FounderMail 1st Edition: Beginnings & Breakthroughs
đ Hey there! Iâm Ilan. This is FounderMail, your monthly dose of startup insights that helps founders hire top talent, raise capital, and stay informed. This is our beginningâlet's make it a breakthrough. Ready? Letâs go!
Shower Thoughts đ
Soak up insights from our networkâs top investors, founders and tech influencers.
For our inaugural issue, it only made sense to ping the CEO of Y Combinator, investor and overall startup champion, Garry Tan.Â
*Turns to Siri* đ€
Hey Siri, what is formidableness??
exudes confidence and commands respect
has a determined spirit and can navigate complex challengesÂ
inspires through their unwavering commitment to their vision and ability to overcome obstacles
As the CEO of the world's most renowned startup accelerator, itâs fair to say Garryâthe Dumbledore of the startup worldâknows a thing or two about this.
Beyond mere 'visionary' or 'risk-taker,' itâs a founderâs formidability that sets them apart. This magnetic quality attracts top talent, investors, partners, and customers.
TL;DR:
Formidableness isn't just a traitâit's the source code in the DNA of startup success.
Whatâs Got Our Attention
The latest startup news and research you canât afford to miss.
A new study details the correlation between founder personalities and startup success âMcCarthy, Gong, et al., 2023 via nature.comÂ
âI like to invest in companies that smart people are joining. Capital should follow talent, not talent following capital.â âFred Wilson, Co-Founder at Union Square VenturesÂ
AI pioneers Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio clash in an intense online debate over AI safety and governance âVenture Beat
Unstacked Startups Podcast Recap
Check out some of 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.
Amélie Foz-Couture
Has The Coolest Job In The World: Chief Venture Idea Decider* (aka Partner at Diagram Ventures) *not an official title
Check These OutÂ
đ âWe do it a bit differently....â How Diagram is both an investor and a co-founder for early-stage startups.
đ Support the next generation of tech leaders! Technovation, and similar organizations, are encouraging young girls and the founders of tomorrow. Â
Key Lessons
Ideas are overrated, find a specific problem to solve.
A de-risking strategy may not ever get you to 0 risk, but it can be an accelerant to taking your product to market, and create a competitive advantage for your startup.
Not every CTO needs to be an expert in AI or Machine Learning, but lack of awareness can lead to missed opportunities.
Climate Techâs moment to shine? Now that key technology exists, costs have gone down, and there's additional social, political and consumer pressure or incentives, itâs a prime time for climate tech.
Want more wisdom? Be sure to watch the full episode on our channel. AmĂ©lieâs advice is best experienced for yourself.
The MVP Play đ
Unlocking the playbooks of startup MVPs, one question at a time.
Checking into the game? For this edition, we chatted with Dan Siroker, Co-Founder & CEO at Rewind AIÂ & Optimizely.
MOTIVATION
Dan, why are you building Rewind AI and whatâs the driving force behind your willingness to endure the challenges of founding a startup?Â
In my 20s I started to go deaf. When I tried a hearing aid for the first time it was magical. To lose a sense and gain it back again felt like gaining a superpower. That's why I started Rewind: to give humans superpowers by using technology to augment their capabilities.
In building both Rewind AI and Optimizely, I was truly compelled to build something that I personally wished was in the world.
VENTURE
What advice do you have for founders to ensure a good fit between them and potential VC partners?Â
The most important thing to do is to ensure alignment on values and time horizon.
PEOPLE
How do you identify truly bar-raising talent?
When evaluating talent, I look for the following:
Relentless Resourcefulness - I am looking for people that "will" things to existence despite the challenges. Founders often have this trait, and at one point, many of the people on our team were ex-founders.Â
References - We put heavy weight on references, we do 5 per candidate we hire.Â
Culture Fit - Looking for people that fit our core values.
The PLAY
đź Unstackedâs cheat code for early stage founders:
Culture fit is the GOAT when building your startup team. Of course talent and skill are important, but you canât teach character. Culture fit canât be faked and it has massive implications for your company.
Our recommendation on how to assess for it:Â
Incorporate scenario-based interviews by mimicking challenges at a startup.Â
Dig into the candidates' accomplishments and setbacks by asking for REAL examples and their post-game analysis.
Identify their genuine passions. Ask, âWhat would you do if money was no object?â
Unstacked Perspectives
Unstacked host, Ilan Saks, on a mission to basically give everyone a Harvard MBA, one lesson at a time.
0s, 1s, and 2s: Startup Team DNA
I recently sat down to speak with Andre Charoo, Founder & General Partner at Maple Ventures, and early employee at Uber and Hired.com. We talked about his startup talent thesis and his belief that there is a genetic code of startup teams that can be broken down into three profiles: 0âs, 1âs, and 2âs. Each profile is critical to various steps in the startup life-cycleâfrom step 0 (Idea) to step 5 (End Goal of building an enduring tech company)..
So, whatâs your startup gene? đ§Ź
0s (Inventors)Â
Superpower = IdeatingÂ
0s excel at inventing in the early stages and are masters at step 0. They often have deep technical expertise, but may struggle along the company building journey (steps 1-5) from prototype to product and vision to reality.
Inventor Hall of Famers: Googleâs Sergey Brin and Appleâs Steve Wozniak
1s (Builders)Â
Superpower = Vision
Builders are excellent at taking a startup from Step 0 to Step 1, and have an amazing ability to capture the imagination of partners, customers, and the team as it pertains to the companyâs vision. 1s may struggle with operations from Step 1 to Step 4.
Builder Hall of Famers: Googleâs Larry Page and Appleâs Steve Jobs
2s (Operators)
Superpower = Execution
Operators are the execution champions. They are experts at operationalizing the steps that lie between step 1 to step 4, but may struggle with innovating (Steps 0-1).
Operator Hall of Famers: Googleâs Eric Schmidt and Appleâs Tim Cook
Tying it All Together: The Law of Attraction đ§Č
So, you've got your Inventors, Builders, and Operators. But this doesnât tell the whole story. The difference maker is something weâll call the startup âLaw of Attraction' and it ties all these roles together. This is a critical, often overlooked element that could very well dictate whether your startup sinks or soars.
Intrigued? Read the full blog post.
Unstacked Live Recap
Our exclusive events gather top startup founders, VCs, tech execs, and early talent of industry-leading tech companies over drinks, a panel, and unwind.
Thanks to everyone who came out to our two recent events! And a special shoutout to our panelists.
San Francisco Edition, Breakthroughs and Beginnings
Ron Pragides (Ex SVP Engineering of Trustly), Paul De Sadeleer (Investor at A* Capital), and Amy Kelly (Co-Founder & CEO of Miri)
Toronto Edition, Startup Teams in an AI Era
Ruchi Varshny (Co-Founder of Maple), Arnold Liwanag (AI Executive and Ex-CTO at Tealbook), and Dan Israelsohn (CFO at Plaza Ventures)
You made it to the end, give yourself a high-five đ. And hereâs a little parting wisdom for you:
âItâs not a failure!!! Itâs steps to success!â âGiannis
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