Competitor's Domain Grab Reveals Fear and Amateurism
A startup told me a highly-funded competitor bought the .com of their name. I told them this is good news in a way. It means the competitor is (a) amateurish and (b) afraid of them, both of which suggest the competitor will lose in the long term.
Corp Dev Reads Desperation, Not Talent or Tech
Founders in trouble are often dismayed by how fast corp dev people can sense their desperation. You'll be less surprised if you remember this is all they *can* sense. They can't judge technology or talent. All they can judge is...
Relying on a Better Filter Improves My Decisions
I'm not a great judge of character, but fortunately my mistakes are nearly all in the same direction (accepting the bad rather than rejecting the good). So all I need is a second pass by someone with a tighter filter,...
Investors Will Dilute to Join YC for Mutual Gain
If you want proof of what a good deal YC is for founders, I just told a UK startup I've invested several million pounds in that I'd be happy if they wanted to do YC. I'd get diluted alongside them,...
Prioritize Startups Now; Future Cohorts Secure Growth
As long as all newly founded startups prefer your product, don't worry about competitors who can convince larger customers. You'll own all future cohorts of companies, and that's more than enough. Plus in practice you'll eventually convert the old cohorts...
Selling to Startups Beats Investor‑Favored Big‑Company Deals
A startup told me that one of their investors didn't like it that they were selling to newly founded startups, and wanted them to sell to bigger companies, who have more money. If investors tell you this, write them off...
Describe Startups with Verbs, Not Nouns, for Clarity
When describing a startup it's usually better to use verbs rather than nouns. Say what you do rather than what you are. Not because it sounds more dynamic, but simply because it's clearer.
Money only Threatens You when It Buys All Ads
Don't fear competitors who've raised a lot, unless you can say precisely how all that extra money is going to make them beat you. E.g. if ads are the only way to acquire users, and they can buy all the...
Startup Rebounds: From Stalled Growth to Resurgence
A year of smoothly exponential growth, and then suddenly it stops working. That has to be demoralizing. But the startup toughs it out, and five months later growth is back. https://t.co/tQM44KNJXY
Fund Startup Ops with Bond Interest, Not Dilution
I talked to a startup today that had been forced to take so much from investors and whose expenses were so low that they could put the money in bonds and fund their operations off the interest. I told them...
Fundraising Slumps No Longer Mean Failure
I met with a startup in the current batch who seemed demoralized because fundraising was going badly. Later I learned they'd already raised a million dollars. Fundraising going badly is not what it used to be.
Investors Overlook That This Work Already Feels Automated
I was talking recently to a startup using AI to take over a certain kind of work. Apparently investors are skeptical that AI could do it. I told them they should point out that most of this work already seems...
Compressing Data for LLMs Equals Understanding and Innovation
I talked to a startup yesterday that had been forced to compress certain information to fit it into an LLM context window. But compression is understanding, and in the compressed form the information could be used for other, new things.
Startup Founders Trace Multi‑generational Tech Company Lineage
I met a startup today whose founders had previously worked at Coinbase and Scale. And Brian Armstrong of Coinbase had himself worked at Airbnb. I bet 3 "generations" is not the record though. Anyone know of a longer chain?
AI Multiplies Startup Productivity, Saving Ten Hires
I talked to a startup that's not a software company but uses AI quite a lot. They currently have 6 employees. I asked how many more people they'd need to hire if they didn't use AI, and they said about...
Founders Prioritize Safer Pesticides for Farmers From Day One
One of the things I love about these founders is how genuinely committed they are to discovering pesticides that are safer for farmers. Startups often talk about making the world better, but I can tell you this was their concern...
Migrate only for Concrete Needs, Not Trendy Buzzwords
Ouch. If this is your list of reasons for doing something, don't do it. "Why we migrated: - New investor wanted 'cloud-native' - Engineers wanted K8s experience - Competitors were using it - Seemed like the future"
Accelerator Overload Floods Me with Spam Offers
There are now so many "accelerators" that I get spam from people making products for them. Very weird. I wrote all YC's original software, so every spam is either offering something I wrote, or something I didn't think was worth...
Smart Investors Weight Outcomes, Chase Big Wins over Many Misses
The reason (good) investors are more optimistic is that, for them, the outcomes are weighted. If you're just measuring percent correct, you win by predicting startups will fail. But if the outcomes are weighted, you look for big wins even...
Limited AI Still Fuels Revolutionary Momentum, Like Beam Engines
Prediction: LLMs in their current form may not be able to do everything, but AI now has enough momentum that this won't matter. Beam engines couldn't do everything either, but they were enough to set off the Industrial Revolution.
Originality Gives Innovators Edge Over Mere Copycats
It's easier to innovate when you're the original of something. People copying you can only copy a snapshot of your current state. They don't know which aspects of the snapshot are essential and which are random things you'd been about...
Top Startups Hoard Cash, Rarely Spend Raised Funds
This is common among the most successful startups. It may seem wasteful, but it's a good idea to have some extra money in the bank as insurance against disasters, and the most successful startups have that luxury.
Good Cofounder Beats Solo, Bad Cofounder Hurts
Good cofounder > no cofounder > bad cofounder. This may seem obvious but a lot of people don't seem to grasp it.
