how not to drown in startup advice

Andy Young // @andyy // [email protected]

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How not toDrown

inStartup Advice


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Let’s talk about..

How Not to Drown inStartup Advice


What is advice, anyways?


Limited life experience+

Over-generalisation


Limited life experience+

Over-generalisation

- Paul Buchheit : creator of Gmail


Advice is our secret weapon

We can benefit from thelearnings of others


Blogs, books, tweets, slide decks, talks..

Some of my favourites:➔ BothSidesOfTheTable.com - Mark Suster’s blog

➔ Paul Graham’s essays➔ Marc Andreessen’s blog archives

➔ Dave McClure - Startup Metrics for Pirates➔ The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

There’s a lot of advice out there..


Generic advice..that you read in the blogs, books..

vs

Specific advice..about your situation, that you get from mentors,

advisors..


“All the Startup Advice You Read is Wrong- but you should read some anyway”

- Ev Williams: Co-founder of Medium, Twitterhttps://medium.com/on-startups/8ba2f1774789

Generic advice


Specific advice

Find yourself mentors & advisors

- People who have been there before(Un-)successful startup founders, business leaders..

- People who are travelling the same journeyFriends / fellow founders..

- People who have seen a lotInvestors..


Getting specific advice

DO: Reach out to people and ask for their advice / feedback

- Be specific- Be courteous

- Give a reason, suggest date(s)- Earn their respect


Advice is great!

but..


Too much advice?Analysis paralysis



The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma:Most advice is contradictory �



Most contradictory advice is still valid

The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma:Most advice is contradictory �


“Have a clear vision, and stick with it”vs.

“Be prepared to change your idea / pivot”


“Get a lot of users,figure out monetisation later”

vs.“Make money from day 1”


“Raise more money than you need”vs.

“Only raise as much money as you need”


“Hire your friends”vs.

“Never hire your friends!”


Understanding & interpreting advice

Who’s giving it?

What’s their context?

What are they assuming?


“You should do X..”


Assuming Y..

“You should do X..”


“Raise more money than you need”vs.

“Only raise as much money as you need”


“Hire your friends”vs.

“Never hire your friends!”


Deciphering the clichés


“Focus”


“Be focused”


“Focus on core”


“The main thing is to keep the main thing

the main thing”

- Stephen Covey



the main thing”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯



the main thing”

- Stephen Covey


Focus, Level #1Say “no” to distractions


Focus, Level #2Cut things out;

narrow down your scope


Focus, Level #3“Minimum Viable Business”


“Minimum Viable Business”

1 product1 market

1 USP1 distribution channel

1 revenue stream


Focus, Level #4?Identify the 1-2 things you’re trying

to improve right now


How to not drown


Seek advice

Understand the context / assumptions

Make strong choices

It’s your opportunity


“Avoid decision by indecision”

- Mark Suster bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/05/15/

avoid-decision-by-indecision/


“You’ll often hear conflicting advice about everything but ‘build a great product’

..this means you can go either way on much of the rest of it and it doesn’t really matter.”

- Sam Altman, Y Combinator http://blog.samaltman.com/startup-advice


Good luck!


References

“Avoid decision by indecision” - Mark Susterhttp://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/05/15/avoid-decision-by-indecision/

“All the startup advice you read is wrong - but you should read some anyway”- Evan Williams

https://medium.com/on-startups/8ba2f1774789

how not to drown in startup advice

Small Business & Entrepreneurship