Founders should focus on creating something that works, setting realistic goals, and leading by example to ensure success.

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  00:00

  Believe in gradual success and launch a social media campaign with influencers and a wait list.

  • People often set overly aggressive goals out of fear, which can lead to unproductive outcomes.
  • Believing that a product will immediately succeed and take off upon launch is a common misconception.
  • Launch a social media campaign with influencers and a wait list to reach the top of the charts.
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  03:36

  Companies should focus on making money, not fake metrics, to ensure investors make informed decisions.

  • Companies should measure success in terms of money made, not fake metrics such as registered users, hits, downloads, or incomplete registrations.
  • People often use metrics to deceive others, but it's usually easy to tell when they're doing it.
  • Investors make consistent decisions based on the company's similarities to other companies they have invested in.
  • Creating superficial resemblance to other things is not a smart game to be playing, as opposed to replicating deep engagement.
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  08:05

  Setting realistic goals and working hard to exceed them is the best way to succeed.

  • Setting intentionally easy goals to blow them out of the water is a great career advice.
  • Setting ambitious goals and exceeding expectations is a great way to succeed, but when you're your own boss, sandbagging goals and doing as little work as possible is not a good strategy.
  • Cheating to achieve a goal is not the same as actually mastering the knowledge to reach it.
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  10:51

  Don't try to cheat your way to success; adjust your goals and focus on creating something that works.

  • People make mistakes by thinking they can fool investors and get away with it.
  • Setting the wrong goal and feeling like not accomplishing it is a failure can lead to cheating or other tactics, but it's important to give yourself slack and adjust goals over time to make progress on the hardest problems.
  • When people don't hit their goals, it's not helpful to make excuses and blame others.
  • Don't waste energy trying to prove yourself right and everyone else wrong; instead, focus on creating something that works.
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  14:32

  Playing the "most money raised" game can lead to a "stupid prize" and over-hiring, making pivoting difficult and leaving the winner with a failed company.

  • Playing the "most money raised" game can lead to winning a "stupid prize".
  • Raising money can lead to a mess of a company, with people and money going in the wrong direction, making pivoting difficult and leaving the winner with a "stupid prize".
  • Having to let people go due to over-hiring is one of the biggest failures a person can experience.
  • Recruiting an executive team is a good idea for a company ready to grow, but much of the VC content is aimed at late stage founders and not applicable to pre-pmf startups.
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  18:56

  Hiring from prestigious companies can be a gamble, and acquiring talented failing startups can help you grow faster.

  • You may get a big win by hiring someone from a prestigious company, but they may have joined for the wrong reasons and you may end up burning money and facing financial judgement.
  • Founders should be aware that luck runs out when raising rounds and scaling negative margins, and acquiring companies comes in a number of flavors.
  • We should acquire talented failing startups to help us grow faster.
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  21:48

  Don't launch a product without product-market fit; it could lead to serious consequences.

  • It's not a good idea to spin up a new product before achieving product-market fit.
  • Knowingly pursuing a strategy that harms customers can lead to jail time and irreparable harm to one's life.
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  24:10

  Founders should consider the consequences of their decisions and lead by example to ensure their team is focused on building a successful business.

  • Good founders often have the opportunity to invest in other companies with minimal effort and time.
  • Playing the status game of angel investing can lead to financial strain and potentially alienating employees.
  • Founders should think through the consequences of their decisions and lead by example to ensure their team is focused on building a successful business.
  • Outliers are smart, great executors, and great trainers, and don't sandbag themselves.