation as them. Instead, find lighthouse customers who are ready to engage and co-create a new one. Meanwhile, conventional companies will continue to forecast the future from the present, while great start ups backcast from a markedly different future. Mike has a legendary track record of early bets to back this up. I'm going to have to listen to this again to unpack all the insights. I'd love to design a workshop that incorporates his three elements (inflections, insights, and future founder fit), which Lenny summarizes so well below. If you've listened, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Every truly great founder that I know is a THOUSAND STEPS AHEAD. You know this by asking them questions on anything related to their startup business, team, markets, data points, financials, legal, etc. The issue? Most people do not ask great founders, great questions. The other issue, most people know nothing about business building. (so they have no idea what is good, bad or ugly, they simply follow the laggards) I like what Lenny Rachitsky discusses with Mike Maples, Jr here. 1. Get out of the present: Instead of just thinking about solving current problems, you need to immerse yourself in the future. Look for emerging trends, technologies, or shifts in behavior that suggest where the world is heading. Great innovations often stem from individuals who immerse themselves deeply in a niche or cutting-edge area. 2. Great startup ideas share three elements: a. Inflections: External shifts that create potential for radical change in how people think, feel, and behave. b. Insights: A unique understanding of how to harness these inflections and enable a future that the company believes in. c. Founder-future fit: An alignment between the founders and the future they envision, including their skills, motivations, and network. 3. Three things that successful founders do differently a. Movements: A movement aligns early believers around a higher purpose, leveraging their emotional commitment rather than just pragmatic benefits. b. Storytelling: Frame your startup’s story as a hero’s journey. Position yourself not as the hero but as the guide (like Obi-Wan Kenobi) who invites customers (the heroes) to embark on a transformative journey toward a better future. Tailor your narrative to resonate with different stakeholders—investors, customers, employees—by emphasizing how they can achieve their aspirations through your vision. c. Disagreeableness: Founders who challenge the status quo often appear disagreeable because they defy conventional norms. They drive change by questioning existing patterns and persuading others to embrace new ways of thinking and acting.

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Ben delves into the debate between pursuing growth at all costs, bootstrapping, and finding a balanced approach to funding and building a startup. He critiques the venture capital model's emphasis on rapid growth and contrasts it with the sustainable, albeit slower, approach of bootstrapping. Highlighting examples like Mailchimp and Zoho, he argues for a nuanced view on startup funding, emphasizing that the best strategy depends on the business model, market conditions, and the founder's goals. Growth At All Costs vs. Bootstrapping vs. ??

Why is it "unsexy" to create a cash-flowing (not venture scale) business? It is a lie they told us. Who are they? Probably all venture capitalists and startup founders from 2013 to 2022. Everyone bought into the hype, the headlines, the funding rounds and the good old imaginary fairytale (myself included). Yes. It is extremely sexy to sell a company for hundreds of millions, sure. But, what is the probability of doing that? I think we all (most of us anyway) would be better off creating cash-flowing businesses that not necessarily needs capital to be born and grow. Sure, we all want to create the next facebook, but why not create a business that rakes in $5,000USD in free cash flow each month? It's shouldn't be that difficult. If you pick a problem that people have and are willing to pay for to solve. If you know how to find those people. It should be doable. A subscription business of $49USD/month only has to find 102 monthly users to get to $5k in monthly revenue. That is 10 new users each month and in one year you have a nice pile of $$. Does that sound impossible? I don't think so. What are you waiting for? (Same goes for you Christian...) https://buff.ly/47p56vi #entrepreneurship #startups #bootstrapping

VCs should give up on the winner-takes-all approach to investing Venture capital is the business of hitting home runs. But must a startup have the potential to capture the vast majority of market share in its category to earn an investment? I don’t think so. A few weeks ago, the co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack, Marco Zappacosta, came on TechCrunch’s Found podcast to talk about building his home services startup. I asked him what was next for Thumbtack, considering the startup is 15 years old and was last valued at $3.1 billion. I thought he might talk about a potential exit, but his answer surprised me. “For our industry, [the adoption of booking home services online on a platform like Thumbtack] is less than 10%. We are still in the very early days of this sort of transition in evolution. I think people don’t appreciate how big this category can and will be,” Zappacosta said. “It also speaks to what we’re still trying to do, because we think we’re still early in this whole sector.” Thumbtack shares that 10% figure with a handful of other players in the space, including TaskRabbit, Angie’s List and other startups like Jiffy. In home services, a company only needs to grab a few percentage points of the overall ma...

