Contrary to popular belief, being overrated is good. It opens doors and gives you credibility.
But don’t let this go to your head. Stay hungry, humble and hardworking.
I interviewed 100 legendary investors, founders and executives.
Collectively, they have created over $1 trillion of value for the world.
Here are 20 practical career lessons they shared with me 👇👇👇
Contrary to popular belief, being overrated is good. It opens doors and gives you credibility.
But don’t let this go to your head. Stay hungry, humble and hardworking.
Expiring skills are tactical; their relevance diminishes with time and technology
Permanent skills are evergreen and create disproportionate impact
E.g. communication, judgement, trust, empathy
If you get advice from enough people, the advice will cancel out.
You can find 2 smart people to take opposite sides of the argument on virtually every topic.
Focus on developing your instincts and trusting your own intuition.
Open Minded People:
- Ask genuine questions
- Insatiably curious
- Listen attentively
Close Minded People
- Make statements instead of ask questions
- Focus on being right
- Speak more
Most people hate messes and avoid them like the plague.
But this is where the impact lives.
If you let details go, you slowly chip away at your core.
Doing 1% less consistently makes underachievement inevitable.
It’s really important to separate inputs (process) from output (outcomes).
Every so often you will have a great outcome that seemingly comes out of nowhere — this is luck.
Do not get seduced by it.
It isn't repeatable.
Every commitment is 2 decisions:
1. A decision to engage on X
AND
2. A decision not to engage on Y.
Guard your time. As the road widens, many of the detours are seductive.
Most people hit roadblocks and give up.
Successful people understand roadblocks are a part of the journey.
When you hit a roadblock - embrace it, work through it, celebrate and then “re-rate” your baseline.
Cows consistently graze. This is akin to 9-5 jobs. Always operating at ~30% efficiency.
Lions pounce in bursts. This is counterintuitive. Work on high intensity, high value projects. Execute at 120%.
Rest. Rejuvenate. Repeat.
Every complexity starts out as a snowball. Address it head on.
If you let it fester, it’ll turn into a boulder and you’ll either (a) get crushed or (b) have to spend an inhumane amount of energy to fix it.
- Be Top 1% in the world at 1 thing
- Be Top 25% in the world at 3 things
Top 25% is achievable by most people.
The problem is most people focus on being Top 1%.
Work on combining “3 pretty goods” and stay at it.
It’ll pay off big.
Build in public. Send that cold email. Build relationships with people you look up to.
The most interesting opportunities are never on job boards, they’re created organically.
- Best idea? Maybe
- Correct answer? Maybe
- Most useful answer? Maybe
Most persuasive story? Definitely
Nobody wants the facts, everybody wants a story.
Every opening is a sale - partnerships, recruiting, vision, fundraising
Every close is a negotiation - hiring, alignment, price, terms, value
Can Control:
- Attitude
- Mood
- Reaction
- Effort
- Curiosity
- Motivation
Can’t Control:
- Other People
- The World
To win big, surround yourself with 3 things:
1. Other greats
2. Role players
3. A system that brings out the best in everyone.
All three of these are equally important and allow you to thrive.
How to build a successful business:
- Traction
- Speed
- Simplicity
- Consistency
- Community
- Iteration
- Imitation
How to feel like you're building a successful business:
- $ Raised
- Investor Brand
- Advisors
- Headcount
- Adulation
Interesting thought experiment:
If you had the opportunity to switch places with Warren Buffet, would you do it?
You would be a billionaire, but you would also be 90.
Time > Money.
At the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing: to feel fulfilled, maintain pride and enjoy what they’re doing.
Remember that, apply it to every interaction you have and you can get through the toughest of conversations.
Religion. Family. Friends. Kids. Whatever it is, find it.
Life only gets more complicated as you grow older.
Anchors help keep it simple - they remind us what actually matters.
More from Romeen Sheth
I love Twitter.
It’s truly the Town Square of the Internet.
But finding the diamond in the rough voices can be tough.
Here are 20 of my favorite people to follow:
1. Alex Lieberman - @businessbarista
Alex writes extensively about the Founder journey.
The cool part is he’s lived everything he talks about - starting from $0 and selling for $75M with hardly any outside capital raised.
My favorite piece:
2. Ryan Breslow - @ryantakesoff
Ryan is a Top 1% founder.
This guy is a machine - he’s built 2 unicorns before the age of 27.
Ryan spells out lessons on fundraising, operating and scaling.
My favorite piece:
3. Jesse Pujji - @jspujji
Jesse is who I think of when I think “bootstrapping.”
He bootstrapped his company to an 8-figure exit and now shares stories about other awesome bootstrappers.
He’s also got great insight into all things growth marketing:
4. Post Market - @Post_Market
Post puts out some of the most thoughtful investment insights on this platform.
It’s refreshing because Post cuts through the hype and goes deep into the business model.
Idk who he/she/it is, but the insights are 💣.
