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
My rules for being a founder (after selling 3 companies):
– Pay your invoices fast. People appreciate it
– Recurring meetings are mostly useless
– Your best internet ideas come when you are off the internet
– Create products no one asks for but everyone wants
– Remove the word “valuation” from your dictionary. Valuation doesn’t matter. Add “cash-flow”
– You need 1000 bad ideas to get to 1 good idea
– Social posts are MVP V1, group chats are MVP V2, products is mvp v3
– Avoid VC unless it’s a competitive advantage or you’re building deeptech, cleantech, AI chips etc
– Be a rifle not a shotgun. Rifles are targeted, shotguns aren’t. The internet rewards targeted products
– Products are like airbnbs. The ones that get booked up the most are the unique experienced ones
– Be a community billionaire. Meaning, create value with many micro-communities
-Buy the ticket, take the chance. My best opportunities came from hopping on a plane to meet someone
– We’re all in the trust business. Do things that make people trust you
– Multiple products, multiple revenue streams in case something dries up
– Freedom from venture, freedom from ads makes me happy. No bosses or micro-bosses
– Do things to put you in the zone to come up with the ideas
– Celebrate all wins, little and big
– Be proud or what you’re doing or don’t do it
– The best ideas are capital light, defendable, have network effects & increased demand
– You can take over your world not the world. Gotta start somewhere niche
– If you can turn your jealousy of others into inspiration of others, you instantly become more productive
– Don’t lose money monthly, make cash flow
– Google Trends/Reddit is a goldmine for startup ideas
– Be on time, send cal invites, do the little things
– Whoever is latest to the meeting pays for the coffee, food, drinks.
– Create the things you wish existed
– The most important decision you can make on any given day to be productive: ignore the noise
– “You can get what you want – if you help enough other people get what they want.”
– Every sale has some urgency. No urgency, no sale
– Never care what others think unless it’s a loved one
– Sometimes you need to overdose on caffeine, put some headphones on and ship your heart out
– Every startup you start ask yourself what’s your unfair advantage. You’ll need one
– The best products don’t necessarily win, the best brand does
– I find all my business partners from either people I grew up with or people I find fascinating on the internet, and nothing in between.
– Find true fans. “10 people who yell make more noise than 10,000 people who are silent”
– You’d be surprised how many startups spend millions of dollars a year of other people’s money trying to scale a business without an offer that resonates.
– TikTok reviewers are the new search engines.
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