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Not Another VC Blog - First Round Review
Fundraising

Not Another VC Blog - First Round Review

Introducing The First Round Review, the first VC-run publication providing actionable insights from the top people in technology.
90% of Feedback is Crap: How to Find the Next Big Startup Idea
Starting Up

90% of Feedback is Crap: How to Find the Next Big Startup Idea

Flatiron Health Co-founder Nat Turner on the process he uses to distill, pitch and iterate on new ideas.
Why This Entrepreneur Left McKinsey to Get a Job Flipping Burgers
Starting Up

Why This Entrepreneur Left McKinsey to Get a Job Flipping Burgers

Ayr Muir of Clover, a new type of restaurant chain, explains why it's so important to investigate every part of your business.
Culture Isn’t Kumbaya Stuff
People & Culture

Culture Isn’t Kumbaya Stuff

Axcient CEO Justin Moore talks about why and how founders must start defining healthy culture from the very beginning.
Dear Startup CEOs
Management

Dear Startup CEOs

The four lessons that made the biggest difference for Wiley Cerilli, founder and CEO of $100M acquisition SinglePlatform.
Zach Sims of Codecademy on Lessons in Raising $12.5 Million for the First Time
Fundraising

Zach Sims of Codecademy on Lessons in Raising $12.5 Million for the First Time

Codecademy CEO and Co-founder Zach Sims shares what he learned about choosing the right investors for his company.
Asana’s Head of Talent on the Secrets to Finding a Great Startup Recruiter
People & Culture

Asana’s Head of Talent on the Secrets to Finding a Great Startup Recruiter

Asana's Andy Stoe on how startups can bring recruiting in-house, including where to look for a first hire and interview questions.
Aaron Levie of Box on How to Scale 10x as a CEO and Build a Billion Dollar Business
Management

Aaron Levie of Box on How to Scale 10x as a CEO and Build a Billion Dollar Business

The CEO of Box gives advice on maintaining and scaling culture as fast as your company is growing in order to win big.
Lessons from Pixar: Why Software Developers Should Be Storytellers
Engineering

Lessons from Pixar: Why Software Developers Should Be Storytellers

Martin Reddy, engineering lead at Pixar and CTO at ToyTalk, on why and how founders need to tell compelling stories.
How Design Thinking Transformed Airbnb from a Failing Startup to a Billion Dollar Business
Design

How Design Thinking Transformed Airbnb from a Failing Startup to a Billion Dollar Business

Airbnb Co-founder Joe Gebbia talks about the true meaning of being scrappy and being willing to do things that don't scale.
What Scott Cook Wished He Knew About Being a CEO When He Founded Intuit
Management

What Scott Cook Wished He Knew About Being a CEO When He Founded Intuit

Intuit Founder Scott Cook on the most important lessons he learned, including the right (and rigorous way) to check references.
Head Designer of Mint on Why Great Design Isn’t About Making Things Pretty
Design

Head Designer of Mint on Why Great Design Isn’t About Making Things Pretty

Mint Co-Founder Jason Putorti on leading a team of designers to create emotionally-intelligent products people love.
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For the founder's notepad:
"If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months." – Molly Graham
“Asking ‘Why can't this be done sooner?’ methodically, reliably and habitually can have a profound impact on the speed of your organization.” – Dave Girouard
“End every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you’d like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person.” – Chris Fralic
“Focus is doing things with a clear intention. It doesn’t mean you charge single-minded toward a goal. It means you pay rapt and incremental attention to how you need to turn the rudder on a project.” – Fidji Simo
“It’s essential to grow with the company — rather than having the company grow around you.” – Cristina Cordova 
“You have to be impatient with shipping, but patient with your career.” – James Everingham
“‘I trust you, make the call’ might be the six most powerful words you can hear from a manager.” – Sean Twersky
“Your job as a CEO is to build fire departments, not put out fires.” – Sam Corcos 
“Can you say with confidence that each report would want to be on your team again? If you aren’t sure that the answer is yes, it’s probably no — much like how if you have to ask, ‘Am I in love?’ you’re probably not.” – Julie Zhuo 
“People can get addicted to yak shaving. An effective engineering generalist knows when to move on. Pay attention to whether they used their time wisely, not just the results.” – Mike Krieger 
“It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens.” – Kim Scott
“You’ll know you understand the customer problem enough when you can predict 75% of what a customer tells you. Keep having these conversations until three-quarters of it is stuff you already know.” – Christina Cacioppo
“I have a rule: no company swag until the business has at least $250K of revenue or 250k users. Until then, you don’t get to “feel” the benefits of having started a company.” – Gagan Biyani
“The business model ends up becoming the business. It’s equally important as the market you’re going after and the product that you build.” – Jay Simons 
“If speed is the yin, the yang is prioritization. You can’t be fast if you don’t know what’s important.” – Jaleh Rezaei
“If you treat your connections as a kind of personal ATM you use for frequent withdrawals, you’ll quickly be disappointed (and overdrawn).” – Karen Wickre 
“Delighting the customer always yields better returns than countering or copying a competitor. It’s just a lot harder to do.” – Andy Rachleff 
“When you’re a founder, every moment you’re not writing code or getting users, you need to be making a conscious choice: Is whatever you’re doing worth your time?” – Alexis Ohanian
“‘Why would a customer not want this?’ is often a far more interesting question than why they would.” – Rick Song
“When you leave the planning process wondering if you put too many resources behind a single bet, that’s the bet that ends up succeeding. Bold ideas need bold resourcing.” – Lenny Rachitsky and Nels Gilbreth
“Treat customer development as a one-on-one with a direct report — you just want to ask the hard questions.” – Ryan Glasgow
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