Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Robert Vis: Founders checking competitor websites weekly are doing something completely wrong

Robert Vis · "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis · Aug 14, 2019 · at 14:44

Robert Vis, founder and CEO of MessageBird, discusses startup competition and customer obsession with Harry Stebbings.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.5s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“But if you're checking your competitor's webpage every day or every week, you're doing something completely wrong. I mean, maybe that's something you will look at directionally, what are they doing, and then, but you should always focus on yourself, your own company, your own customers, and try to differentiate yourself from the rest.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

More from Robert Vis

Opinion
Robert Vis: European investors prioritize traction while US investors prioritize ideas
“Traction is more attractive in Europe, where in the US people are more about ideas.”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 8:59 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Insight
Robert Vis: Founders mistakenly choose VC brands over individual board member fit
“The number one mistake people make is to go for brands. You know, having a board member is like a marriage that you can't get out of. So, you should be very careful who you select as your board member, and you should make sure that you really gel with that boa…”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 10:12 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Insight
Robert Vis: Early startup founders cannot expect to take three-week holidays
“You know, when I speak to founders, and they're like, I'm starting a company, and I'm, but in two months, I'm taking a three week nice, relaxed holiday. I'm like, that's not how this works, dude. Like, that's not how you build a company. Like, so, you know, th…”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 20:03 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Insight
Robert Vis: European startups must think globally to compete with US companies
“You know, I think that's one of the things that Europe has to sort of get over, like, think big, go global you know, think outside of your country to really start winning, because, you know, that's the advantage that the U.S. Has, that, you know, one state to …”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 5:52 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Assertion Partly supported
Robert Vis: MessageBird bootstrapped profitably for six years with 100% YoY growth
“We bootstrapped for six years, we were profitable we were still had, you know, a hundred, hundred percent growth rates year in year so we didn't really need the money, first of all”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 9:21 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Insight
Robert Vis: Give new hires three to six months before ending mismatches
“You should always give people a chance, have people figure it out, you know, give people three to six months, but if after three to six months it doesn't work out, you should end it.”
Robert Vis Aug 14, 2019 ▶ 17:34 "Early Gains, Early Pains: 5 Lessons for Surviving Hypergrowth" Harry Stebbings and Robert Vis
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 400 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.