A bit about me: YC Alum. Eng turned CEO. - I raised $3m in 14 days. - No decks. No board seats. - I built to $1m+ ARR - Turned it profitable - Now spinning off more companies Follow if you want unfiltered founder takes. The kind of stuff founders can't talk about.

I’ve just reviewed another handful of YC applications, here’s a few more themes that stood out. 1/ Your traction is your story A lot of traction statements feel like an after thought. List of stale bullet points, no story. This is your main story - own it. In the past X time we’ve done {insert list of amazing things}. We’ve seen customers {insert proof it works} and even {insert amazing customer validation}. We got so many users we couldn’t invited them fast enough. It should read like a founders who capturing wins left and right. Force a double take. 2/ Traction != Action Too many traction statements are filled with action, not traction. Action is something you did but contains no actual win or proof point. Building something (unless it’s impressive), talking to people, joining some group. These aren’t proof points your company will take off, these are a regurgitation of your todo list. Traction is external - users, customers, revenue, feedback, LOIs, waitlists. These are things earned, not simply done. They convey proof you’re onto something. 3/ Faster please Worth stating again. Big traction, small amount of time. Your last 3 weeks should be so incredibly impactful that it’s a mistake to not interview you. 4/ The more words, the less impressive Stop over explaining. Stop adding. Start filtering. Decide on your top 5 “gold dust” points. Your strongest, most impressive parts of your or your business. Let those shine through. Too many founders are over explaining, thinking that the more context I have the more impressed I’ll be. It couldn’t be the opposite. The more you talk, the more I know you struggle to communicate your business simply and easily. It’s usually a factor of not prioritizing your gold dust and trying to say everything. You’ll struggle to get folks bought into your vision, you’ll struggle to raise, and your mom probably doesn’t know what your company does. None of which are great signs in a founder.

Acquire customers as fast as humanely possible. Think less, act more.

A massive thing I teach founders is the danger of hustle culture. Shutting out friends, staying in, zoning in too hard. You’ll wake up successful, lonely, and more depressed than you started.

These are the worst people to brainstorm with. There are a thousand ways to shoot down an idea. It’s not hard. My mom could do that. Figuring out how it could work? That’s the hard part. Finding someone to dream with is far more fun. Far more helpful.

Most successful founders I know don’t play the game for money. They do it for freedom. I quit my job when I needed “approval” to take vacation. Fuck that.

You know how people say “lock in for 6 months, it will change your life”? I locked in for 5 years.. No weekends. No breaks. Just worked. Does that sound impressive to you? Because it sounds incredibly stupid to me. It was an immature way of working that was very clearly unsustainable. 1st time founders: Hustle! Grind! Repeat founders: Rest. Gain clarity. There’s a reason for this. 1. You burn out 2. You make terrible decisions 3. You lose friends, family and the good stuff of life. When this happens, you suffer. When you suffer, your business suffers. Often times it feels more comfortable to put your head down and get to work. It’s uncomfortable to sit, rest, and think. What repeat founders have realized that first time founders don’t is how few of those weekends actually made an impact. Most of success comes from consistency over long periods of time and the most impactful moments in a companies life tend to come from moments of clarity and inspiration, not hustle and grind. Those things you only get from rest. — here’s a tip: I find it helps me think of rest as a todo or a goal. I tell myself “goal is to not think about work for the next 3 hours. Come back refreshed afterwards”. It helps me have unbothered, guilt free rest time. — how do you rest?

Finally a VC speaking some sense. Not sure what’s happened recently but the focus on $2m in 10 days has been disappointing to say the least. Bad incentives for founders when you create targets like this.

As a CEO i have endlesss open loops. Never thought about their relationship to my energy though. I’ve always used priority and focus (allowing open loops to not bother me) but perhaps closing them out could work too. Worth a test I guess.

A VC takes many bets while a founder bets everything.

