We've been quiet, but for good reason.
Behind the scenes, we’ve been rebuilding StartupDevKit into something way more powerful.
New UI & experience. Two new killer courses. And an epic #startup resource library that will knock your socks off. 🚀 Stay tuned.
I’ve been heads down rebuilding @StartupDevKit
for the past yr bringing it to new standards & it's been an epic undertaking for myself as a solo founder — I'm really excited about this incredible #startup platform I've been rebuilding! Here's a small part of the library for now!
Customer development is an integral part of idea validation & market validation for #startups, ensuring products are meeting the needs of customers.🎯
Learn more here 👉 What Is Customer Development? Background And Process https://t.co/mbgm4EP9AM
#entrepreneurship#founder
It was fun being interviewed by Lenny because he asked me questions that no one had ever asked before, like how I came to be "the social radar," and whether this can be learned or not. Thanks Lenny!
Buried in 10 years of Jensen Huang's Stanford talks are the secrets to building the most valuable tech company in the world.
I dug through hours of talks and mapped out how the 30 year veteran CEO of NVIDIA thinks about inventing the future.
Some companies are what we at @firstround like to call a “fast bake,” where the ingredients coalesce from the start. (Uber and Square are examples — early on we saw strong momentum.)
But others are more of a “slow bake,” or an under-the-radar journey to land on the right product and message for the right customer. Roblox comes to mind here — as does @clayrunhq.
As they shared this morning, their recent traction is impressive. 100K users, 2500+ customers (including Anthropic, Intercom, Notion, Vanta, and Verkada), and a fresh $46M Series B round (from us here at First Round along with our friends at @MeritechCapital and @sequoia).
What’s even more impressive is that this explosion in growth largely took place in the past 18 months or so. (As recently as spring 2022, Clay was still close to $0 in revenue.)
But the reality is that this “overnight success” was 7 years in the making, as this timeline shows.
What the headlines don’t capture is the years that @kareemamin, @NicolaeRusan, and @vxanand spent quietly plugging away to refine the idea and positioning.
For me, this is a reminder of the role that patience plays in company building. It takes a long time to build a transcendent company — and you’ll often be misunderstood or undervalued for most of that time.
I’m so inspired by how Kareem and the entire Clay team have kept at it for the past 7 years — and I’m grateful that he chose to openly share more about their journey to PMF on The Review today so more builders can learn from it. You'll find the entire story below.
On this episode of In the Vault, @Plaid CEO @zachperret discusses the digitization of money, the future of fintech, and whether pay-by-bank makes sense for consumers in the real world.
An excellent conversation with @marqeta CEO @Simonkhalaf and a16z General Partner @astrange .
🔗 Link to full episode in comments.
The AI boom is reviving Silicon Valley and changing how founders operate. Here are three trends to be aware of:
🧠 Think lean: AI is changing the way companies scale. “We're building an amazing company with 15 people,” says @dsiroker, founder of @LimitlessAI . “In the past we might have needed hundreds of people. It’s a different way of thinking.”
⚡ Speed is key: “The biggest thing I perceive as being different is the pace of change,” says @lukehoban, CTO of @PulumiCorp, a multi-cloud infrastructure startup. “It feels like there’s a fundamental new capability every few weeks.
💪 Aim high: nobody can claim to know how industry dynamics and market structures will settle out in an AI world. So be bold, and pursue ideas that do not fit in existing business models and categories.
For more insights on what the shift towards generative AI means for company builders, read our full report here:
https://t.co/7KcGsepTKY
#AI #tech #siliconvalley
Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and Google, were all built by teams with a technical co-founder - an essential element to most successful startups. They were passionate founders who understood that there was a hole in the market and they could fill the gap, gaining a large market share.
But the other guys knew what they wanted, were able to build it, realize their potential, & learned as they progressed. Sometimes, the market doesn't know what they need. Microsoft & Apple were brand new innovations that the market didn't know they needed. They generated demand.
Did you know that Slack was on the brink of failure once? But as you know, they became a remarkable success.🚀 Learn how @SlackHQ 's #founders turned it all around, becoming the unicorn they are🦄 & discover the timeless lessons they learned.
https://t.co/nMr1bAjaMZ
#startups
Working cross-functionally has been the best practice in #startups for years. But many #founders operate in silos & don't experience the benefits from CF work. Improve the way you work. Learn How A Cross-Functional Team Drives Innovation & Startup Success
https://t.co/hOtVYF5xY9
17% of #startups fail b/c they've no business model. Meaning, they've no business plan or executive summary either. Whether you want investment or not, an executive summary is crucial. It's like a blueprint of your startup. Learn how to write a great one.
https://t.co/bTSzQgG1FJ
An integral part of any startup's strategy, are KPIs. Ensure that you set and measure KPIs for your #startup so you're not doing business aimlessly! 🎯 Learn about the top 34 Types Of Startup KPIs & Metrics To Measure (With Examples)
https://t.co/noNsMEQf6E
#analytics#startups