What to look for in a cofounder:

Oh boy, this is a big one!

Why?

The #1 cause of death in startups is 🥁🥁

Co-founder issues!

Who you pick as co-founder is perhaps THE most important decision you’ll make.

I have a TON of advice on the topic, so let’s dive in 👇

The MOST important thing to know:

Your cofounder must fit in the overlap of TWO venn diagrams:

1/ Personality fit

2/ Ability to execute

A pitfall founders make: choosing ONLY ONE.

Why?

> Choose personality fit w/out ability to execute, and there will be an inevitable reckoning when one cofounder feels they are contributing disproportionately.

> Choose ability to execute w/out personality fit, and the relationship strain grows until it becomes paralyzing.

Someone worthy of a cofounder title must be a unicorn 🦄

ie. they must have both!

Having both results in a DEEP MUTUAL RESPECT amongst each other.

And of course, there are some nuances to both of these venn diagrams.

Let’s double click on each one:

The spiritual path, a thread:

The spiritual path is not for the faint of heart.

It is both the toughest of life’s paths and the most rewarding.

All journeys are unique.

But all lead to the same place: total love and oneness.

The path requires alignment of mind, body, and spirit.

All are a part of You.

One without the other leads to imbalance.

Recognize and nurture all aspects of You.

I’ll show you how.

1/ Mind

Your mind is trying to process all available information to protect you.

The problem: it gets tripped up.

We live in a world of constant fear-based stimulation.

Most of modern society is designed to feed and profit off of your mind.

1.1/ Pause your mind

This is effectively what meditation is and why it’s so powerful.

Some meditators use a mantra so as to have one repetitive thing to repeat.

This helps unwind cyclical thoughts.

It breaks the mind free from it’s shackles.

It stops the churn.

How to run a company (in priority order):

1: Define a crystal clear north star

Great companies know their destination.

Everyone rowing in one direction.

The best north star? A SIMPLE, measurable metric.

Get it right, and watch the magic unfold! 💫

2: Hire uncomfortably good people

Ah, my favorite line!

Hire people you have no right to hire.

Who are so good it makes you nervous.

Who force everyone to step up their game.

Always level up 🦾

3: Create a culture of urgency

Nothing is more powerful than a group of people making every day count 🔥⚡️🚨

4: Make sure no one gets blocked

You’re paying good people good money.

Make sure they don’t get stuck!

Demotivating for them 🤦

Disastrous for the bottom line.

10 sales tactics that work:

1/ Stage out the conversation

One conversation is just that: another conversation.

Land a second, and now you’re being “evaluated”.

Don’t try to jam through everything in the first convo.

Do just enough to pique their interest and land that second meeting.

2/ Do your homework

If you’re pitching a customer, use their product,

Read about the company and the person you’re talking to.

Ultimately, this proves that you will do the work to make their lives easier.

It’s so powerful yet so easily overlooked.

3/ Ask about the decision making process

Who is required to make a decision like this?

What would you need to see from me to be able to buy?

How long will it take to make a decision?

These questions give you the roadmap on how to close the deal.

4/ Don’t always demo

Sometimes it’s habit to jump straight into a demo.

If someone wants to talk first, do that.

This could consume a whole first conversation.

Which gives you a great excuse for that second meeting: going thru the demo.

YCombinator is not worth it, a thread:

These days, I get asked by founders all the time: “Should I do YC (YCombinator)?”

My answer used to be: “Probably not worth it, but if you really want to, sure.”

Today, given what YC has become, my answer is a hard: “No.”

Here’s why 👇

Before we dig in, a note on my motivation.

Some think my recent tweets are marketing stunts.

The truth: there’s nothing that pisses me off more than the Mob Sh*t that goes on in Silicon Valley.

My mission of empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs drives all my work.

Ok, now to YC…

This thread is long, but here’s the main takeaway:

YC might have started off pure.

But money, power, and greed have corrupted it.

Today, YC is a lottery factory capturing 10%+ from founders with little concern about the individuals going through the program.

The problem: founders new to Silicon Valley think of YC as a MUST.

This is the narrative that needs to be put to bed.

And, I’ll go one step further, it is a MUST AVOID.

Why?

Over the last 72 hrs, countless founders reached out in private to thank me for standing up.

My realization: VCs don’t just dominate the capital, they also dominate Twitter.

We need to balance the scales.

For founders, here’s how I’ve grown my Twitter with minimal time 👇👇👇

Before I dive in… I’m challenging myself!

I started writing this at 8p ET on the DOT.

Let’s see how fast I can get it out.

Here we go 👇

Filling the queue 📜

I use Buffer (.com) to queue up tweets.

For 2-3 hours at the beginning of each month, I meditate and fill it up 🧘

My focus: business insights and wisdom.

Once you get flowing, it keeps on flowing.

Packing the punch 👊

Some people think Twitter is for 280 characters.

I’ve found the opposite to be true: it’s the most effective long-form platform on the planet.

Instead of a single blog post, each section is its own tweet and can be shared.

Maximum momentum!

I try to do long form 1-3 times per week.

I find that if I’m in a meditated state and have picked a good topic, the words just flow out.

These “tweet storms” take about 1-2 hours to get out.

PRO TIP: keep a "list of topics" and any time you think of one, write it down.