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early-stage founders

also referred to as: early stage founder · early stage founders

13 statements across 13 episodes · 2 bullish · 6 bearish · 13 people on the record · first statement Mar 21, 2016 by Rob Hayes · across every show →

Everything said about early-stage founders, oldest first

Mar 21, 2016
Insight
Early-stage founders should spend 95% of their time on tactics
“Especially when you're a super early stage, you know, spend 95% of your time trying to make things happen on a day-to-day basis, and five percent or less of your time on things strategic.”
Rob Hayes Mar 21, 2016 ▶ 25:09 Uber's First Investor, First Round Capital's Rob Hayes on How The Deal Of The Decade Originated and Why Product Orientated VC Is The Future
Jun 3, 2016
Insight
Mah: Early-stage founders must sacrifice weekends, hobbies, and personal relationships
“So I think in the early stages of the business, when you have no one to delegate anything to, that is absolutely true. You sacrifice everything. Screw holidays. Screw weekends. You're gonna work, like, all the time. No dating. No, like, personal life. No hobbi…”
Jessica Mah Jun 3, 2016 ▶ 21:44 20VC: inDinero's Jessica Mah on Why Angel Money Is Better Than Institutional Money and Boards Should Work For Founders
Dec 12, 2016 positive
Insight
Ohanian: Early-stage founders must limit focus to two key metrics
“Driving home that relentless focus on the key metric or Maybe two key metrics tops is so important for early stage founders because that is the only thing that will matter.”
Alexis Ohanian Dec 12, 2016 ▶ 10:52 20VC: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian on How It All Started With Paul Graham @ YC, The Biggest Surprises About Making The Move Into VC & Why Alexis Believes All The Best Investors Have Operating Experience
Dec 19, 2016 neutral
Insight
Lynn: Early Founders Excel Because They Disliked Working in Large Corporations
“There are people that are really good At starting companies and getting them off the ground. And oftentimes the reason that they're really good at that and the reason they chose that was because they tried to be in a big company and they hated it and they were…”
Rebecca Lynn Dec 19, 2016 ▶ 16:52 20VC: Learnings From Mary Meeker & Larry Summers, Missing Out On Uber & The Changing World of VC with Canvas Partner, Rebecca Lynn
Apr 15, 2021
Insight
Foster: Founders are not raising money, they are selling company equity
“You are not raising money. You are selling a part of your company. That's what you're doing.”
Wade Foster Apr 15, 2021 ▶ 20:06 20VC: Scaling Zapier To $140M ARR and a $5Bn Valuation on $1.4M of Funding, What Founders Misunderstand About Fundraising & How Founders Should Think About Secondaries Today with Wade Foster, Founder & CEO @ Zapier
Apr 1, 2022 negative
Opinion
Vivas: Founders Taking $10M in Early Secondaries Send Weird Signals
“Early companies found are taking ten million dollars off the table. Personally, I think it sends a lot of weird signals.”
Eddie Vivas Apr 1, 2022 ▶ 25:20 20VC: The Biggest Mistakes Startups Make Hiring, The 2 Reasons Startups Fail and How to Avoid Them, Why Most Startup Equity Plans are F****** and Why You Should Scrap Titles From Your Company with Eddie Vivas, Founder & CEO @ Curated
May 6, 2022 positive
Insight
Lemkin: Multi-billion funds exert less pressure on early-stage founders
“If you take money from a big fund as an early stage founder, there's actually less pressure. This is so changed. The funds are so big and they're raising funds every 12 months. We have different portfolios and my portfolios, when the multi-billion dollar funds…”
Jason Lemkin May 6, 2022 ▶ 30:56 20VC: Why the Traditional Seed Fund Model No Longer Works, Why Multi-Stage Funds Investing at Seed Bring Signaling Risk but also Less Pressure, The One Criteria All Potential Sales Hires Need to Have and The Clear Signs of 10x Sales Hires with Jason Lemki
Feb 21, 2023 negative
Insight
Lawryk: Early founders fail at PMF by prioritizing themselves over customer empathy
“I think it's because the process of starting a company, developing a product is, is a very personal journey, right? You're really wrapped up in yourself, how it's going to impact your life, your friends, your family, and how this company is going to change you…”
Zach Lawryk Feb 21, 2023 ▶ 11:55 Zach Lawryk: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Engineering | E980 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Nov 3, 2023 negative
Insight
Altman: Early founders shouldn't invest until business can run without them
“I think it does when time constraints are the dominant force. And for that reason, I think early stage founders spending real time investing is it's just too expensive. And so when, like, there are definitely things to be learned from your investing that poure…”
Jack Altman Nov 3, 2023 ▶ 26:17 Roundtable #5 with Jack Altman, Auren Hoffman, Jason Lemkin, Harry Stebbings | E1077 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 22, 2024 negative
Insight
Fisher: Absolute certainty about an early-stage idea is a bad signal
“But if they're so certain about the idea at such an early stage, to me, that's a bad signal.”
Adam Fisher Jan 22, 2024 ▶ 8:28 Adam Fisher: Why Small Markets are Better Than Big Markets | E1106 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 23, 2024 negative
Opinion
Stebbings: Early-stage founders make their biggest mistakes in hiring
“Hiring is really freaking hard. Like it is the one area where I think most early stage founders get most wrong.”
Harry Stebbings Oct 23, 2024 ▶ 36:14 AJ Tennant: How to Build a Sales Machine and Where Most Go Wrong | E2118 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 13, 2024
Insight
Moubeche: Non-paying customers indicate a core issue regardless of product readiness
“I think the biggest mistake is not trying to sell. And if someone is not paying, whether your product is ready or not, if they're not paying, it means that something is wrong.”
Guillaume Moubeche Dec 13, 2024 ▶ 10:01 Guillaume Moubeche, lempire Founder: Bootsrapping to $30M ARR Through Content & Brand | E1238 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 28, 2025 negative
Insight
Bonaci: Calculating LTV for Early-Stage Startups Is False Precision
“But the reality is it's like false precision. Like you're not going to know where your LTV is if you've been in business for a year or six months or whatever it might be. So I wouldn't over index on that false precision.”
George Bonaci Feb 28, 2025 ▶ 11:57 George Bonaci, VP of Growth @Ramp: How Ramp Became the Fastest Growing SaaS Company Ever |E1264 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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