5 ms·

A Seed Stage Mental Framework to Limit Failure as a Startup Founder

xwdv 6y ago
The next big startup in the 2020s will be comprised of a team that is aggressively remote, will launch their first product after 4 to 6 months, and conducts regular interviews with customers through video conferences.
- massimosgrelli 6y ago
  I'm betting 100% on that. Many of our portfolio companies work in this way already.
artembugara 6y ago
"people don’t know what they want until you create it for them" in point 2 "“Go looking for your user base” is something that you need to do since day one when you start writing the first line of code" in point 1 Don't you contradict yourself? Startup is not about creating stuff. It is about solving a problem. People will not be like "oh yeah, I didn't know I had this problem!" So, spending 4-6 month to discover that is extremely expensive. "Remember that "not-remote" is intrinsically better than "remote" and that brings many advantages." - well, that is a very hard story to sell in 2020
- artembugara 6y ago
  Anyway, Massimo, I'd like to chat with you about what you think about moving to SW in 2020
  - massimosgrelli 6y ago
    Do it as soon as you can.
- trjordan 6y ago
  Discovering the problem and discovering the solution are two different things. The art is getting people to say “this part of my day sucks” without inviting them to specify the solution. Your job, as founder, is to understand the problem deeply enough, then create a solution, then get feedback and iterate.
  - shipit 6y ago
    profound- "this part of my day sucks" -- thank you!
- massimosgrelli 6y ago
  Talk to people and understand their pain is something you can do without a single line of code. We did that with Sysdig. That said, I'm a firm believer in remote work. I work most of the time remotely and invest in distributed teams whenever I can. What is missing in remote work is serendipity; we lack the right tools, and so today, in-person meetings still matter. That is the secret weapon of being in San Francisco. Things happen all the time. The perfect plan is to have the founding team in the Bay Area and all the rest distributed. That works well in the first 3-4 years, at least.

xwdv 6y ago

The next big startup in the 2020s will be comprised of a team that is aggressively remote, will launch their first product after 4 to 6 months, and conducts regular interviews with customers through video conferences.

massimosgrelli 6y ago
I'm betting 100% on that. Many of our portfolio companies work in this way already.

artembugara 6y ago

"people don’t know what they want until you create it for them" in point 2 "“Go looking for your user base” is something that you need to do since day one when you start writing the first line of code" in point 1 Don't you contradict yourself? Startup is not about creating stuff. It is about solving a problem. People will not be like "oh yeah, I didn't know I had this problem!" So, spending 4-6 month to discover that is extremely expensive. "Remember that "not-remote" is intrinsically better than "remote" and that brings many advantages." - well, that is a very hard story to sell in 2020

artembugara 6y ago
Anyway, Massimo, I'd like to chat with you about what you think about moving to SW in 2020
- massimosgrelli 6y ago
  Do it as soon as you can.
trjordan 6y ago
Discovering the problem and discovering the solution are two different things. The art is getting people to say “this part of my day sucks” without inviting them to specify the solution. Your job, as founder, is to understand the problem deeply enough, then create a solution, then get feedback and iterate.
- shipit 6y ago
  profound- "this part of my day sucks" -- thank you!
massimosgrelli 6y ago
Talk to people and understand their pain is something you can do without a single line of code. We did that with Sysdig. That said, I'm a firm believer in remote work. I work most of the time remotely and invest in distributed teams whenever I can. What is missing in remote work is serendipity; we lack the right tools, and so today, in-person meetings still matter. That is the secret weapon of being in San Francisco. Things happen all the time. The perfect plan is to have the founding team in the Bay Area and all the rest distributed. That works well in the first 3-4 years, at least.