Bite-sized Startup Lessons

8 posts on the early-stage startup journey

In the past 4 months, I’ve narrowed in on an idea (helping web3 businesses unlock the powers of crypto!), raised funding, hired our first few engineering hires and are now iterating our way towards P-M fit (🤞).

I find myself writing bite-sized snippets of lessons along the way, as a way of solidifying & sharing all I’m learning. Always looking to grow this as I navigate, experiment, and fail forward in this startup adventure.

1. Treat your hiring process like a product

   The #1 rule I learned from my cofounder (who’s hired dozens of strong engineers in the past): Treat your hiring process like you would a product — all candidates need a fantastic user experience.

2. Myths about the cofounder search

   I’ve 1) gone through a cofounder breakup; 2) tried going Hans Solo; 3) gone through several “cofounder dates.” The journey is not as black and white as it may seem.

3. Top 3 VC catchphrases during a fundraise

   Top 3 catchphrases VCs like to throw around during the fundraising phase that I find, at least 80% of the time, aren’t true.

4. Early team: to hire or not to hire?

   Some top principles I’m following when hiring for our early team.

5. The perfection of the 40-min Zoom

   The 40-minute cutoff for free Zoom is kind of genius.

6. Diversity in our cap table

   A great cap table, manifesting from the likely heartbreaking truth of the VC world.

7. Designing design partnerships

   I’ve entered in a couple design partnerships for idea exploration drawing tactical advice on the process (while testing/working through them myself!)

8. Go small to go big

   Simple, focused and starting small is hard, but it’s the right thing to do, for the company and for your users.