I think a lot of folks bashing the pivot don’t really understand the bet that’s going on here. Core competency is attention, not necessarily product. And they’re damn good at attention. It’s like bashing Mr. Beast for selling candy bars because.. chocolate is saturated? They sold $250m worth of chocolate but if you think it’s a chocolate company you’ve missed the point. The point is: how far can an attention-first company go? And I’m very interested to see what the answer is.

As a founder I absolutely hate pessimism, especially when it comes to new ideas. So many people think they’re smart by finding ways to shoot down an idea. They don’t realize that’s the easy part. My mom can do that.. Finding how it can work is more impressive. That takes true skill. It’s also far more pleasurable to work with dreamers than pessimists.

I’ve coached dozens of YC founders with a 90% acceptance rate. Most applications fail because of two simple questions. Get them wrong and you’re out. Get them right and you’re in the game. Here’s how to answer them (and what they’re really asking) 👇

1. Things don’t get more comfortable as time goes on. If they do, something is wrong. 2. You’re responsible for every decision and seldom have enough data to make it.

This past week I’ve received dozens of DMs asking for YC application reviews. There’s a clear pattern between great applications and bad ones. 1/ Good applications use simple language. Bad applications use buzzwords. 2/ Good applications are easy to read. Bad applications are very dense. 3/ Good applications have impressive traction. Bad applications have little to none. 4/ Good applications make their product sound simple. Bad applications make their product sound complex.

Every single founder who told me to raise more at higher valuations has gone out of business. Every single one who suggested the opposite is now profitable with infinite runway.

Sitting from the sidelines and judging someone who gave it their all is such a weak move. I took the same path as your friend. I raised millions, scaled to millions, and now own a profitable business with unlimited runway. The only thing that got in the way were friends like you - introducing doubt and judgement.

How to pitch your startup: show a large amount of traction in a small amount of time. Pair that with a bottom up calculation of TAM which equates to $5B+.

I love the intent of what you’re saying here but $1m business is still in its risky infancy. Unfortunately it’s difficult to coast a business as well, often leading to degradation in company performance. Which leads me back to $1m being in a risky zone since it’s not much to work with, especially if revenue declines. The main reason is in order to work less, save a lot, invest like hell, and retire - you’ll likely need a team to keep the engine running (depends on the business of course). So with all that, $1m doesn’t leave you much to work with. TLDR; I love what you’re sayin but a few gotchas mixed in there. Solvable, but nuanced.

I’ve always said: “hard work is the easy part” You think it’s hard to work 16 hour days? No no. That’s the easy part. The hard part is second guessing yourself every hour. The hard part is not knowing if it will pay off. The hard part is knowing it’s probably a waste. The hard part is constantly failing. The hard part is watching everyone else progress. There’s a thousand harder things than 16 hour days. If that’s all it took then every gym rat would be a billionaire.

The trick is to find a great CTO. My CTO pushes our sales team to sell first. Yes, even if it doesn’t exist. He gets mad if we don’t. Because he knows there’s no point in building if it hasn’t been validated. Getting some sales is a quick and easy way to prove what needs to be build. Then - the minute we sell - he’s on a rampage to deliver but not a moment before. More founder should act like our CTO.

You don't need to be a YC company to be successful. But acting like one certainly helps. Characteristics of top YC founders: - They sell everywhere they go. - If they're not selling, they're coding. - They decide quickly, then execute even faster. - They are resourceful, never blocked. - They relentlessly focus on customer acquisition. - They relentlessly focus on customer conversations. But that's all a bit fluffy, isn't it? Here's some tactical advice 👇 The best hack to get all this done: 1. Generate minimum 20 customer conversations per day 2. Learn at least 1 thing from those conversations 3. Translate that learning into a concrete action (hopefully building or selling) 4. Repeat every day This is the stuff that compounds into success.