It’s truly the Town Square of the Internet.
But finding the diamond in the rough voices can be tough.
Here are 20 of my favorite people to follow:
1. Alex Lieberman - @businessbarista
Alex writes extensively about the Founder journey.
The cool part is he’s lived everything he talks about - starting from $0 and selling for $75M with hardly any outside capital raised.
My favorite piece:
A life well-lived is a life-well planned.
— Alex Lieberman \u2615\ufe0f (@businessbarista) July 14, 2021
5 steps to build your own "Life Map" \U0001f9f5
2. Ryan Breslow - @ryantakesoff
Ryan is a Top 1% founder.
This guy is a machine - he’s built 2 unicorns before the age of 27.
Ryan spells out lessons on fundraising, operating and scaling.
My favorite piece:
The biggest lesson I\u2019ve learned in building a $4B company:
— Ryan Breslow \U0001f57a (@ryantakesoff) September 23, 2021
It\u2019s all about the people.
I\u2019m thrilled to announce today that Bolt is the first tech unicorn to officially shift to a 4 day work week.
Here\u2019s why we did it and how we came to the decision \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
3. Jesse Pujji - @jspujji
Jesse is who I think of when I think “bootstrapping.”
He bootstrapped his company to an 8-figure exit and now shares stories about other awesome bootstrappers.
He’s also got great insight into all things growth marketing:
Welcome new followers!!
— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) September 16, 2021
Thanks for joining my entrepreneurial community.
To learn more about my journey, listen 2 my convo with @patrick_oshag.
I tell my story about bootstrapping, marketing, DTC and building a culture with conscious leadership. https://t.co/BSg6hCEE0L pic.twitter.com/gH4tAjfFBx
4. Post Market - @Post_Market
Post puts out some of the most thoughtful investment insights on this platform.
It’s refreshing because Post cuts through the hype and goes deep into the business model.
Idk who he/she/it is, but the insights are 💣.
Sweetgreen, ~$400M run-rate in sales (RLM% of 16% in 2019) and 140 units (+20-25 per year).
— Post M. (@Post_Market) October 25, 2021
Lets say 400 units by 2030 @ $3.5M AUV ($2.5M today) and 21.5% RLM. $300M RL EBITDA less $200M in G&A less $25M in maint. capex. is $75M in 'owners' EBIT
Last round at $1.6B. Yikes.
The cold hard truth:
Why do companies like Quibi raise billions, while companies like Peloton get nothing?
Because fundraising is a GAME
And the insiders keep the rules to themselves.
Here are 100 tips the insiders don’t want you to see but will help you win the game:
1. You can’t play the game without nailing the basics.
There are 5 core ingredients to a startup pitch.
Most have 2.
Good ones have 4.
The best have all 5.
2. Now that you have a grasp of the basics, it’s time to level up.
Good news - most founders make the same mistakes as each other.
Bad news - these mistakes are really easy to make.
Here's what not to do:
3. Ok so you told me what not to do.
So what should I do?
Read below.
4. We’re in a really unique fundraising environment right now.
It’s important to contextualize all these tips in the “here and now” of what’s going on in the landscape.
Why do companies like Quibi raise billions, while companies like Peloton get nothing?
Because fundraising is a GAME
And the insiders keep the rules to themselves.
Here are 100 tips the insiders don’t want you to see but will help you win the game:
1. You can’t play the game without nailing the basics.
There are 5 core ingredients to a startup pitch.
Most have 2.
Good ones have 4.
The best have all 5.
There\u2019s a lot of bad advice out there on how to pitch your startup.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) April 10, 2021
Last year, I invested $1M+ and heard 200 companies pitch.
Every great pitch I've heard nails 5 ingredients.
In this thread, we'll go through each to help maximize your chances when fundraising
Let's dig in\U0001f447 pic.twitter.com/FBaUUWHz8L
2. Now that you have a grasp of the basics, it’s time to level up.
Good news - most founders make the same mistakes as each other.
Bad news - these mistakes are really easy to make.
Here's what not to do:
0/ After evaluating 200+ startups this year, I've been in some awesome and not so awesome pitches.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) December 28, 2020
Here are the top 10 mistakes I see Founders make that routinely derail fundraising \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
3. Ok so you told me what not to do.
So what should I do?
Read below.
0/ Last night I tweeted about the top 10 things Founders do that derail fundraising. It struck a chord. 2,500+ liked the tweet.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) December 30, 2020
I got a ton of DMs asking the opposite question: \u201cWhat are the top things Founders do well when fundraising?\u201d
Here's my top 10 \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
4. We’re in a really unique fundraising environment right now.
It’s important to contextualize all these tips in the “here and now” of what’s going on in the landscape.
Raising money for startups is wild right now. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.
— Romeen Sheth (@RomeenSheth) May 5, 2021
Lots of Founders are wondering how to approach it and who they should partner with.
Here are 10 observations / practical tips I've shared with 100+ Founders in the last few months \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
