My most favorite part of mid-week is looking forward to these. I literally block 30 minutes on my calendar to listen to them and take notes. Thanks for being so consistent with these Michael and Dalton.
@@StartupSpells I think the process of taking notes is what will help it stick. I still remember things from PG essays from years ago, though; our brains are magical Key: summarize rather than copying every detail
@@Neonb88 oh yes, i did try taking notes once or twice & maybe one of austin kleon's book steal like an artist but i rarely revisit them hah. that's the problem, sadly :(
I think the first stage of first line with direct contact with the customer is the best part, you validate the product and also see first hand all the problems that will be needed to automate when things scale up a little.
When I was contemplating launching the “things that don’t scale” version of my company, I realized the resistance was really just my ego. The long term version of my product is much more impressive then the MVP. Once I realized it was largely my ego in disguise insisting on the sophisticated version, I could accept launching the MVP. Thanks y’all!
That was absolutely hilarious. The motivational speech telling me my greater than 1 customer has separated me from the pack made me FeelsGoodMan. I needed that especially after last night where I had one of my PE Routers have issues and take down my network for a few minutes. I'm lucky my customers are understanding and even encouraging while I try to get the issues resolved so it doesn't happen again.
so good. i literally never comment on anything on youtube and had to leave a note. saving this to rewatch for later and thank you for putting this together!
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt on your friends with comfortable jobs
Why are you both so cool, guys? ) you do a very important thing - you do energize lost founder's souls and get them out of their cozy holes of sadness👌🏻 Many thanks again and again!
Thank you for this message. We are on our fourth product iteration and we will be doing our fourth mini launch next week. We have learned a lot by practicing this principle. God Bless you guys for all you do ❤. Hopefully we can build something meaningful, get tons of exciting users and apply for YC Again. Thank you once again ❤❤
Love your videos! On Mental Prep: be prepared for the inevitable unexpected event; something you never considered, never saw coming; that’ll suck as bad as cleaning your bathrooms because you can’t yet afford janitors. But you’ll learn from the experience, and hopefully come back even more determined to succeed
10:00 early stage startup suck filters out many smart people 15:00 managing expectations and your own psychology is key to doing a startup 17:50 getting a customer, and making them come back again is huge win - separates you from the pack already
I've personally broken it up into manageable goals/milestones, with each milestone perhaps having a slightly different/more scalable strategy each time: 1st milestone: Get 1 user/customer 2nd milestone: Get 10 users/customers 3rd milestone: Get 100 users/customers 4th milestone: Get 1000 users/customers etc. The first few milestones will come quickly (hopefully), and then slow down as diminishing returns naturally kicks in.
Mental strength is crucial. The fear of failure is 100 times more worse psychologically than actually succeeding. I think it has been proven more many times before. More respect should be given for people who actually do it.
Preach on! Some of my friend's probably think I'm an idiot, yet I just created the best dental video I've seen so far, and that was my prototype. Don't rely on your friends to boost your drive is so true. Now some of my friends are cheering me on though, so keep going if you have inside info and know that you're solving a problem, especially your own problem
Such great insights and this is what the talks should be about. How to get more startup founders to get over the mental blocks when things get tough and unbearable...
Delivering one thing, to one paying customer, who buys it because they really need it - definitely puts you in the top 50% of early stagers. Hard thing: not fooling yourself to believe that the friend, hobbyist, ex-employee etc that is your first customer really counts. If you push hard enough, you can sell to someone (beat or beg them into submission). Getting that first sale to a genuinely needy customer, eg in a 10 minute sales call, not after a war of attrition? Harder.
Michael, Dalton, as always, awesome talk. We need more of this. Would it be possible to ask questions? What is the best way to reach out? Here in comments? Thanks.
I agree that we should focus on not scaling in the beginning but what about after it. I can write unscalable code and make an MVP and get some users what happens when users come flooding do i hire someone or i learn how to scale?
How do you know if your idea might be good or just plain sucks, because if a lot of now considered good and successful ideas got negative feedback early on, how did those people with the successful ideas know to stay with that idea and continue on that path?
I love how you guys have emphasized the emotional side of startups. Version 1 will always suck and we all know it but we push it to the back of our minds as we build and launch until it comes back to haunt us. I hope in future you will do a video on startup metrics. I know about default dead and default alive but at what point will the startup become an IDE(and not SME) if you do things that don't scale? When should you start scaling?
