What is most important before startups scale, and why?

Cyriac Roeding

Co-founder, CEO · Earli

Building an awesome team

Cyriac Roeding says that if he had to choose only one thing, he would choose building an awesome team, because awesome teams are the secret ingredient of every success and a great idea can't be executed without one.

The answer starts at 35:49.

Jason Calacanis

Bestie · All-In Podcast

Find a hair‑on‑fire problem

Jason Calacanis says the next step is to find a "hair-on-fire" real problem, not a vitamin, because a missed painkiller is noticed quickly while a skipped vitamin can go unnoticed.

Marc Minor

Cofounder and CEO · Higharc

Learning fast

Marc Minor says the biggest advice is to start learning as fast as possible and focus on your slope rather than the intercept, because nobody knows what they're doing and starting a company means learning all over again.

The answer starts at 15:19.

Marcus Chan

CEO and Founder · Venli

Catch problems early

Marcus Chan relays Tony's advice to build a daily cadence that lets you catch problems early instead of explaining them late, calling it the one thing to take from Tony.

The answer starts at 48:45.

Anshu Sharma

Co-founder & CEO · Skyflow

Hiring

Anshu Sharma says hiring is the key focus for early-stage startups, calling it the practical step number one and saying it is 70% hiring and 30% firing so everything else takes care of itself.

Matthew Wilson

Co-founder and CEO · Jack and Jill

Becoming a category leader

Matthew Wilson says founders should anchor themselves from day one on building a category-leading business, asking what the winner in their space does and how to get there, because most markets end up with only one or two winners.

The answer starts at 43:24.

Yasser Elsaid

CEO · Chatbase

Take risks

Yasser Elsaid says the biggest mistake is a risk-averse bootstrapped mindset; he argues founders should take risks, noting his company saw revenue growth after acting that way.

Mirko Novakovic

Chief Executive Officer · Dash0

Revenue growth

Mirko Novakovic recommends founders focus on one metric — revenue growth — saying that when growth is high, other metrics and early efficiency don't matter.

David R. Craig, MBA

Chief Executive Officer · Sarcomatrix

Establishing culture

David R. Craig, MBA says the focus should be establishing culture early, because doing so lets you maintain it as you bring people on, while failing to do so means importing other companies' cultures.

Jesse Stein

Founder & CEO · Hermetic Ai

Double down on what's working

Jesse Stein says one of the keys is to double down and triple down on what's working, riding it until the wheels fall off, because entrepreneurs often get distracted by the shiny and new instead of the thing that's working.

Arvind Jain

Founder and CEO · Glean

Raise capital

Arvind Jain recommends founders raise capital aggressively, saying it protects focus by removing the recurring distraction of calculating whether the company can afford one more engineer.

Marc Baselga

Founder · Supra

Nail the culture

Marc Baselga says to nail the culture, provided it is aligned with helping you accomplish your goals.

Victor Cardenas Codriansky

Co-Founder, CEO · Slash

Writing code and talking to customers

Victor Cardenas Codriansky says early-stage founders should just focus on writing code and talking to customers, and not talk to investors unless they're raising money.

Aizada Marat

CEO & Founder · Alma

Validate the problem

Aizada Marat says the most important focus is to think about whether the problem is real and a must-have, not a nice-to-have, because founders sometimes fall in love with the idea too early.

Neka Pasquale LAc MS

Founder & Chief Product Officer · Urban Remedy

Hold the vision

Neka Pasquale LAc MS says it is critically important to always hold the vision for your company, because taking investment and pursuing growth can lead to decisions out of alignment with how you see the business and it can go sideways.

Andy Frisella

Chief Executive Officer · 1st Phorm International

Validate market demand

Andy Frisella says the first 90 days should be spent creating an idea, concept and brand, testing it, and validating whether there is demand before moving on.

Foundations

Max Hodak says early-stage startups need to focus on getting their foundations right, because doing so makes everything else much easier, while getting them wrong means spending millions with little control.

Shaju Puthussery

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer · LightSpun

Product

Shaju Puthussery says the focus is on the right thing, naming the product along with the right customer, employee, and culture; money will come if you do the right thing.

Kabir Siddiq

Founder & CEO · Sleepycat

Product‑market fit

Kabir Siddiq says founders should launch and let the product grow before raising, and that he'd raise only once there's product-market fit, because consumer validation shows what's actually working.

Sam Altman

Chief Executive Officer · OpenAI

Underwrite for the exponential

Sam Altman says to underwrite for the exponential, not the current snapshot, and calls this the single most important thing he would want a founder to internalize.

Ben Goodwin

Co-Founder/CEO/Formulator · Olipop Pbc

The problem

Ben Goodwin says the key is focusing on the problem, distilling what customers actually want rather than the solution, and keeping an eye on the distance between the builders and the people using the product.