Greg Isenberg is a multi-exit Silicon Valley entrepreneur and owner of Late Checkout product studio. He has:
- Headed Product Strategy at WeWork
- Been an advisor to Reddit
- Founded a startup, Islands, which was sold to WeWork
- Founded 5by, which was sold to StumbleUpon
Guest Author: Greg Isenberg
28 founder rules that they never teach you:
1. Cash-flow is like an “exit” every year
2. Networking events are 99% a waste of time
3. Your mental health is always at risk
4. You most likely won’t make life changing money but will probably make “car changing” money or “house changing” money
5. Remote teams need culture, too
6. Obscurity is the enemy, not competition
7. Monetize early, avoid premature traction obsession
8. You are always drinking your own kool-aid
9. Earning trust allows charging premium prices
10. You are in the trust business
11. Own your own media as much as you can
12. Revenue makes users, users don’t make revenue
13. You don’t need to create the next Google (and probably shouldn’t)
14. You’ll learn every time you fail (“failing forward”)
15. You are constantly are getting rejected (and that’s okay)
16. Intuitive design wins, explain less
17. The novelty of being a founder will wear off
18. If you truly enjoy working with your team, you’ve won the lottery
19. Avoid feature bloat, cherish minimalism
20. Micro-virality outperforms macro-splashes
21. Cynics recycle fear, visionaries seed possibility gardens
22. Ignore skeptics, trust your creative callings wholeheartedly
23. Avoid burn rate, become profitable
24. Chase dividends, not valuation
25. Optimal pricing errs towards simplicity
26. Find App Stores that are growing quickly but aren’t giants. Build there
27. You’ll realize distribution is oxygen
28. It’s a beautiful ride
Check out the original tweet here.