Of all the problems founders have I find the internal ones to be the toughest. It’s not the competition or market shifts. It’s not finding investors or PMF. It’s those moments where you doubt yourself. > “should I pivot or keep going” > “am I wasting my time” > “everyone’s ahead of me” > “I’m not sure it’s going to work out” These thoughts are the hardest. They come up more frequently than you’d like, they come in your darkest moments, and no matter what stage you’re at they still linger. It’s those moments that feel so utterly useless but you have to keep going. Where you feel defeated but have to get up and rally the team. Where you’ve lost hope but keep moving. Luckily they haven’t stopped me yet but make no doubt: These moments kill more companies than any competition out there. When you’re your own adversary. Those are the toughest times.

Everyone loves the idea of being a founder until.. > You’re on your 149th rejection. > Friends calls it “your little project” > Rent is due but you’ve got no money > Your only user says “not worth paying for” > You spent 1 year and got nowhere What did I miss?

A lot of VC backed founders learn this the hard way. Sometimes after decades of work. Less is more when it comes to taking money.

After raising millions and scaling to millions I've learned that.. Talent doesn't matter. Intelligence doesn't matter. Long hours don't matter. What matters is your ability to keep moving when everything looks grim. Being able to stop yourself from quitting. That's the thing that matters. You'll figure the rest out over time.

in order to be a founder, you have to constantly and fearlessly tell people what you want. Then face rejection 99% of the time. This happens for days, months, or years. All in an effort to find that 1%

If an investor disrespects your time to this degree don’t take their money. Great investors realize the more time you spend with them, the less time you have for your business. The worst investors I’ve met force you through countless hoops and waste your time.

There's a lot of people who say they want to be founders. But how many people reached out? 🤔 @shl

I’ve coached dozens of YC founders through the application process (90% hit rate). Biggest mistake is being too complex, trying to sound impressive. It’s not. It’s better to focus on: 1. Clarity > Accuracy. Extremely clear one-liner. 2. Traction. Big traction, small amount of time. 3. Clear proof points. Use data, not verbose explanations.

As a product person I was sad and humbled when I first learned this lesson. The truth is: the best product does not win, the best distributed does. Having a great product can accelerate or detract from distribution but it cannot create it on its own.

You become unhinged in the process of becoming a decacorn founder. They may not all have started that way.

It’s substantially easier to give others advice. There’s no emotional ties, no bias, no fear. Things are simpler if you’re talking about someone else. I’ve found mental hacks like this to work quite well in many aspects. Even professional athletes often create alter egos they take on before a game. It helps separate yourself from the outcome, lowering bias and emotions/fear so you can operate more objectively. “It’s not me doing this, it’s Mike” Pretty similar to this strategy.

You should be interviewing them just as much as they interview you. Too many founders feel they are lucky to be have booked the call. In reality, they should feel lucky to have met you.

Fundraising Tip: There are thousands of VCs and only one of you. They should be so lucky to be sitting at your table. Carry this perspective into your next meeting.

Founders: You should have 4 pitches ready at all times. 1. Pitch to investors 2. Pitch to customers 3. Pitch to friends and family 4. Pitch to potential hires Each pitch is very different, depending on the audience.

Good founders have an uncanny ability to figure it out. Backs up against a wall, seemingly insurmountable challenge, on the brink of death. Yet.. somehow they survive. Some call it luck but I don’t. I’ve seen it too many times to think luck was the reason. For instance: a buddy of mine has been one month from death for the past 18 months. At the beginning of every month there’s not enough cash to run payroll yet payrolls gone out every time. He’s raised money, sold one off deals, and pulled moves I never would have thought of. Just today he closed a $1m contract that converts to $10m at the end of the year. By this time next month they’re profitable. 18 months running on fumes and he came out the other side. Good founders figure it out. So don’t give up.