Hey LinkedIn Fam! 🚀 We've got something extraordinary coming up that you do NOT want to miss - Matthew Browne of Black Nova Group will be the star of our next Startup Grind fireside chat! If you're scratching your head thinking, "Who's Matt Browne?", well, sit tight because you're in for a real treat.   🌟 Who is Matt Browne? 🌟 Matt isn't just your run-of-the-mill VC; he's a living, breathing Midas Touch for startups. The man has a knack for turning embryonic ideas into category winners and amazing Startups. To put it simply, if Matt were a Spotify playlist, he'd be your 'Liked Songs' but with zero skips. Why should you care? This is what Founders REALLY Want to Know? 🎯 How to secure funding without selling your soul or your firstborn? 👶 What VCs really think when you're pitching? (Hint: It's not about what you had for lunch) 🥪 How to make your startup irresistible to investors? Better still Matt has promised to reveal the "three runways that dictate whether a founder can go the distance" Get the real lowdown on the VC buzzwords: "scalability," "market fit," "traction," and, dare we say, "synergy"? 😎 Did we mention there's going to be a live Q&A? Get your burning questions ready! 🔥 Spread the love so more founders can unlock the VC Da Vinci code.    Don't miss the chance to glean pearls of wisdom from the man, the myth, the legend - Matt Browne! Mark your calendars, set a dozen reminders, and tell your mum to call you so you won't forget! Me, Kimberly McIntosh and Brendan Yell will see you there. 📅 Thursday 19th October, 5pm - 8pm 🏛 Hall Chadwick, L40 2 Park St, Sydney 🎫 https://lnkd.in/g4s3cdqw

how this guy got fired from his OWN startup... The mistake I see most startup founders make is trying to get funding by VCs. This guy got kicked out of his own company by his cofounder with the help of VCs. And that’s not a random screenshot I pulled out from a random account on Twitter (or X). It's posted by Peter Levels. Check it out below. https://lnkd.in/gCXcyMzg And that's JUST one of the many crazy stories out there. Believe it or not, there's a founder who currently got kicked out his own startup after 3+ years and 40+ hires. There's EVEN a guy who:- 1. Went from $0 → $10M ARR in 3 years. 2. Raises $$$ from investors, 3. Investors kick the whole founding team and appoints a new CEO. 5. Now the CEO calls himself the "founder". Pretty funny, right? Why aren't these stories mainstream then?" I don't know what your experience with VCs are, but most of them make you sign NDAs. Which means you can't talk anything about them, and which also means you can't say the truth of what happened. Smart chess move by the VCs. Also, it's the fear of startup founders to end their startup career so early after bad-mouthing VCs. Now the real question is where can you actually raise money with as little as risk of all these bad things happening? The answer is grants. You don't have to: ● Give up equity ● Answer to investors ● Spend hours on pitch-decks and negotiations Where can you find these grants? Google. Just go out there, and apply. What if I don't have a shot at them? You literally have NOTHING to lose applying to some of them. Just googling "grant success stories" will give you the motivation you need. Who knows? WHAT IF - you get approved for $12,000 next month in free capital without giving up your equity or any risk of getting kicked out from your startup. Isn't it a chance worth to take? P.S. If you want to have a better and FREE solution, just have a list containing grants up to $750M in the next 5 minutes, sort through the ones YOU need with effortless filtering and apply... we just launched on Product Hunt. Your support would mean the world to us. :) www.app.misterrpink.com