"For any problem in the business, be the person who has the data to figure out why it happened." This was the advice I was given as a first time COO - and I really took it to heart. Looking back, building out the "causal chain of metrics" that made up the business was the first

Things you don’t need to worry about when white knuckling PMF: - Brand name - Logo - Domain - Jazzed up fake screenshots - Jazzed up fake demos - TAM slides - Year 3 revenue projections - Perfect marketing copy - Pixel perfect design - “Scalability” - Backwards compatibility

There's one metric that's the gold standard for any self-funded company. Don't care if it's an agency, a coaching business, or a software company. It's the ONE THING you need to measure that tells you the efficiency of your entire customer acquisition process, and dictates how

There's nothing complicated about company culture. Culture simply happens. It's emergent behavior. There's nothing to do, it just is. A company's culture is a 50-day moving average. It's what you've been collectively doing as a company over the last 50 days. How do you treat

Written for all ages, let’s goooooo 🔥🔥🔥

Starter Story Academy in a nutshell:

Nerding out on this lesson with claire vo 🖤 and Gagan Biyani 🏛 Building software in 2024 is so incredibly different than building it in 2016 (when I did my first company) Biggest risk I see is pulling 2016 moves in 2024 😂 Always the student - thanks for sharing your genius

It’s easy to be right. It’s hard to build things and take financial risks that reward you for being right

Someone asked me today how to make things go faster in a startup: - have a clear and tops down view of where you’re headed - require customer context/connection - top talent/killers only - don’t allow complacent managers - small teams - deadlines set by experience, not committee

Give A Shit is a cultural pillar I will carry in to any team I’m on. It’s not just for product, you have to Give A Shit about the whole company. What does GAS look like? Every lead matters, even small ones. Look at designs, have an opinion. Care about the details. Be obsessed

I bet you 10% equity that the answer to your growth goals are hiding in plain sight within your data. You either... ☑️ Don't have clarity around metrics ☑️ Don't have clear ownership for metrics ☑️ Don't understand input vs output metrics But the answer is in the data

Reminder

No idea survives first contact with customers. Stop hiding, start selling.

AI will make you dumber - unless you fight to be smart

Years ago, a mentor said to me: “It’s your job to have the highest quality standards of anybody you work with. You’ll face pressure to lower them every day. Don’t do it. If you can set a high standard and simply maintain it, you’ll do very well for yourself.”

And an awesome conversation followed 🙏 so pumped to meet you and hang Andrew Culver

This answer from The Secret CFO is maybe my favorite piece of written material in the world. The writer (a finance VP) asked how to get a voice at the decision making table. Read carefully. This answer will apply to you when you ask this question one day, whether you're in finance

Simplify:

The Precision Method 🔥

The best coach I ever had told me this: Realists are more likely to be right. Optimists are more likely to be happy and rich. Always stuck with me …