Is it just me if I've always enjoyed this stage of the startup? I teach rationalists how to master meta-learning and productivity, and the non-scalable part is doing everything myself. I'm teaching my only two customers, creating their flashcards, testing my learning materials, learning tax codes, building an audience on twitter... I don't even have a website. And I enjoy everything, there is no suck. I dread scaling, wonder what it'll be like.
Retrofitting an Audi is telling to me that there is a fundamental disconnect between a car guy and a software start up guy. I like Audis and have worked on them for years but I cannot think of a worse car to use.
Really enjoy your channel guys. Some great insights into tech startups/businesses stateside. As a UK based tech startupper I really enjoy your discussions as there isnt ...yet.. a true Silicon Valley here!. thanks
A question here: How do you keep going and eventually beat incumbents when, let's say, 10-min delivery is the thing and the fastest you can afford (making deliveries yourself) is 45-min? Thanks by the way for this awesome and hilarious video, Dalton and Michael. I enjoyed watching 😅
Great talk I wish if you had just explained the meaning of the word Scale for non native English speakers cause as I know and the dictionary says it means measure , and I don't understand How its true to build things that cant be measured
well to be fair, the story ending around 6:10 is more about a crappy prototype than doing something that won't scale (he could have scaled that proto to more units technically speaking).
It's good content and I don't disagree per se, it's just hard to map it to what I'm doing. I'm building a productivity platform for software developers. The best analogy would be suppose its 1989, I'm Tim Berners Lee, I'm working on HTML & HTTP web servers, and I come across this video. How am I supposed to map the Doordash business model into TBL working on HTML/HTTP processing software? What's he supposed to do - NOT write an HTML parser but to instead send out an e-mail to all his colleagues offering to personally format their documents for them? It degrades into silliness pretty quickly. But, maybe, yeah?? I suppose I could pivot into doing something silly like that but it wouldn't prove anything and I highly doubt I would learn anything.
My most favorite part of mid-week is looking forward to these. I literally block 30 minutes on my calendar to listen to them and take notes. Thanks for being so consistent with these Michael and Dalton.
share your notes
@@StartupSpells I think the process of taking notes is what will help it stick. I still remember things from PG essays from years ago, though; our brains are magical
Key: summarize rather than copying every detail
@@Neonb88 oh yes, i did try taking notes once or twice & maybe one of austin kleon's book steal like an artist but i rarely revisit them hah. that's the problem, sadly :(
Same here ! And I keep Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for another lunch 😆
I’m a 38 year old founder in the U.K. currently doing the sh*t and this video resonated with me so much!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK 🙌🏽
I think the first stage of first line with direct contact with the customer is the best part, you validate the product and also see first hand all the problems that will be needed to automate when things scale up a little.
I'm a cofounder of a startup with zero employees. I can completely relate and just loving the entire rookie mistakes series!
Me too! Keep going! I’m sure you’ll smash it 💥
Nice haircut Dalton! Very refreshing.
On days when life punches you in the face, these videos are a lifeline. Please keep them coming.
When I was contemplating launching the “things that don’t scale” version of my company, I realized the resistance was really just my ego. The long term version of my product is much more impressive then the MVP. Once I realized it was largely my ego in disguise insisting on the sophisticated version, I could accept launching the MVP. Thanks y’all!
How's the startup doing bro
Yeah what industry are you in?
That was absolutely hilarious. The motivational speech telling me my greater than 1 customer has separated me from the pack made me FeelsGoodMan. I needed that especially after last night where I had one of my PE Routers have issues and take down my network for a few minutes. I'm lucky my customers are understanding and even encouraging while I try to get the issues resolved so it doesn't happen again.
True, building a company requires you to be on the ground and do the hard work.
so good. i literally never comment on anything on youtube and had to leave a note. saving this to rewatch for later and thank you for putting this together!
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
- Teddy Roosevelt on your friends with comfortable jobs
These are great talks. Really practical and motivational. Thanks!
"oh a shadow, let's see how the car handles that!" ... "I didn't know that I should be afraid of the shadow"... I love this part so much. :)
Why are you both so cool, guys? ) you do a very important thing - you do energize lost founder's souls and get them out of their cozy holes of sadness👌🏻 Many thanks again and again!