PSA for first time founders: If you focus all your efforts on customer acquisition you'll eventually crack it. If your sole goal in the world was to find and close customers, you'll do it. You'll build the right features, you'll learn the right skills, you'll drop your favorite parts of the product for the ones users actually want. The problem is usually in the form of 1/ Rigid thinking Let's be real. Your idea sucks. So does mine. It always does. There's no getting around that. You can't be too rigid with your idea or your product or you'll miss the gold mine right next to it. You've got to be flexible and curios enough to find the working path. It's usually not the one you started with. 2/ Scattered focus A lot of founders are looking for cofounders, investors, employees, advisors. All these side quests taking your focus away from what really matters. You know what? If you've got customers then the rest will come. If you don't, they won't. So focus is one thing but it must be well-directed. Focus on what matters - customers. 3/ Lack of commitment You've got to give it everything you've got. From the time you wake up to the time you go to bed - it should be the only thing you're thinking about. Every break. Every lunch. Every shower. If you can do that then you'll eventually run through every idea, every scenario, every bet you can take. Then execute on them. There are very few worlds in which someone this dedicated will fail. 4/ Excuses I can hear them already. - But.. we need money so we can.. - Well.. in this industry.. - You understand, you can’t just… I’ve coached enough founders to know what comes next. A fantastic and completely logical sounding excuse. My response is the same: How can do you it anyways? How can you do it faster than that? Answer these questions in earnest. 99% of the time you’ll find a way to make it work. Making excuses is what a rational person would do but founders are irrational - we push through.

Things that surprise first-time Founders and CEOs that weren’t on Brian’s list. 1. You’re scared shitless but have to stand up and convey confidence 2. You’re often expected to know the answer but you’ve got no clue 3. Every problem eventually becomes your problem. 4. You only get the hardest, unsolvable problems. 5. You have to fire people you like, even if you won’t want to. 6. PMF is not forever. Once found you must fight to keep it. 7. The feeling that your company will fail doesn’t ever go away, not fully at least. 8. You fail so often you grow numb to it 9. Your failures have direct impact on people’s lives as well as their families. 10. You change roles so often you’re constantly inexperienced.

A couple good rules of thumb for YC and fundraising in general: 1. Clarity > Accuracy Stop trying to over explain your startup. Try to simplify the hell out of it. Counter intuitive but simple gets funded. Complex gets blank stares. 2. Big traction, small amount of time Show real proof your thing is working, preferably in a short amount of time. LOIs, contracts, revenue, sign ups, launches, builds - anything that shows you’re moving fast and making impact. That’s the type of founder that gets funded. 3. Large TAM, bottom up calculation. Investors want big markets. Preferably $5B+ but that bar gets higher. Use a bottom up TAM stated like “X users, we charge Y per user - leading to Z annual revenue potential” If you can’t nail these, you’re in a good spot. If you can’t, keep iterating.

I never realized how many existential crisis I'd have to deal with as a founder. - Losing PMF - Star employee leaving - Investor pulling out - Market downturn - Ads doubling in price - ...{insert endless list}...

Your job as a founder is to shamelessly sell* your product everyday. You sell to customers, new hires, investors. Hell.. you sell to your mom so she stops worrying about you. Sell. Sell. Sell.

I woke up reminiscing about the days I couldn’t pay my rent. Most stressful and embarrassing time of my life. My gf had to front the bills, thousands in debt, and no tangible end in sight. I had a coach at the time and talked about closing shop. I was so stressed I walked in the snow for hours, ruminating on the decision. Feel ill I was out there so long. I decided I’d go down swinging. One day at a time until I couldn’t do it anymore. A few more emails, a few more calls, a few more demos. Just keep going. We closed our first customer a few days later. Then the next one. Soon enough I had my pitch dialed. We got to $4k MRR. It wasn’t much split between 2 cofounders but it was enough momentum to carry us through. At the time it was awful. It was the stuff founders talk about but you don’t know until you live it. Some say it’s the lowest point and at the time I thought it was. Looking back I miss it. That grit, that grind. Giving something everything you’ve got until you’ve got no more to give. Got a few more days to live and no turning back. Everything on the line. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It taught me grit. It showed me what I was made of. It prepped me for even harder parts of the journey. The most surprising part? Sometimes I miss it. Lesson: Keep going. You’ll look back fondly on these times. A great chapter in a long book.

