Embracing Rejection: Insights from Successful Founders - Caldwell & Seibel

Name: Embracing Rejection: Insights from Successful Founders - Caldwell & Seibel
Uploaded: 2023-03-09 20:48:53
Description: Successful founders must embrace rejection, talk to users for insights, test their hypotheses, and view "no" as a gift to stay productive and build relevant products.

This article is a summary of a YouTube video "Successful Founders Are OK With Rejection – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel" by Y Combinator

TLDR Successful founders must embrace rejection, talk to users for insights, test their hypotheses, and view "no" as a gift to stay productive and build relevant products.

Key insights

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"There's nothing more humbling...than seeing real people using this thing that you built...and just like ripping it to shreds and not understanding it or like using none of the features or clicking on the wrong thing."
☕

️ Building personal connections and engaging in conversations with potential users can lead to valuable insights and opportunities for growth, as seen in the example of the homeowner who shared his decade-long experience with renting out his house.
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Prioritizing user feedback and conducting interviews with users helped the founders understand the needs and desires of their target audience.
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The founders of Stripe were willing to charge more than their competition to test their hypothesis and see if startups would use their product, showing the importance of logical testing over ego-driven decisions.
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The best salespeople prioritize learning and filtering over convincing, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and discernment in the sales process.
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"Sales are like oh no if they say no that just means that they don't understand how good my thing is and I have to explain it better as opposed to like no that no is a gift figure out what you could have asked them so they would have said no in the first three minutes of the conversation."
😎

Successful founders are OK with rejection and understand that not everyone will want to buy their product, so they don't let it affect their self-esteem.
😎

Successful founders are OK with rejection.

Timestamped Summary

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00:00
Teams must overcome ego protection and embrace rejection to succeed, while talking to users is crucial to avoid building irrelevant products, but user surveys may not be enough for fundamental market validation.
📈

03:22
Airbnb founders validated their idea through user research and interviews, which proved more effective than email surveys.
📈

05:13
Twitch pivoted from Justin TV and added the ability to stream in higher quality, impressing customers.
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07:39
Improve stream appearance, run video ads on users, talk to users for insights, customer opinion only valuable if they pay, use regularly, or share with friends.
💡

09:51
Founders should approach their work like scientists and test their hypotheses, even if it means facing the possibility of being wrong.
💰

11:49
Stripe founders tested their hypothesis by building a product that charged more than the competition to see if startups would use it, and found that potential customers who delay or make excuses are likely politely rejecting the offer.
💰

14:01
Founders often misunderstand sales, but successful salespeople filter quickly, view "no" as a gift, and accept rejection to stay productive and test their core hypothesis.
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18:02
Experience life directly, not through a filter, as time is limited and fulfillment comes from personal experience.