Gustaf Alströmer, former Growth Product Lead at Airbnb and YC Partner, discusses how buying search keywords kickstarted growth in new geographic markets.
Insight
Alströmer: Pre-PMF startups only need founders, computers, and one engineer
“When startups get funded, every single dollar, every single energy effort should go towards trying to find product market fit, which usually is The two founders or the three founders, their computers, their apartment, and maybe one more engineer who's also pro…”
What-if
Alströmer: Post-2020 easy capital killed startups that otherwise would have succeeded
“It's very clear that, that what happened in those two years after summer, 20, 20 hurt companies. Like, it was much worse than just, like, more of the same. It hurt companies that otherwise would have been successful, because they would have had a level of disc…”
Insight
Alströmer: Most major companies scale using only one or two channels
“Most really big companies didn't use all of those channels. They use one or two channels.”
Insight
Startup marketing VPs churn frequently because founders misunderstand the role
“VP of marketing is like notoriously high churn job because, and it's not because the VP of marketing folks aren't good. It's because the founders have the wrong expectations of what those people do, and they haven't been curious enough to learn about that job.”
Insight
Alströmer: Early chiefs of staff and offices worsen startup outcomes
“It just feels natural that I should have an office manager, or I should have a really nice big office, or maybe two offices, or maybe a chief of staff, and there's, like, all of the things that, that just, like, you can look at other companies that are success…”
Insight
Alströmer: Fast hiring at seed stage usually means hiring the wrong people
“Like, maybe if I know you, I know you're a great founder, I would want to work for you, but like, for most people, this is not interesting to work for, which means the time it takes to hire will be very long, and if it goes really fast, you probably hire the w…”