Cold outbound is my favorite way to start with an idea. - forces you to write your value - forces you to define your audience - teaches you EXACTLY what lands - gives you direct and honest feedback - it’s the hardest to crack. - So if you do. You’ve know you’ve got something. - It’s scalable once you crack it - It’s not easily copied or replicated - It’s a fully-owned channel This sh*t works.

I started as an intern. Within 2 years I helped them scale to millions of users as director of engineering. The quality of the person matters more than their title.

YC tries to filter out tire kickers. The startup tourists who aren’t serious. Hell.. they do it so well they boot good founders in the process. So don’t be a tourist. Bring speed, traction, and proof of dedication. And let that shine through.

I’ve probably met thousands of founders at this point. The most successful ones always have something wrong with them. Some form of chip on their shoulder.

Did we not see this coming? It’s a hype cycle company. Cheating helped create a hype factory but at some point they need a real product. Thought they’d produce something better than another note taker though.. i love to see different ways of company build so I was rooting for them. Guess that’s what you get from an influencer-run company. Great at hype, poor at product. Let’s see how it plays out, they may surprise us even still.

If you just applied to YC, the job isn't done yet. Between now and you're interview you're expected to make progress. Aim for 2x better numbers by the time your interview arrives. That will position you well.

Meta swe will look you dead in the face and say their job is hard.

A buddy of mine raised about $5m. Started flying first class. Rented a mansion as an Airbnb. Bought a car. Needless to say, he’s not in business anymore.

Consistency is so hard because you get in your own way. Your brain wants progress. It wants dopamine. Consistency is boring. Find a way to grab small wins, daily. That’s the key to staying in business. It worked for me and virtually every successful YC founder I know.

The irony is I take far less vacations I did back then. I just work where I want. When I want.

As an engineer turned founder/CEO, the most valuable skill I learned was sales. It helps with every aspect of the business. Customers, investors, hires - everything. I would not have a business if i never learned to sell. So send the email, book a call, and learn to sell. If you can crack it, sky is the limit. #1 skill you could possibly learn.

Unfortunate reality is that this plays a big part in their decision making. Has nothing to do with odds of success. Especially working in big tech. There’s near zero correlation to the skills you need to be successful.

I raised and scaled to millions with zero followers. Contrary to popular belief scrolling and posting isn't the best use of time.

Here’s what “passion” looks like to me: - waking up at 5am excited to get to work - so zoned in you forgot to eat lunch - needing to sleep but don’t want to stop - finally sleeping and still dreaming about your project One of my favorite feelings. Anyone else?

The thing to know about successful founders is that their story is always retrofitted. It's a modified history of what actually happened. They always start with an insight, a turning point, and the moment they knew they were going to be big. But what's missing from nearly every story is the heartache. The moments of self doubt. Staring in the mirror not knowing wtf to do. The countless times they were on the verge of quitting. Hell.. even the ones who claim the illustrious 'lightbulb moment' never even had it - it just makes for a better story if they did. There's a thousand incentives to retrofit your story. You go viral, impress friends, and get VCs in your inbox. The fact that you had no idea what you were doing at the time doesn't get that same reaction. So it's in their best interest to boost the story a bit. After all successful founders are - if nothing else - great story tellers. So if you see a story that makes you feel like you're not good enough, behind the competition, or whatever else. Just know: the public story doesn't match the internal one. -- What's your favorite founder story?

So.. just watched non-SaaS, non VC-backed, boring business buddy sell his business for millions. We started at the same time. He took no investors. All that cash is his, 100%. Multi million acquisition.

For those of you who don't know me, here's a bit about me. Hint: I'm not a YC application reviewer, whatever that is..