Thank you for this message. We are on our fourth product iteration and we will be doing our fourth mini launch next week. We have learned a lot by practicing this principle. God Bless you guys for all you do ❤. Hopefully we can build something meaningful, get tons of exciting users and apply for YC Again. Thank you once again ❤❤
Love your videos! On Mental Prep: be prepared for the inevitable unexpected event; something you never considered, never saw coming; that’ll suck as bad as cleaning your bathrooms because you can’t yet afford janitors. But you’ll learn from the experience, and hopefully come back even more determined to succeed
My favorite pod along with All in one. Thanks for such great information and being so grounded.
Thanks a lot for sharing your expertise! Really refreshing!
Motivation- is what meaningful change you can make in the world and how many lives you can change for the better.
Nice! A very practical sharing. Do what is enough at the beginning instead of doing perfectly at the wrong stage.
Best business videos on youtube dont stop!
I really like Y Combinator. I feel like people are awake hear. The resiliency and persistence is hard to come by. Thanks for this great video 🔥
10:00 early stage startup suck filters out many smart people
15:00 managing expectations and your own psychology is key to doing a startup
17:50 getting a customer, and making them come back again is huge win - separates you from the pack already
Are you guys wearing the same pair of Airpods?
I've personally broken it up into manageable goals/milestones, with each milestone perhaps having a slightly different/more scalable strategy each time:
1st milestone: Get 1 user/customer
2nd milestone: Get 10 users/customers
3rd milestone: Get 100 users/customers
4th milestone: Get 1000 users/customers
etc.
The first few milestones will come quickly (hopefully), and then slow down as diminishing returns naturally kicks in.
This really motivates people across globe to fulfill their hidden dreams
Are Dalton & Michael in the same house? They are obviously sharing the same pair of headphones lol One left, one right lol
Mental strength is crucial. The fear of failure is 100 times more worse psychologically than actually succeeding. I think it has been proven more many times before. More respect should be given for people who actually do it.
10:55 Such a big truth. Countless the times that I've worked with people unable to put the amount of work required to make it happen.
I read PG a while back but after watching this video I fully get it. Thanks!
Preach on! Some of my friend's probably think I'm an idiot, yet I just created the best dental video I've seen so far, and that was my prototype. Don't rely on your friends to boost your drive is so true. Now some of my friends are cheering me on though, so keep going if you have inside info and know that you're solving a problem, especially your own problem
Such great insights and this is what the talks should be about. How to get more startup founders to get over the mental blocks when things get tough and unbearable...
7:28 - 9:32
Not just this but so much more amazing stuff in this video
I enjoy this videos so much! Both entertaining and insightful. Keep them coming!
I’m signed up for the gritty part of the startup journey. Let’s go!
Delivering one thing, to one paying customer, who buys it because they really need it - definitely puts you in the top 50% of early stagers. Hard thing: not fooling yourself to believe that the friend, hobbyist, ex-employee etc that is your first customer really counts. If you push hard enough, you can sell to someone (beat or beg them into submission). Getting that first sale to a genuinely needy customer, eg in a 10 minute sales call, not after a war of attrition? Harder.
TH-cam should keep showing me these videos. Comment tells the algorithm to show me more
Dalton, I admire your speaking game...
Great talking to you guys!✨😉👍
Outstanding insights from true operator founders! Really enjoy this conversational content shared by Dalton and Mike.
This was a good talk 18 min flew by
I learn so much from u guys. I am start up from Ethiopia.
There's no secret to success. It comes from preparation, hard work and learning from failure.
These videos really give me hope ! I really am not alone in this😭😂 Please keep up the good work
Michael, Dalton, as always, awesome talk. We need more of this. Would it be possible to ask questions? What is the best way to reach out? Here in comments? Thanks.
Sure! Just reply here.
I love this. Very interesting. Learned a lot!!!!
Funny but insightful. Thanks Dalton and Michael. Great job YC.
I agree that we should focus on not scaling in the beginning but what about after it. I can write unscalable code and make an MVP and get some users what happens when users come flooding do i hire someone or i learn how to scale?
How do you know if your idea might be good or just plain sucks, because if a lot of now considered good and successful ideas got negative feedback early on, how did those people with the successful ideas know to stay with that idea and continue on that path?
Omg, this is so good, like Game of thrones.
Incredible video!
