I was recently watching a YouTube show where the host visits the homes of successful, wealthy people and interviews them. Someone asked him a question: after seeing many of these homes, did he notice any common pattern? He paused for a moment, then said something interesting. He couldn’t recall a single home that was unorganized … Continue reading Uncluttered
When we sold our last company at a $510M valuation, every single person at the company made money – some quite high amount. As a solo founder, I tried to be fair and generous with equity. We allocated something like 25% to stock options, which was definitely on the high side. Most people knew that … Continue reading Focus on what you can control
Asked ChatGPT how many people I met in 2025, and it answered: about 255 unique people. That number is based only on specific events (eg my Google calendar entries), so in reality I’m sure it was more than 255. Anyway, to all of you: thank you for spending your time with me (and, in some … Continue reading 255 unique meetings
As I reflect on 2025, here are some lessons and musings – in no particular order. What about you? What are some things that you learned this year? Continue reading 2025 year end musings
Founders, don’t make the same mistake I did. There are two types of founders: farmers and hunters. I was a farmer for too long, watching hunters pass by and succeed out of nowhere. Generally speaking, farmers: Meanwhile, hunters: You have to be a good person in this business. No question about it. But if you’re … Continue reading Farmers and Hunters
A topic that’s been on my mind lately. All great achievers in the business world seemed to share one thing in common: they did one thing exceptionally well, and did it well for many, many decades – long enough for their excellence to truly compound. Think Warren Buffett, Leonardo Del Vecchio, Larry Ellison. Then I … Continue reading Make at least one thing compound
How far would you go to get your first customer? Someone once told me a story about a small building cleaning company – this could be a fictional story or a true one, I have no idea. This company needed their first client. So they did something that’s questionable but human – they lied. They … Continue reading That first lie
A common expression in the startup world is: “investors are, at the end of the day, like cheerleaders on the sideline”. I see what it’s trying to say – it’s the founders who are fighting in the arena, investors shouldn’t pretend to know better about their business, etc etc. But I think the expression has … Continue reading Investors as roots
Heard an interesting story from a B2B founder: Selling to enterprises now = what used to be selling to SMBsSelling to SMBs now = what used to be selling to individuals And a key reason? Mercury and Brex (and similar products). To unpack this: As more big companies issue Mercury or Brex cards to team … Continue reading Selling to enterprises vs SMBs
Eventbrite is getting acquired by Bending Spoons for $500M. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the news? Luma and Partiful. My immediate assumption was that Eventbrite may have been out-innovated by these newer players, which must have led to this acquisition. I have no idea if that’s actually true or not; … Continue reading Luma and Partiful