What should early-stage founders focus on for rapid growth?

Matthew Rabinowitz

Executive Chairman · Natera

Raise institutional money quickly

Matthew Rabinowitz advises founders to raise institutional money as fast as possible and spend little of it, because if you can't convince one institutional investor your plan suits the market, you have the wrong plan.

The answer starts at 34:52.

Cyriac Roeding

Co-founder, CEO · Earli

Building an awesome team

Cyriac Roeding says if he could choose only one thing, he would choose building an awesome team, because awesome teams are the secret ingredient of every success and can execute ideas.

The answer starts at 35:49.

Marcus Chan

CEO and Founder · Venli

Founder grade system

Marcus Chan says that instead of hiring professional salespeople first, founders should build a “founder-grade system” to develop reps who can sell as effectively as the founder, using playbooks, systems and protocols.

The answer starts at 41:29.

Vivek Vaidya

Co-Founder/CTO · Kana

Building and selling

Vivek Vaidya advises founders that when in doubt they should keep building and keep selling, because there is going to be a lot of doubt.

The answer starts at 2:10.

Jonathan Awad

Co-Founder, CEO · Baselayer

Giving value

Jonathan Awad says founders should focus on giving buyers value beyond their product — offering things like their network and connections — because then buyers will give them a chance.

Steven Bartlett

Founder & CEO · Steven.Com

Hiring

Steven Bartlett says the most leveraged hour a founder has is spent on hiring, and that he spends 30 to 40 hours a week on it, because everything in the business comes out of someone's head.

Andrea Baronchelli

Co-Founder & CEO · Aspire

Mindset

Andrea Baronchelli says mindset is the most critical of the two—mindset and competency—when thinking about early team decisions.

The answer starts at 27:46.

Maik Taro Wehmeyer

Co-Founder & CEO · Taktile

Product

Maik Taro Wehmeyer says founders should put product first, along with customers and revenue, because having those is what allows a fundraise to go well or badly.

Mirko Novakovic

Chief Executive Officer · Dash0

Revenue growth

Mirko Novakovic recommends founders focus on one metric, revenue growth, saying all other metrics don't matter if you have high growth, and that efficiency especially at the beginning doesn't really matter.

Arvind Jain

Founder and CEO · Glean

Raising capital

Arvind Jain recommends that founders raise capital and go big fast, arguing that under-capitalization creates a costly distraction and costs more than dilution.

Sasha Orloff

Member of Staff · Accrual

Show up for your team

Sasha Orloff advises early-stage founders that how they show up for their team is really important, one of two things he says he's taken with him.

Victor Cardenas Codriansky

Co-Founder, CEO · Slash

Writing code and talking to customers

Victor Cardenas Codriansky says that if founders are earlier stage they should just focus on writing code and talking to their customers, and that's it.

Gyve Safavi

Co-Founder & CEO · SURI

Co‑founder relationship

Gyve Safavi says founders should invest in the co-founder relationship and figure out their dynamics, calling it one of the fundamental things she would tell any business starting out.

Aizada Marat

CEO & Founder · Alma

Problem validation

Aizada Marat says the most important thing is to think about the problem founders want to solve — whether it's real, a nice-to-have or a must-have — because founders otherwise fall in love with the idea too early and get defensive.

Colin Zima

Co-Founder, CEO · Omni

Making the company more valuable

Colin Zima says his main piece of advice for early-stage founders is to be thoughtful about where they spend their time and whether they made the company more valuable each day, because the company only gets more valuable based on what you do.

Strong infrastructure

Max Hodak says founders should focus on getting their company's infrastructure or foundations right, because speed is determined by infrastructure, and speed determines success or failure.

Ali Hussain

CEO and Co-Founder · Tabs

Understanding the problem

Ali Hussain says founders should first understand the problem statement and space they want to go after, saying sometimes you have to go slow before you can go fast.

Sam Altman

Chief Executive Officer · OpenAI

Contrarian ideas

Sam Altman says the highest-order advice is to find contrarian ideas, because conventional wisdom is often wrong about what matters most and the idea laughed at today can beat one that gets universal nods.

Ben Goodwin

Co-Founder/CEO/Formulator · Olipop Pbc

The problem

Ben Goodwin says early-stage founders should focus on the problem because understanding the problem helps spot opportunities and prevents distance from customers.