Drop your startup below and I’ll tell you the most important move I’d make next.
Give me:
What you’re building
Where you are today
Your next goal
Who your ideal customer is
I’ll reply with one specific move to focus on next. Maybe I can save you from some of my mistakes
It's one of the most high value questions I've been asking myself
If you're trying to get your first paying customer, do you need a fully baked product or can you demo it and have people pre-pay?
If you're trying to talk to customers, do you need to cold email 100 people or can you go to one meetup and talk to them directly?
If you're trying to validate an idea, do you need to build an MVP or can you manually deliver the result for 3 customers first?
I think being a founder is partly about cutting out unnecessary steps so you can move faster.
It's uncomfortable sometimes though. What do you think?
I've spent the last few weeks helping founders figure out their next move. There's a weird correlation between things we avoid doing and those that help us move forward fastest.
Give it a try!
I'll reply with 3 achievable challenges you can do today, from easier to harder
Let's make some progress.
I know it sounds obvious.
I spent the last few years building a product for people who struggle with social anxiety. People liked it, but they weren't really a market I could build a business around. At least not early on.
Then I realized the product wasn't really about social anxiety. It was about helping people do the uncomfortable things they kept putting off.
A few months ago, I zoomed out and asked myself a few questions.
"Who has the highest cost of inaction?"
"Who does inaction actually cost money?"
"Who would actually pay to solve it?"
For me, it was founders.
And I know that because my own avoidance probably cost me years on my startup. When you avoid the uncomfortable work as a founder, your business literally stops moving.
The best part is, if you find the right who, you might not have to change the product much at all.
Hope this helps someone. Make sure you're solving the problem for the best person first.
Distribution is hard, don’t get me wrong.
But if I put as much time, creativity and effort into it as I did building my products, many of would have gone much faster.
A lot of my early users came from perseverance and/or doing things other than what I was comfortable with. Like, getting out from behind my screen lol
A lot of my building was actually avoidance in disguise
Curious to know if it’s the same for y’all.
Looking for 5 founders who know what they need to do but keep putting it off.
Every day, I'll push you to do the one uncomfortable thing that's most likely to move your startup forward. That might be reaching out to customers, launching before "ready", asking for money, or networking.
No motivational fluff. Just a clear next step, accountability, and daily momentum.
In return, I'd like honest feedback about the experience.
If you're interested, comment or DM me what you're building.
I’ve been talking to a lot of founders over the past week.
A lot of them know what they need to do. Post publicly. Talk to customers in person. Launch before they’re ready. Ask for payment.
The problem isn’t really strategy yet. It’s that all of this puts your work (and you) out in the open.
Building feels good because it’s private. Distribution feels uncomfortable because it’s public.
Have you experienced this too?
Looking for 5 founders.
I’ll be your bold cofounder for the next 7 days.
Every day, I’ll push you to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding that’s most likely to move your startup forward. That might be reaching out to users, posting publicly, asking for money, or networking.
In return, I just want honest feedback about the experience.
Interested? Comment or DM me what you’re building.
Looking for 5 builders. I'll be your bold cofounder for the next 7 days.
If you're trying to turn your side project into a real business, I'll push you every day to do the one uncomfortable thing you've been avoiding that's most likely to move it forward.
That might be:
In return, I just want honest feedback about the experience.
Interested? Comment or DM me what you're building.
I’ve followed them from afar and read a lot of their content. They seem to be down to earth builders who are a bit different than your typical investor.
Obviously looks can be deceiving. But I genuinely want to know from people who have worked with them.
Looking for 5 founders.
I’ll be your bold cofounder for the next 7 days.
Every day, I’ll push you to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding that’s most likely to move your startup forward
In return, I just want honest feedback about the experience.
Interested? Comment or DM me what you’re building.
Distribution is hard, don’t get me wrong.
But if I put as much time, creativity and effort into it as I did building my product, I would be further along.
A lot of my early users came from perseverance and/or doing things other than what I was comfortable with. Like, getting out from behind my screen
Sometimes not knowing what to do is actually avoidance in disguise
Curious to know if it’s the same for y’all.
I kept putting off the work that actually grows a startup. I put off talking to customers. I avoided pitching to my warm network. And I avoided asking for money.
There was always something to build.
I’ve grown a lot over the years, and I created a system that’s helped me consistently do uncomfortable things. I wish I’d had it when I first started.
So I'm building a product around this idea. It's your bold cofounder. It helps you do the work you've been avoiding, remember what you're capable of, and keep moving forward.
I'm looking for 5 founders who feel like avoidance has slowed their startup more than bad code.
In return, I'll work with you personally, help you break through whatever you're stuck on, and use your feedback to shape the product.
If that sounds interesting (and you have an iPhone), comment or DM!
Fear has held my startup back more than anything else.
Because while I've always been great at building, I've been scared to fully share what I'm building. Scared to promote it to my network. Scared to release before it's "good enough". Scared to ask people to pay.
I'm always thinking about what people will think about me.
But the thing that's helped me most is realizing that confidence as a founder comes from evidence, not positive thinking.
Actual evidence that you can do hard things.
So here's what I do:
If you do this for long enough, you'll build a giant highlight reel of all the hards things you did. There is no better weapon against self-doubt or fear than this.
Hope this helps someone. Happy building!
Fear and avoidance have held my products back more than anything else.
I've been building a product around an idea I wish I'd had years ago. It's a bold cofounder who pushes you toward the next brave step and reminds you what you're capable of.
Comment with something you've been avoiding and I'II reply with three challenges, ranked from least to most bold
I've realized that fear and avoidance have held my products back more than anything else.
I've been building a product around an idea I wish I'd had years ago: a bold cofounder who pushes you toward the next brave step and reminds you what you're capable of.
Comment with something you've been avoiding and I'II reply with three progressively braver challenges