Causes: self-doubt, a desire to copy a“winning formula” from other companies, talking to your investors more than customers
Solutions: talk to your customers instead, work in a space you feel confident in, keep a low burn, don’t depend on your investors or give them power over you
Causes: lack of process, lack of motivation, lack of specs, lack of talking to customers
Solutions: set up a product development process, write everything down, write product/technical specs, always be collecting both quantitative and qualitative feedback
Recurring themes:
DO:
Pick a KPI(e.g. revenue, DAUs) and stick with it
Track metrics and pay close attention to them
Set aggressive measurable goals and try to hit them each sprint
Talk to your customers regularly, don’t rely on investors or your“gut” for insights
Define roles, responsibilities, and expectations for everyone on your team
Have processes for deciding what to build, and when to release
Try to release and measure as quickly and often as possible
Write everything down, write specs
Do things that don’t scale, be“extraordinary”
DON’T:
Make your investor your boss
Spend/hire too quickly pre-PMF
Ignore the numbers
Change your KPI too frequently
Stop learning, stop trying to improve
In depth: 5 things that kill startups
In the video, Michael focuses on post-seed startups, but a lot of the lessons apply for most early-stage companies.
Problem #1: Fake Product Market Fit
One of the most common symptoms of impending death is believing you have PMF when you don’t.
Why do founders believe they have PMF when they don’t?
Summary
In depth: 5 things that kill startups
Problem #1: Fake Product Market Fit