Over two years and nearly 100 episodes later, as the host of TechCrunch's recently concluded podcast Found, I've learned a lot about how founders approach building startups.
How founders decide when it's the right time to expand beyond their core product, how startups approach hiring, and what inspired entrepreneurs to take the leap in the first place. I've heard stories about it, and everything in between.
Although I'm not a founder myself, some of the learnings and advice I heard on the show stood out to me more than others. I've put together a short and sweet list of the five best pieces of practical and philosophical advice for founders that I've heard on the show.
Founders should focus on what they are weak at.
While many founders talked about finding co-founders or making early hires to help fill gaps in experience and knowledge, Rippling's co-founder and CEO )'s Parker Conrad believes founders should do the opposite.
Mr. Conrad criticized the practice of hiring people to fill roles that founders don't like or don't want to do.
“You should find things in your company that you don't like, and you should run towards them and hug them and just take them seriously and focus on those things, because they're probably going to kill you.” Conrad Said. “Those are things that you probably avoid because it's uncomfortable to focus on. I've definitely seen it within myself, and the ones that you really hate are the ones that spend all their time there. You should spend it.”
VC is not always right
The right venture capitalist can provide valuable insight and guidance to startups, but good venture capitalists are hard to find, and even the best venture capitalists won't always give the best advice for every startup. It cannot be provided.
When Ashley Tilner, founder and CEO of Farmbox Rx, a direct-to-consumer produce box company aiming to solve food deserts, pitched to venture capital, she was a little disappointed in the trend of meal kit companies at the time. I was told to shift my focus. I'm glad she ignored the advice and bootstrapped instead.
“Every venture capitalist we talked to, and really everyone who was even remotely kind to us at the time, wanted us to become a meal kit,” Tyner said. “It wasn't something we were focused on. We didn't want to jump on the meal kit bandwagon. Looking back, we're really glad we didn't raise money. , we still don't have any funding, and most of the meal kits have been phased out.”
Instead, just a few years later, FarmboxRx was able to partner with insurance companies and begin shipping produce boxes as part of patients' prescriptions. According to Tyner, this revenue stream is very lucrative for the company.
Even if you don't come in first place, you will be rewarded.
As I read many PR pitches, as I do every day, I find that the common thread is that many companies want to advertise their innovation or being the “first” into a new market. Masu. But is first always best?
Jordan Nathan, founder and CEO of non-toxic housewares company Callaway, doesn't necessarily agree. Nathan told TechCrunch that when he was preparing to launch Caraway's first set of non-toxic cookware, he initially wasn't too excited because it seemed like the company would be the last to launch in an increasingly crowded category. However, he said it went well. Nathan said the last launch allowed Callaway to discover remaining gaps in the market from what had already been released and to cater directly to those audiences.
“It helped us change the color palette, and it helped us change the price point and the items we put in the set,” Nathan said. “A lot of other brands were doing a lot of things right, but we were able to create our own space within the kitchen.” [direct-to-consumer] A world where no one else is playing. ”
Companies should strive to get to market immediately, regardless of long-term goals
While some startups are building software that can start acquiring customers and generating revenue within a week, startups looking to bring in innovative deep tech and moonshot companies The same cannot be said for . But that doesn't mean these deep tech companies have to wait years to see profits.
Joe Wolfel, co-founder and CEO of Terra Depth, a company looking to develop autonomous drones to map the ocean floor, says Terra Depth is very intentional about establishing revenue streams. told. It will still be some time before autonomous drones roam the ocean floor, but businesses need information about their drones, so for now we want to offer the same service to commercial and government customers both manually and through a dashboard. There is. Now on the ocean floor.
“One of the things you quickly learn in combat is that you can't control something that isn't moving,” Wolfel said. “There's no substitute for on-the-job learning, right? We eat our own dog food every day.”
We heard a different approach to the same concept from Paul Hedrick, founder of Western clothing company Tecovas. Hedrick told Found that he knew he wanted Tecovas to be a direct-to-consumer brand, but he didn't want to just set up a website and wait for sales to come in. So he started selling boots in stores. We quickly installed it in the back of our car at the farmers market and were able to get customer feedback and sales right from the start.
Remember to build your company around your product
When a startup is just getting off the ground, founders focus on building a product and bringing that product to market. Perhaps it should be. However, founders need to remember to also think about building an actual company around their product.
Gavin Uberti, co-founder and CEO of chipmaker Etched, told Found that one of the company's early mistakes was not thinking about creating employee benefits until it was too late. He said it was something he had done. Uberti said he first realized the company had waited too long before establishing health insurance when one of his employees broke his leg. This was not a quick relief process.
Uberti says that when founders move quickly to make a breakthrough, they also need to consider all the other factors needed to build a lasting company that values its employees. It reminded me that it's important.