Surely if I know the answers to these questions, but still fail over and over again, these answers aren’t that useful. 🤷♀️
So what’s a better question to ask? 🤔
💬 I often get Q’s like these:
How did you get your first customers for WIP? How did you grow BetaList’s traffic? Etc.
Makers are looking to reverse-engineer success. I see it everywhere.
I don’t think it works that way and the answers to those questions are mostly useless. 💥
Surely if I know the answers to these questions, but still fail over and over again, these answers aren’t that useful. 🤷♀️
So what’s a better question to ask? 🤔
🧠 This is known as survivorship bias.
Focusing on what survived, while ignoring what made it survive in the first place.
What makes @WIP, @BetaList, and to some extent @AllStartupJobs succeed where my countless other attempts failed?
What separates a failed product 👎 from a successful product 👍?
It’s like Steve Jobs said “I’ll know it when I see it.” 👀
Same is true when we make products. We don’t know upfront what will work. But once we see an inkling of a product that does have potential, it’s not that hard to spot.
👌 The right idea will pull you forwards.
👌 The right product will attract people wanting to use it. People will give feedback without you asking for it.
👌 The right product will give you the confidence to ship something embarrassing, because you know despite all its shortcoming it’s useful.
More from Startups
1/ Tuesday was my last day as CEO of @CircleUp. I’ve been CEO since starting the co. in 2011 with my co-founder @roryeakin.
This is a thread about what happened, why and my emotions about it. For more detail:
https://t.co/vYImcm1bTM
Much of this I have never talked about.
2/ My goals: I hope it helps founders feel less lonely than I did. Little public content about the challenges of transitioning exists, but I longed for it. I’m not here to provide a playbook- just to share my experience. Hope it might build greater empathy.
Here goes….
3/ Why: When I tell people that I’m transitioning to an Exec Chairman role their first question is always: “why?” Short answer: co. pivot + fertility issues + health issues + a false sense that grit was always the answer = burnout. Long answer: is longer so hang in there with me
4/ Over a 12-18 month period that ended in late 2017 I ran my tank far beyond empty for far too long. You know that sound your car makes when it’s sputtering for more gas? It was like that. Worst year of my life. Since then it has felt like bone on bone.
5/ Here is what happened:
Professionally: pivoting a Series C company was a living hell in and of itself, as I’ve talked about before.
This is a thread about what happened, why and my emotions about it. For more detail:
https://t.co/vYImcm1bTM
Much of this I have never talked about.
2/ My goals: I hope it helps founders feel less lonely than I did. Little public content about the challenges of transitioning exists, but I longed for it. I’m not here to provide a playbook- just to share my experience. Hope it might build greater empathy.
Here goes….
3/ Why: When I tell people that I’m transitioning to an Exec Chairman role their first question is always: “why?” Short answer: co. pivot + fertility issues + health issues + a false sense that grit was always the answer = burnout. Long answer: is longer so hang in there with me
4/ Over a 12-18 month period that ended in late 2017 I ran my tank far beyond empty for far too long. You know that sound your car makes when it’s sputtering for more gas? It was like that. Worst year of my life. Since then it has felt like bone on bone.
5/ Here is what happened:
Professionally: pivoting a Series C company was a living hell in and of itself, as I’ve talked about before.
1/ We Pivoted a few yrs ago. This is the story- mostly my feelings. It has never been told publicly.
— Ryan Caldbeck (@ryan_caldbeck) April 16, 2019
This will be rambly and represents the chaos in my head at the time. There is [hopefully] no advice here. I don\u2019t know if we did it right.
5 Micro Skills That Will Improve Your Life Drastically
// A THREAD //
Even the small things compound over time... and become huge.
And they become HUGE.
This is the list of small skills that will improve your life A LOT over time, you can't even imagine how much... before you give it a try.
I'll present the skills in form of mini challenges.
1. Type with all ten fingers 10 days - 10 mins in the morning.
Most of us spend a lot of our time behind the computer typing.
Yet, not many people know how to write with all ten fingers —> drastically faster.
You can learn it for free here:
https://t.co/ow2WTHrXBJ
2. Make at least one Zap
Zappier allows you to make micro workflows between the applications you use.
Let's say you have to calendars (work and normal) and you want to sync them all the time —> Zappier
2b. You send an email every month remind your customers to pay the maintenance fee + reminder them if they won't —> Zappier
You want an email notification every time someone edits a Google sheet —> Zappier
Basic version is free. @zapier
// A THREAD //
Even the small things compound over time... and become huge.
And they become HUGE.
This is the list of small skills that will improve your life A LOT over time, you can't even imagine how much... before you give it a try.
I'll present the skills in form of mini challenges.
1. Type with all ten fingers 10 days - 10 mins in the morning.
Most of us spend a lot of our time behind the computer typing.
Yet, not many people know how to write with all ten fingers —> drastically faster.
You can learn it for free here:
https://t.co/ow2WTHrXBJ
2. Make at least one Zap
Zappier allows you to make micro workflows between the applications you use.
Let's say you have to calendars (work and normal) and you want to sync them all the time —> Zappier
2b. You send an email every month remind your customers to pay the maintenance fee + reminder them if they won't —> Zappier
You want an email notification every time someone edits a Google sheet —> Zappier
Basic version is free. @zapier
