Sean O'Keefe

Now: founder @ building something new
Was: co-founder @yearendinc | finance, engineering, product @cartainc

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

@SandroChess @getdynasty_com Yes, would recommend. Free, low effort, and gets a lot of eyeballs from startup employees and VCs (your target market). Also, since you have a free version you’ll probably get a lot of sign-ups from it.

[Brian Chesky @bchesky]

In 2009, we raised $615,000 at a $3M post-money valuation

If you're raising money, don't get discouraged

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Great video on what it's like to build a startup using Do Things That Don't Scale philosophy
https://t.co/JWMv8DwiRQ

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

🤔

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Proud to see @cartainc and @henrysward influencing startup legislation for good.

Surreal how far Carta has come in 10 year ❤️.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

♥️ this

Too many CEOs are steering the company from the bleachers instead of coaching from the field.

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

True for all CEOs

Dog food the product. Feel the pain of real customers. Get close.

The fog of war from the org operating in pure abstraction kills products and companies.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

classic

[Aaron Harris @harris]

The worst fundraising advice comes from well meaning, inexperienced investors who want to be helpful and to sound smart.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

A product that tracks the real-time status of tax refunds? https://t.co/YaetXnISiv 😊

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Prioritizing user experience 1st in product means ->
Bugs that impact user experience get fixed before engineers work on new features.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

The danger in having a longer-term detailed product roadmap ->

You've set what you're building & are tracking progress against it. It's harder to listen to customer feedback & build features customers want. Instead, you are building what's on the roadmap to demonstrate progress

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Recession is a great time to launch a startup that saves people $ or helps existing businesses support new customers / markets

Airbnb and Stripe are two great examples.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

@henrysward Great article - thanks for sharing, again.
The next article -> challenges with them leaving and how to manage the process.

Tony Romo had a backup QB riding the bench. Do most execs have/allow the equivalent? Principal-agent problem?

Correction: @elonmusk was fired from Paypal

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Most important and underrated skill for founders:

Being truthful to yourself and others with what's really happening.

Recognizing failure or uncomfortable realities, and then being resilient so you can find the next step in the path.

[Henry Ward @henrysward]

I want to help 5 Carta customers raise their next round. If you’re a @cartainc customer or would like to become one so I can help you close your next round fill out this form: https://t.co/VqmUrGbHKj

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Hard to see this .... @cartainc

Also, why do Execs in tech given the opportunity to become rising stars (lowly Director -> CTO in 4 years) keep throwing away the chance with behavior like this? Sad ...
https://t.co/PLwIrJtLOt

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Yep, and great managers are rare.

[Ashley Chang @ashmchang]

Finding the right manager is the #1 most important thing to look for in your next job.

The right manager will teach you, challenge you, and accelerate your career.

This is how to find out if a potential manager is your person 👇

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

UNREAL play-by-play of how early stage founders close first customers - hard to believe this info is distributed free

https://t.co/mfMmFPeub0

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

Totally agree ❤️

[Michael Seibel @mwseibel]

One thing that seems pretty common across Bay Area tech is a general 10 day shutdown/vacation around Christmas and New Years. It’s the only widespread annual shutdown I see in our industry and I think it’s great.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

(3/3) The MVP is the foundation for the next iteration of the product. Build a strong foundation that it can evolve on.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

I learned the 2nd time around (1/3):

MVP means building a feature set that is the most basic version of the solution that solves the user's problem.

[Sean O'Keefe @sokeefeusa]

(2/3) It isn't an excuse for having the user hit bugs that break their trust or features that don't work.