Thank you both!Fun and realistic ,heh
I love how you guys have emphasized the emotional side of startups. Version 1 will always suck and we all know it but we push it to the back of our minds as we build and launch until it comes back to haunt us. I hope in future you will do a video on startup metrics. I know about default dead and default alive but at what point will the startup become an IDE(and not SME) if you do things that don't scale? When should you start scaling?
@Surb Singh Thanks!
Thank you for making these videos. They have been really helpful.
I made sure to read @Paul article before watching this video, and lot of things make more sense and it is much clear. Thanks guys!
Is it just me if I've always enjoyed this stage of the startup? I teach rationalists how to master meta-learning and productivity, and the non-scalable part is doing everything myself. I'm teaching my only two customers, creating their flashcards, testing my learning materials, learning tax codes, building an audience on twitter... I don't even have a website. And I enjoy everything, there is no suck. I dread scaling, wonder what it'll be like.
I still love ❤️ the start up life and Im ENTJ above average IQ
"You learn what other people are unwilling to learn, so you build a better product"
Are Michael and Dalton sharing the same pair of AirPods? That startup life must really be rough!
Wow, what an episode !
Fantastic insights - thank you gentlemen
Retrofitting an Audi is telling to me that there is a fundamental disconnect between a car guy and a software start up guy. I like Audis and have worked on them for years but I cannot think of a worse car to use.
This was so good!!! Appreciate you guys! 💯
14:20
Maintaining motivation is three quarters of this game
awesome tips, and great chat sir
Really enjoy your channel guys. Some great insights into tech startups/businesses stateside. As a UK based tech startupper I really enjoy your discussions as there isnt ...yet.. a true Silicon Valley here!. thanks
Hi Guys, where in the U.K. are you based? I’m Newcastle 🙌🏻
Man I love these videos
A question here: How do you keep going and eventually beat incumbents when, let's say, 10-min delivery is the thing and the fastest you can afford (making deliveries yourself) is 45-min? Thanks by the way for this awesome and hilarious video, Dalton and Michael. I enjoyed watching 😅
You have to innovate to match or beat the competition.
This is great until the App Store rejects your app submission!
There is no such thing as Motivation, only DISCIPLINE can take you ahead being A co-founder or better version of yourself.
This content is gold. Thanks
Looking at this video from the perspective of an artist gives me hope
CEO's job section told me (or reinforced my thoughts) a very important lesson: be willing to do the shittest job. Thanks!
Fantastic discussion !
Reddit's seeding is one of my favorite internet startup stories.
Great talk I wish if you had just explained the meaning of the word Scale for non native English speakers cause as I know and the dictionary says it means measure , and I don't understand How its true to build things that cant be measured
Keep these coming please I really look forward to them!
If there was only one book that you are allowed to read, to prepare for building a startup, what would be it?
The most counter intuitive and difficult to understand part about DTTDS is how the name is connected to the meaning
🤔
Love it!!!
Saw you cruising in a Cruise Michael! 👋👋
You had a big smile
We totally agree! 🚀
Let's take a moment to appreciate that we all just watched a video where two centimillionaires are sharing one pair of airpods
i think yc found product market fit on youtube w/ these videos lol
Love you guys!
When is this channel going to find product market fit
The duo we needed but didn't deserve.
Very good
well to be fair, the story ending around 6:10 is more about a crappy prototype than doing something that won't scale (he could have scaled that proto to more units technically speaking).
14:51 PREACH 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Maintain motivation
And in some circular way, now doordash engineers have to drop their things and go deliver once a month or something
Love the videos but love Dalton’s haircut more
This was nice
As s,all start up pre
You need go learn to do just enought than doing perfect job to start a start up
It's good content and I don't disagree per se, it's just hard to map it to what I'm doing. I'm building a productivity platform for software developers. The best analogy would be suppose its 1989, I'm Tim Berners Lee, I'm working on HTML & HTTP web servers, and I come across this video. How am I supposed to map the Doordash business model into TBL working on HTML/HTTP processing software? What's he supposed to do - NOT write an HTML parser but to instead send out an e-mail to all his colleagues offering to personally format their documents for them? It degrades into silliness pretty quickly. But, maybe, yeah?? I suppose I could pivot into doing something silly like that but it wouldn't prove anything and I highly doubt I would learn anything.
You are the doer
Qctulay doing something is already at the top rsnk
Great fun :)