Three reasons why these companies sound more impressive than they are: 1. They select their “start time” to artificially shorten the timespan. 2. They annualize all revenue 3. They have either a knockout viral video, big enterprise contracts, or provide infrastructure such that companies migrate all their infrastructure costs to them. For example: deel as a payroll provider takes credit for all contractor wages as revenue. This is a big number relative to what deel actually makes.

A finding a good cofounder is like finding a good wife. > Very difficult. > Amazing when you find them. > Nightmare if you make the wrong choice. Take it from me. I’ve had many of them (cofounders, not wives)

If you did NOT make it into YC, don't worry.. - It took us multiple attempts - Many, many investors shot us down - Repeatedly told this will never work All part of the process.

The market matters more than both of them. 10% product 10% marketing 80% market Great product, terrible market = failure. Bad product, great market = success. The market is like a tide. You can ride it. But you can’t fight it.

Is it a hustle? The premise seems to be that VCs haven’t done the math but presumably they understand the full play and take the risk alongside the founder, right? Worst case is a 1x payback especially given the profitability of these companies

The hardest part of being a founder is: - working hard, not knowing if it will pay off. - nothings working, but you can’t stop. - debating if you suck or your idea does - the fact no one can tell you how to win - seeing others grow while you struggle - wondering if you’re going to make it - that moment you’ve failed 5x in a row - insecurity that you’re not cut out I’ve raised millions, grown to millions. These feelings never go away. Not fully. But one day you’ll pick your head up and realize they don’t matter. You just have to keep moving.

Frankly it sounds like his mistake was contradicting himself, not his initial TAM calculation. One big problem with VCs is they ask for truth while funding exaggerators.

Great founders know more about you than you might know about yourself. You’ll see it in their sales process. They state the problems you have but couldn’t verbalize. They predict the next words you’re going to say. They obsess over this problem you’re dealing with.

I’ve coached dozens of founders through the YC process (90% hit rate so far). Everyone struggles with a clear one liner and it’s painful to watch

As a YC founder it's a bit annoying to see credit taken like this but I also know tags like this help my team close more deals and open more opportunity so.. love hate relationship. It's never about the titles or accolades anyways so not worth hating on it.

I’m constantly surprised with YC startups finding success even in the “crowded” areas. For example @emergentlabs in vibe coding apps. Making waves in a space that felt crowded. Are you sure we need contrarian bets? Feels the market is so new you can compete even where it feels crowded

Anything that creates founder wealth increases the number of people who attempt to be founders and as a result increases innovation. More wealthy founders = more innovation Even seeing that story of open ai has just spurred a new wave of founders inspired to give a shot. This is a subtle but important driving force of innovation. That + available capital

PSA for first time founders: this life is harder than anyone lets on. I’ve raised millions, scaled millions. Here’s what I wish I knew this before starting my first company. This is what to expect ⬇️

The market is the biggest distinguishing factor I’ve seen in virtually all YC founders. I’ve met: - dumb dumbs who are the most successful - geniuses who are going out of business - hustlers who can’t crack a deal Market is by far the biggest difference. It’s the difference between getting stuck at $10k MRR vs. soaring to $5m ARR in the blink of an eye.

God bless the solo founders. That's hard work. You don't need a cofounder but I'm very glad I have one. I couldn't sell, build, raise, hire, manage, and support all by myself. I don't have that dog in me. I respect the hell out of whoever can.

For those of you grinding, realize this: - I’ve tried to build many businesses - I’ve quit on many businesses - I’ve failed on many businesses By now every one of those businesses is a success. Built by another founder. I tried the wrong things and quit too early. But I never make the same mistake twice. Keep at it.

Engineer + Sales is a killer combo. You forward deploy yourself and crush 6-figure contracts.

There's a lot of my founder friends who became founders because they couldn't find a job. The lack of options is a surprising advantage for founders. They simply have no choice but to keep going.

Most founders don’t realize that the boostrapped folks selling on acquire often make more than their VC backed counterparts. If you haven’t heard of liquidation preference; you should look it up!

