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.Naval on Finding Technical Co-founders Join the conversation: "It's getting harder and harder because these days those people just go and start their own company. So what do you bring to the table that a good technical co-founder would not have? That's number one. And that would either mean... you have some particular deep insight and relationships into a market and you have capital because you've got to bring a lot to the table because you're not creating the product anymore. Or secondly, you have to have a relationship that's pre-existing. You worked together before at some company or you've gone to school together. Outside of those cases, it's incredibly hard to recruit a quality technical co-founder. And I'm not even sure you're in a position to start a company. This is why so many companies come out of universities or come out of the Bay Area because there you're just very likely to have business founders and technical founders next to each other. The business founders at least have enough technical experience that they can properly evaluate the technical co-founder. And then the business founder has to hustle and raise money, recruit people, have a vision, have a customer base, have a market ready to go, and have proven themselves. And now lots and lots of other things to balance out the skills a technical founder brings to the table. There are now more successful cases of solo technical founders starting companies than there are of solo non-technical founders starting companies. So it is an uphill climb. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you.”show more

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14,487 views • 2 years ago •via X (Twitter)

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4 Comments

Cragin Godley2 years ago

@naval building is more brutal than selling, I’ve done both never ending on-call, security threats, 80-100hrs/wk at desk alone, constant interruptions of deep work engineers can learn sales, etc. but not the other way around so you must bring cash, network, expertise to balance this

Asadbek Noyibjonov1 year ago

@naval Hey Airchat team, can you help me with login issue? I sent detailed msg about issue in dm

•‿• Hantoshi1 year ago

@naval hey team🥰 i lost my access to airchat after it force me to update the app. now sms confirmation does not seem to be working. can you assistance please 🙏

Olúwátìmíléhìn1 year ago

@naval Can’t sign in

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Startup Archive

167,320 views • 9 months ago

David Sacks: Debt makes your company more fragile Friedberg: “I hate this business. I think venture debt's the worst vulture-like business in Silicon Valley. “ Sacks: “Right. I've always hated when founders take on venture debt. Part of it is that founders forget that they have to pay it back. They treat it like venture capital and they forget about that, and then they get surprised. But the other thing I've never liked about it is it makes you more fragile. It basically subjects you to a bunch of business covenants, and it makes it harder for you to do an abrupt shift in your business, because now you've got a bank looking over your shoulder and they want to make sure they get paid, and they have to review your financials and all the rest of it. And to your point, J Cal, the companies that have free cash flow right now are the ones that again, have the most maneuverability. I hate taking away maneuverability from founders, and that is what debt does because it subjects you to a fixed schedule of payments. And so this is always a thing to remember, whether you're a business or you are an individual, when you put on that debt, it makes you more vulnerable to big disruptions in the market.”

David Sacks: Debt makes your company more fragile Friedberg: “I hate this business. I think venture debt's the worst vulture-like business in Silicon Valley. “ Sacks: “Right. I've always hated when founders take on venture debt. Part of it is that founders forget that they have to pay it back. They treat it like venture capital and they forget about that, and then they get surprised. But the other thing I've never liked about it is it makes you more fragile. It basically subjects you to a bunch of business covenants, and it makes it harder for you to do an abrupt shift in your business, because now you've got a bank looking over your shoulder and they want to make sure they get paid, and they have to review your financials and all the rest of it. And to your point, J Cal, the companies that have free cash flow right now are the ones that again, have the most maneuverability. I hate taking away maneuverability from founders, and that is what debt does because it subjects you to a fixed schedule of payments. And so this is always a thing to remember, whether you're a business or you are an individual, when you put on that debt, it makes you more vulnerable to big disruptions in the market.”

The All-In Podcast

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"I think in a way, people are somewhat overestimating the founders of companies, and massively underestimating what you can do when the founder is still present and in charge." Tobi talked about how it's not that founders themselves are some kind of super heroes, but that the *role* of a founder is incredibly important because of what the natural moral authority allows them to do.

"I think in a way, people are somewhat overestimating the founders of companies, and massively underestimating what you can do when the founder is still present and in charge." Tobi talked about how it's not that founders themselves are some kind of super heroes, but that the role of a founder is incredibly important because of what the natural moral authority allows them to do.

Jack Altman

43,403 views • 1 month ago

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The Peel

28,637 views • 1 year ago

Sequoia's Carl Eschenbach on the founder traits that matter most when scaling a company: "One of the things I absolutely look for is self-awareness in founders, and are they honest about what they’re good at? Because a lot of these founders are just incredibly intelligent human beings, and sometimes they think they can do everything. Do they have the self-awareness to say, 'I need to go get other people as part of the company to help me scale so I can focus on what I’m really good at?'" "There are attributes and characteristics of people that I look for that are way beyond the intelligence side of the equation. You can’t teach grit. You can’t teach drive. You can’t teach a great attitude. You can’t teach determination." "All of those are things that are innate and part of people, and you want to see that in these founders. When you find someone who has that passion, drive, desire, and relentless ability to fight through challenges, issues, and opportunities — and then they have the intellectual horsepower on the other side — when that comes together, that’s a beautiful thing."

