Nobody says I wish I talked to less customers.
There aren’t any hacks or shortcuts to this.
Go talk to your customers.
Startup life can be summed up in three steps:
1. Find problem
2. Fix problem
3. Go back to step 1
Works for every thing you need to do in a startup.
Growth is determined by a combination of how fast you can go through the steps successfully and how long you can keep at it.
Nobody says I wish I talked to less customers.
There aren’t any hacks or shortcuts to this.
Go talk to your customers.
You don’t have time, money or people to throw at the problem.
You have to go deep, dig for the details and think very creatively about solutions.
Then experiment like there is no tomorrow.
This skill comes from practicing jumping into the unknown.
You don’t usually get time to prepare for what’s coming next.
You’ll have to learn how to figure it out along the way.
This is why I say, nobody knows what they are doing.
We’re all just jumping from problem to problem expecting to figure things out.
Hopefully our past helps us not crash and burn.
More from Startups
The Beatles wrote “Yesterday” in less than a minute.
Led Zeppelin wrote “Rock And Roll” in 30 minutes.
The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”, 10 min during a soundcheck.
The Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, 40min.
Making a startup in 24 hours is perfectly fine.
I worked on my first startup for 2.5years. It was an events app. Sunk in cost and expectations were so high, that I had to close it, despite getting consistent revenue.
In comparison, I wrote @CryptoJobsList in 2 days. And it's way more meaningful than what I've been doing in my events startup for 2.5 years.
When I let go of my engineering ego and let go of expectations that I need to raise capital and hustle for 4+ years — I started lauching fast and interating fast without any expectations — then I started coming up with something truly meaningful and useful ✨
12 startups in 12 months by @levelsio
24 hour startup by @thepatwalls
— are great challenges that make you focus on the end product value, iterate fast and see what sticks and ruthlessly kill what does not work.
Led Zeppelin wrote “Rock And Roll” in 30 minutes.
The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”, 10 min during a soundcheck.
The Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”, 40min.
Making a startup in 24 hours is perfectly fine.
I really think this idea of starting a starup in 24 hours is bad idea. Gives people thinking that you can do something meaningful in short period of time. https://t.co/l3x2ov33Qn
— Myk Pono \U0001f60e (@myxys) November 10, 2018
I worked on my first startup for 2.5years. It was an events app. Sunk in cost and expectations were so high, that I had to close it, despite getting consistent revenue.
In comparison, I wrote @CryptoJobsList in 2 days. And it's way more meaningful than what I've been doing in my events startup for 2.5 years.
When I let go of my engineering ego and let go of expectations that I need to raise capital and hustle for 4+ years — I started lauching fast and interating fast without any expectations — then I started coming up with something truly meaningful and useful ✨
12 startups in 12 months by @levelsio
24 hour startup by @thepatwalls
— are great challenges that make you focus on the end product value, iterate fast and see what sticks and ruthlessly kill what does not work.
From day 1, I intended to build @shoutoutso_ in public, and part of it is to be transparent with numbers, talk openly about our highs and lows, and share lessons as we grow!
I have been doing individual posts on numbers every week so wanted to one big thread with all updates 👇🏽
Week
Week
Week
Week
I have been doing individual posts on numbers every week so wanted to one big thread with all updates 👇🏽
Week
Transparency time:
— Sharath \U0001f4e3 (@5harath) February 12, 2021
It's been 24hrs @shoutoutso_ went to public launch \U0001f525
Some numbers:
\U0001f4b0 6 rockstars bought Pro, Pro Annual plans.
\U0001f4aa\U0001f3fd 168 signups.
\u2665\ufe0f 182 Shoutout walls created.
\U0001f465 160K Twitter impressions on launch thread.
Thank you for making it a huge day for us \U0001f64f\U0001f3fd pic.twitter.com/is9Z53trIh
Week
Transparency time: It's been 2 weeks since @shoutoutso_ launched to the public \U0001f525
— Sharath \U0001f4e3 (@5harath) February 25, 2021
Here are some highlights:
\U0001f451 18 rockstars paid customers
\U0001f4b0 $240 MRR
\U0001f4aa 426 signups and counting
\u2764\ufe0f 140 walls published
\U0001f3c6 #3 product @ProductHunt
Appreciate this community so much\U0001f64f\U0001f3fd pic.twitter.com/KmKCZdHqlJ
Week
Transparency time: Week 3 @shoutoutso_ \U0001f525
— Sharath \U0001f4e3 (@5harath) March 4, 2021
Here are some highlights:
\U0001f451 29 rockstar paid customers
\U0001f4b0 $460 MRR
\U0001f4aa 475 signups and counting
\u2764\ufe0f 163 walls published
\U0001f3c6 Launched on @ProductHunt(#3) @IndieHackers
Grateful for this amazing community for all the love and support \U0001f64f\U0001f3fd pic.twitter.com/MVGo0cfZJj
Week
Transparency time: It's been a month we launched @shoutoutso_ \U0001f525
— Sharath \U0001f4e3 (@5harath) March 11, 2021
Here are some highlights:
\U0001f451 36 rockstar paid customers
\U0001f4b0 $610 MRR
\U0001f4aa 516 signups and counting
\u2764\ufe0f 191 walls published
\U0001f3c6 @ProductHunt Maker Grant Award
Grateful for this amazing community for all the love \U0001f64f\U0001f3fd pic.twitter.com/1i7LxLU4Ap
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1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
