A Playbook for Startups

This episode is brought to you by:

SnackMagic. SnackMagic is the only 100% customizable snack and swag service that allows recipients to build their own snack stash. Whether you want to thank your global team, need goodie bags for your upcoming hybrid event or want to stock your office pantry, the menu of over 1,000 types of snacks and sips covers just about every preference. Learn more and get 10% off your first order with code Patrick at snackmagic.com/patrick.

Versett. Versett designs, builds, and scales digital platforms for some of the world's most ambitious companies. If you require a high-performance team to tackle a hard or ambiguous problem, then Versett is the firm to call. To check them out, visit versett.com/patrick. 

[00:03:08] - [First question] - His philosophy on the power of forcing a choice

[00:04:43] - How he knows when he comes across a team that has an apple quality

[00:07:39] - Exploring and hunting new inflections in ever-changing systems

[00:10:37] - Why recognizing winning insights allows you to not have to predict the future

[00:12:23] - Whether or not the evolving nature of the funding landscape changes his thinking

[00:14:18] - An example of his insight framework and stress testing a team’s potential

[00:17:21] - Practice reckless optimism

[00:18:54] - Commonalities between teams and their ideas when they get inflections wrong 

[00:20:12] - What the value hypothesis is and how to test it

[00:22:15] - Ways that effective startup teams operate compared to big corporations 

[00:25:36] - His involvement post-investment and where outsiders can be most helpful in a companies’ early days

[00:28:34] - Lessons learned about finding, convincing, and marketing to their first customers 

[00:32:13] - An example of early customer selection done phenomenally well

[00:34:09] - Why it was possible for companies like Justin.TV and Lift to pivot so dramatically from their original ideas 

[00:38:49] - Customer development and using good customers to your advantage

[00:42:31] - Who went from founder to the best growth executive 

[00:43:05] - What he thinks his firm will need to do to continue offering an apple to founders

[00:46:08] - The most useful stress tests his firm can offer founders

[00:46:52] - Defining category design and what the process of category design looks like

[00:50:33] - Inflections he’s currently paying the most attention to

[00:52:07] - His experience with an HP35 calculator and how it shaped his life 

[00:54:41] - What venture capital may look like in the future

[00:56:30] - The most difficult things he faces in his career

[00:57:52] - Ways he’s learned to manage failure more effectively

[00:59:06] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him