FounderMail 8th Edition: Why Founders Must Unlearn for Breakthrough Growth
👋 Hey there! I’m Ilan. This is FounderMail, your monthly dose of startup insights that helps founders hire top talent, raise capital, and stay informed. Unlearn, upskill, succeed. Ready? Let’s go!
First time? Let us introduce ourselves…
Unstacked Startups is building a community of tech founders, early employees, leaders, and VCs uncovering the 'secret sauce' to startup growth. We want to share the insights with you through real conversations on our podcast (subscribe on YouTube or Spotify), in-person gatherings, and our newsletter FounderMail.
In This Edition:
Shower Thoughts: What does a 13th century monk and startup founder have in common?
What’s Got Our Attention
Unstacked Podcast: A Vision for AI Based Recruitment
The MVP Play with Noel Moldvai, Co-Founder & CEO of Augment
Unstacked Perspectives: The Beginner’s Paradox and Why Unlearning is the Key to Growth
Shower Thoughts
Soak up insights from our network’s top investors, founders and tech influencers.
What does a 13th-century monk and a modern-day tech founder have in common (I swear, this isn’t the beginning of a bad joke...)? Both embrace new challenges by continuously adopting a beginner's mindset.
Makes sense → this aligns with the tech ethos: evolve quickly and adapt (see AI). Ambitious founders understand that the ability to unlearn daily is crucial for unlocking fresh opportunities.
Rooted in openness and childlike wonder, advantages include:
Optimism - By perceiving potential in the everyday, you’ll notice hidden opportunities and are open to solving everyday problems.
Growth - By asking 'what if' and 'why not,' rather than being dismissive, you can embrace constant life-hacking.
Escape Autopilot - Without biases and preconceptions for outcomes, we shift into awe, curiosity, and wonder. Humans have an extraordinary capacity for innovation as we were born to create with no fear of repercussions.
If it’s good enough for the likes of Steve Jobs and Marc Benioff, why not give it a shot?
TL;DR: To achieve true adaptability, embrace the practice of unlearning. Potential exists at the blurry edges of our comfort zones when we let go of what we know.
What’s Got Our Attention
The latest startup news and research you can’t afford to miss.
Artificial intelligence (AI) act: Council gives final green light to the first worldwide rules on AI
Unstacked Startups Podcast Recap
Check out our favorite insights from a recent episode of the Unstacked Startups Podcast. Every episode, Unstacked host, Ilan Saks, chats with startup founders, early employees, leaders, and VCs to uncover the 'secret sauce' of startup growth.
Greg Gunn
Ilan chats with Greg Gunn, a core member of the founding team at Hootsuite, and the CEO & Co-Founder of Commit, the AI talent agent reinventing how techies tackle the job market — because who said you can’t teach an old industry new tricks?
Key Lessons
Understanding where the industry is headed and aligning yourself with its trajectory is a necessity for staying relevant and sought-after in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
Don’t overreact to things that are outside of your control. Find places where you can contribute the most.
As if learning wasn’t hard enough, we also have to try unlearning. It’s the ultimate brain yoga, and Greg swears by its benefits.
Whether you're wandering into new territories or shaking things up in your current company, it's not about being the most right but about being open to new roads.
Keep ready to embrace new methodologies, challenge old viewpoints, and revisit your opinions.
The MVP Play
Unlocking the playbooks of startup MVPs, one question at a time.
Checking into the game? For this edition, we chatted with Noel Moldvai the Co-Founder & CEO of Augment.
MOTIVATION
Why are you building Augment and what’s the driving force behind your willingness to endure the challenges of founding a startup?
I'm building Augment to solve the liquidity problem I faced with my pre-IPO unicorn shares.
Connecting buyers and sellers on the secondary market is a massive time-suck, so we built a transparent platform where you can get answers to:
Historical company prices.
Who's willing to buy and sell shares, and at what price/volume.
How to negotiate and execute transactions quickly.
Every day as a founder is different and hard but few things in life give me such satisfaction.
VENTURE
What advice do you have for founders to ensure a good fit between them and potential VC partners?
Work with VCs that get what you're doing and that have a strong thesis on your target market.
PEOPLE
How do you identify truly bar-raising talent?
The best way to find good people is within your own network, as social validation is critical.
I also consider:
Are they top 10% at coding (for engineers)?
Can they explain a complex project they've worked on in simple terms and why they built it?
Do they have a high stress tolerance, demonstrated through outside activities?
The PLAY
Unstacked’s cheat code for early stage founders.
Noel says to look for talent with high stress tolerance.
We believe founders should prioritize outlier traits such as resilience, intellectual curiosity, and relentless resourcefulness over brands on a resume.
The reality is, future startup success won’t be achieved the same way as it was yesterday. You will need to hire chameleon's who can rapidly adapt, change, and learn (and unlearn).
Unstacked Perspectives
Unstacked host, Ilan Saks, is on a mission to basically give everyone a Harvard MBA, one lesson at a time.
In our latest blog, we explore how successful founders thrive by unlearning outdated beliefs and habits. This mindset, rooted in curiosity and openness, can lead to enhanced creativity, adaptability, and accelerated growth.
Discover practical strategies for identifying and overcoming limiting beliefs, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and staying adaptable in a quickly changing industry.
By unlearning what no longer serves you, you can unlock new opportunities and drive your startup towards greater success.
How We Can Help You Grow Your Startup
Need help hiring elite talent? We’ve built the talent firm for startups.
Raising Capital? Drop us a line, we’d love to discuss what you’re building and how we can help.
Are you an engineer considering your next gig? Check the open startup roles in our network!