How to Succeed with a Startup

Li Jiang
Li Jiang
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

I enjoyed this very concise talk by Sam Altman. Here are my notes & reflections.

A product so good people tell friends

Above all, this is the key to startup success. This is really hard to do and is 80% of the work.

Startups always want it to be something else.

That’s an interesting comment by Sam because it means that many times people get distracted by all the things in a startup and trying to make “progress” by networking with investors or speaking at conferences, but at the end of the day, it’s building a great product that counts.

Easy to understand

A great startup should have clear thinking and can explain to their users / customers what their product solves easily.

Exponential growth in market

The most important startups start in small markets growing quickly. 11 years ago the market for iPhone apps was $0. See my post below on this topic:

Real trends vs fake trends

Real trends — early adopters use it excessively; fake trends — people buy the product, but don’t use it enough. I bought a Oculus Go on a whim and have never used it for more than 10 minutes at a time. Same problems with dApps.

Evangelical founder

Someone in the company needs to be recruiting, selling the product, selling to the press, raising money, and infect with enthusiasm the whole world.

Ambitious vision

Let yourself grow more ambitious over time without being grandiose.

Hard startups vs easy startup

Bringing together enough talent into one organization is hard; why is employee #20 going to join? Picking something that matters helps inspire people to join the project.

Confident and definite view of the future

Be confident and flexible; having the courage of your conviction.

Huge if it works

The Silicon Valley ecosystem is built on low chance of success but huge if it works.

Team

The team you build is the company you build.

Optimists

Inner fire of belief; this problem must be solvable.

Idea generators

Some people need to be idea generators on the team; most ideas are bad.

I’m personally a big believer in listening to lots of ideas or thinking about lots of ideas. While most are bad, some will become valuable.

“We’ll figure it out”

A lot of things will go wrong; even if this problem feel like it’s going to kill the company, we are going to figure it out.

“I’ve got it”

People just step up and just do it.

Action bias

Bias toward action; move quickly

The blessing of inexperience

Startups do incredible things because no one told them it was hard.

Momentum

Never lose momentum, you never really rest as a founder in the first few years of your startup; startups survive on their own momentum; if you lose momentum, it’s very difficult to get it back.

Competitive advantage

Sensible business model

Distribution strategy

Startups need a competitive advantage, sensible business model, and strong distribution strategy.

Frugality, focus, obsession, love

These are the traits of best founders.

Why startups win

One yes versus one no; for ideas that sound bad but are good, startups need only one yes. If you suggest an idea in a big company, it only takes one no from someone in power to shut down the idea. In a startup, you only need one investor to say yes to take a shot at building it.

Fast-changing markets

Speed of market evolution let’s startups iterate and make more decisions faster.

Platform shifts

iPhone and mobile apps represent the power of platform shifts. Most large companies work on annual cadence, big company can’t turn that fast; startups can go “all-in” on a new platform.

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