Had a meeting with an older founder yesterday who sold his company for $300m.
He told me "if it's not a billion dollar market, don't waste your time."
Good advice for the game he played. He took venture money. He needed a giant exit to make the math work.
But that's his math, not mine. A small market you can actually win beats a huge one where you're the fortieth person getting run over.
@jackprice Underrated one: pay to be in the room where your customers already are.
If a $500 ticket can put you in front of 10 real buyers, and one of them is worth $30k a year, that's a 60x return on the bet.
@thejustinwelsh I think it depends on the mindset as well.
Networking > GPA
Procedural Knowledge > Declarative Knowledge
The 4-year degree alone has become less and less of a springboard and more of a floor. It doesn't launch you anywhere.
Everyone wants to build the AI that does everything.
I'm far more focused on the one that does a single annoying thing a specific person already hates doing.
Less impressive at a party. Far more likely to get paid for.
People talk about multitasking like it's doing two things at once. It's not. It's switching. And every switch leaves a little of your attention stuck on the last thing. You show up to the new task already half-gone. Focus isn't about working harder on one thing. It's about not paying that tax forty times a day.
@thejustinwelsh Consistency and curiosity, together.
Consistency keeps you going.
Curiosity makes sure you're going somewhere worth ending up.
Working hard at the wrong thing is just a slower way to be stuck!
My mentor's whole theory of business:
"Shake the bush. If there's a rabbit, beat the shit out of it until you've found every rabbit in there."
Most people are great at the shaking part.
New bush, new bush, new bush. Feels like progress every time.
The money is in the part nobody likes. Staying at one bush long enough to find out how big the rabbit actually was.