Sequoia's Carl Eschenbach on the founder traits that matter most when scaling a company: "One of the things I absolutely look for is self-awareness in founders, and are they honest about what they’re good at? Because a lot of these founders are just incredibly intelligent human beings, and sometimes they think they can do everything. Do they have the self-awareness to say, 'I need to go get other people as part of the company to help me scale so I can focus on what I’m really good at?'" "There are attributes and characteristics of people that I look for that are way beyond the intelligence side of the equation. You can’t teach grit. You can’t teach drive. You can’t teach a great attitude. You can’t teach determination." "All of those are things that are innate and part of people, and you want to see that in these founders. When you find someone who has that passion, drive, desire, and relentless ability to fight through challenges, issues, and opportunities — and then they have the intellectual horsepower on the other side — when that comes together, that’s a beautiful thing."

TBPN

15,950 views • 4 months ago

"Lexie got a technical in our first game... that really says a lot about you now that you have a technical and I don't." Caitlin Clark on not being the first Fever player to get a technical 😂

"Lexie got a technical in our first game... that really says a lot about you now that you have a technical and I don't." Caitlin Clark on not being the first Fever player to get a technical 😂

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19,235 views • 1 month ago

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17,254 views • 7 months ago

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Scott on why conviction in an idea is dangerous as an investor but required as a founder: "From the investor seat, I don't think you want to be in love with an idea. That's a risky thing because you'll find a way to express that by investing and make some compromises on the team because you know this idea is just so good, its time has come. But if the team isn't there, 90% of the time it doesn't work. Then there's a whole thing can you swap out the team? But the whole Founders Fund thesis was always no, you need the founder to run the company. But on the company side, you have to be in love with the idea. It's not that rational to start a company. There's a lot easier, more comfortable ways to make money if that's the goal. So it's got to be about what the company is doing specifically. If you want to actually start a company, it better be something that you're really passionate about, or you think that the problem is really important."

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33,016 views • 3 months ago

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Elon Musk: If you are creating a company or joining a company the most important thing is to attract great people "If you are creating a company or joining a company the most important thing is to attract great people, so either be with or join a group that's amazing that you really respect, or if you have building a company you have to gather great people I mean all the company is a group of people that have gathered together to create a product or service and so depending upon how talented and hardworking that group is, and the degree to which they're focused, cohesively, and in a good direction, that will determine the success of the company Do everything you can to gather great people, if you are creating a company"

SMX 🇺🇸

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Do you fit into one of the trendiest founder archetypes? Fundraising has always been competitive, but today's market is especially tough for first-time founders. In the latest episode of our Build Mode podcast, Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures breaks down the most popular founder archetypes right now: repeat founders with proven track records and exceptionally young technical founders. That leaves experienced, first-time founders facing a higher bar, even when they have a compelling business idea. But there’s still hope! Listen and subscribe here:

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TechCrunch

19,983 views • 8 days ago

Warren Buffett: "You just have to have some conviction that a given company — or a group of companies — [is] likely to earn more money 5 or 10 or 20 years from now than [it's] earning now. And that is not a difficult decision to come to."

Warren Buffett: "You just have to have some conviction that a given company — or a group of companies — [is] likely to earn more money 5 or 10 or 20 years from now than [it's] earning now. And that is not a difficult decision to come to."

Kevin Carpenter

37,022 views • 1 year ago

Marc Andreessen on the 3 things he looks for when investing in a startup The first thing Marc Andreesen looks for is a big market: “Is there a big existing market that you think you can go after and displace incumbents? Or do you believe there will be a new market that will be big?” The second thing he looks for is a 10x better product: “Is there a fundamental technology or economic change that justifies a new company? And the way I always think about that is: Is there a 10x change happening in the technology landscape? Is something 10x faster, 10x cheaper, or 10x better? If it’s not 10x, we as both VCs and entrepreneurs have to ask ourselves if it’s really worth doing because it’s really hard to start new companies . . . Existing companies are usually pretty good at what they do. So for a new company to exist, it has to bring a product to market that’s so much better than what exists that it punches through the status quo.” The third is the team: “Is the team outstanding? . . . You want to have a founding team of complementary skillsets. You want to have at least one super strong technologist — quite possibly more than one. Some of the best startups are actually more than one founding technologist. And then it often helps to have someone who is a marketing or salesperson who has a really good understanding of business.” Marc believes that you need all three of these, but if you’re going to compromise on one of those as an investor, it should be the product: “A great market is a lot easier to make up for with iterative product execution. The problem with a poor or small market is that even if you do a good job on the product, there just aren’t that many customers so it’s hard to ever get big and people get demoralized . . . And then we evaluate the team of a startup by its ability to get into a big market with a good product.”