YC applications open. We were rejected the 1st time, accepted the 2nd. There’s a method to the madness. Some basics: > High traction, short amount of time > Clear writing, use data to support > extremely clear one-liner > extremely clear unique insight > bottom up TAM calculation Most importantly: don’t worry if you don’t get in. Revenue is still the only thing that matters. YC should not make or break your company.

Unfortunate truth: The best products don’t win, the best distributed do.

Marketing is always a zero sum game. Being the first is novel, until it becomes spam. That's why so much startup advice is wrong the moment you hear it.

very hot take: 9/10 startups fail because 9/10 founders don't have what it takes. I feel bad even writing it..

In order to become a billionaire you often give up the parts of you that are happy on a ranch in Maui. Better put: if you’re dreaming of a house in Maui you likely won’t be a billionaire. There’s a damn good chance you’re happier though.

Be careful about being the best for too long though. Eventually your job is to make yourself obsolete. Otherwise, you're slowing the business down and making your life somewhat miserable.

As someone who’s done both I’ve seen both sides. Neither is easier or harder than the other they are different. It also depends on what you mean by “building”. Sure, building a startup with no money is harder. Building a billion dollar company is infinitely harder than bootstrapping to $1m though. Just depends I guess.

A buddy of mine was on his last investor meeting after 30 rejections. I asked him to explain his business to me. My response: “dude, any investor would be lucky to be on the cap table. Stop being so timid and act like it.” He closed the investor the very next day. You have to go in with the right mentality.

There’s a mental shift that happens when you realize you can make it on your own terms. It’s an overwhelming sense of freedom and relief. Hop you all feel that one day.

I don’t care if you build in public. Not one bit. If you’re a great engineer I will hire you. Full stop. No exceptions. Focus on your skills, not your flash.

If you’re pricing too low, you’re missing out on key insights. 💡 Pricing complaints = learnings. When someone complains about price, it’s usually because they: •Don’t understand the value yet (fix messaging) •Aren’t your target customer (fix targetting) •Aren’t getting enough value for them (fix product)

I wish Lovable met Webflow. That would be perfect.

As a YC founder I have to respectfully disagree. This is true for folks who apply with only an idea and no traction. There’s not much else to base your claim on so of course background will play a larger role. That said, if you bring a real business with growth, traction, and proof then background matters far less I personally had little to no pedigree when I was accepted, I brought a real business instead. In either case you need to prove yourself (and yes sell yourself) that’s the commonality

As a YC founder I read this and think - this is why so many YC companies succeed. These are the most common company killers. YC does a good job of teaching them. YC founders do a good job of avoiding them. Simply put: these lessons helps us stay alive long enough to figure sh*t out. Great write up.

As a product-founder myself, this was the hardest thing to learn. The product did not scale us to $1m+. The distribution did. A great product is just table stakes.

As a founder I’m always surprised to see the hype around $10k/mo. It’s a very risky position without much room for error or margin to hire support. Even at $1m there’s not much buffer. Folks think it’s $10k/mo and you’ve made it, not realizing how difficult that stage really is. As you said, at that point you haven’t even figured out the basics.

I hate when people misconstrue working hard vs progress. Putting in more hours is easy. You’re not a hero by working through your Sunday. Best performers rest. (I learned this the hard way)

90% of golfing is missing your target REPEATEDLY until you finally make it in. same with startups.

Half your competition never starts. The other half quits in the first 12 months. Not many left standing after a while. It’s really a battle against yourself. Willingness to act. Willingness to keep failing in a public fashion. Until at some point it turns around.

Unpopular belief: You should not over explain your startup. The more you say, the more you're giving away. The more you give away, the more surface area in which you look weak. If given the chance, VCs will peak under every rock. As an early stage startup you definitely don't want that.

Friday Wrap Up: - Did you accomplish what you set out to? - What key lessons came from this week? - What's going to make nexts week more impactful?