Marc Andreessen on the 3 things he looks for when investing in a startup The first thing Marc Andreesen looks for is a big market: “Is there a big existing market that you think you can go after and displace incumbents? Or do you believe there will be a new market that will be big?” The second thing he looks for is a 10x better product: “Is there a fundamental technology or economic change that justifies a new company? And the way I always think about that is: Is there a 10x change happening in the technology landscape? Is something 10x faster, 10x cheaper, or 10x better? If it’s not 10x, we as both VCs and entrepreneurs have to ask ourselves if it’s really worth doing because it’s really hard to start new companies . . . Existing companies are usually pretty good at what they do. So for a new company to exist, it has to bring a product to market that’s so much better than what exists that it punches through the status quo.” The third is the team: “Is the team outstanding? . . . You want to have a founding team of complementary skillsets. You want to have at least one super strong technologist — quite possibly more than one. Some of the best startups are actually more than one founding technologist. And then it often helps to have someone who is a marketing or salesperson who has a really good understanding of business.” Marc believes that you need all three of these, but if you’re going to compromise on one of those as an investor, it should be the product: “A great market is a lot easier to make up for with iterative product execution. The problem with a poor or small market is that even if you do a good job on the product, there just aren’t that many customers so it’s hard to ever get big and people get demoralized . . . And then we evaluate the team of a startup by its ability to get into a big market with a good product.”

Startup Archive

17,333 views • 5 months ago

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a16z

274,335 views • 10 months ago

Ben Horowitz says Silicon Valley is hard to recreate because it requires talent, policy, and culture: "The first is you do need the talent... is there a great technical university that graduates people who know how to build things?" "Many countries have that, that don't have a Silicon Valley. And what are they missing? They're missing the other two components." "The second is, do you have a set of laws and policies that facilitate entrepreneurship, are essentially good for business?" "The third one... is the culture such that young people, the most capable young people willing to make the biggest contribution, do they get status, social status reward?" "That's the thing that's so hard to replicate, and it's so hard to build, and it's so easy to destroy." benahorowitz.eth

Ben Horowitz says Silicon Valley is hard to recreate because it requires talent, policy, and culture: "The first is you do need the talent... is there a great technical university that graduates people who know how to build things?" "Many countries have that, that don't have a Silicon Valley. And what are they missing? They're missing the other two components." "The second is, do you have a set of laws and policies that facilitate entrepreneurship, are essentially good for business?" "The third one... is the culture such that young people, the most capable young people willing to make the biggest contribution, do they get status, social status reward?" "That's the thing that's so hard to replicate, and it's so hard to build, and it's so easy to destroy." benahorowitz.eth

a16z

69,146 views • 15 days ago

Shola Akinlade, co-founder of Paystack, gives a piece of advice to young entrepreneurs. Focus: there are a lot of distractions out there Courage: have the Courage to pick a problem bigger than you and be very Consistent Clarity: you have different stakeholders. Have the clarity to pursue your own dreams. Don't be focused on how to raise capital. Focus on how to build a great business and capital will find you.

Shola Akinlade, co-founder of Paystack, gives a piece of advice to young entrepreneurs. Focus: there are a lot of distractions out there Courage: have the Courage to pick a problem bigger than you and be very Consistent Clarity: you have different stakeholders. Have the clarity to pursue your own dreams. Don't be focused on how to raise capital. Focus on how to build a great business and capital will find you.

Tuchel

46,048 views • 13 days ago

Elon Musk: Creating a successful company is pretty straightforward. “The ability to attract and motivate great people is critical to the success of a company, because a company is just a group of people that are assembled to create a product or service. That's the purpose of a company. People sometimes forget this elementary truth. And so, if you're able to get great people to join the company and work together towards a common goal and sort of have a relentless sense of perfection about that goal, then you will end up with a great product. And if you have a great product, lots of people will buy it, and then the company will be successful. Really, it's pretty straightforward.” Interview with AutoBild TV, November 5, 2014

Elon Musk: Creating a successful company is pretty straightforward. “The ability to attract and motivate great people is critical to the success of a company, because a company is just a group of people that are assembled to create a product or service. That's the purpose of a company. People sometimes forget this elementary truth. And so, if you're able to get great people to join the company and work together towards a common goal and sort of have a relentless sense of perfection about that goal, then you will end up with a great product. And if you have a great product, lots of people will buy it, and then the company will be successful. Really, it's pretty straightforward.” Interview with AutoBild TV, November 5, 2014

ELON CLIPS

18,493 views • 2 months ago