The key idea of the video is that showcasing work in progress and acknowledging failures is important in the startup world, and persistence, finding the right people, and offering value are crucial for success.

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  00:00

  Kathryn Minshew, CEO of The Muse, discusses the importance of showcasing the work in progress and acknowledging failures in the startup world.

  • Kathryn Minshew, CEO and founder of The Muse, discusses her career journey from working with the Clinton Health Initiative to creating a job discovery tool.
  • The founder and CEO of The Muse talks about the perception issue in the startup world and how it's easier to showcase successful growth than to talk about the failures that often come before it.
  • The Muse experienced nearly flat growth over eight or nine months, highlighting the importance of showing the work in progress and acknowledging that most startups are a work in progress.
  • The speaker explored her journey of discovering her career path, which involved exploring various options and rejecting traditional careers.
  • Career quizzes didn't give any sense of what it actually meant to do different jobs, and people are now more concerned with company culture, growth, and their role in it.
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  04:23

  The Muse launched in 2011, focused on career content, tested jobs with Uber, and grew through word of mouth, but got Google account shut down after sending 1200 launch emails in one day.

  • The Muse's first website launched in 2011 was a slow and imperfect effort, but still managed to attract a significant number of users.
  • The company started with career content to attract companies and users, tested the appetite for jobs with Uber, and focused on building word of mouth to grow their platform.
  • The speaker sent a short email to everyone she had communicated with over the past three years, informing them about the launch of The Muse and providing a tweet for them to share on social media, resulting in Google shutting down her account due to sending 1200 emails in one day.
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  06:51

  Despite PR efforts, a job search platform for professional women faced investor rejection due to stereotypes and lack of understanding of the target audience.

  • To gain feedback and increase awareness, reach out to like-minded groups and create great content on relevant topics.
  • Despite growing and creating their own PR, the speaker's company faced difficulty in fundraising, with 148 out of 150 investors in New York City rejecting their pitch.
  • Building a job search platform for professional women faced challenges due to long-held stereotypes and investors not understanding the target audience.
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  09:48

  The Muse's persistence paid off when they were accepted into Y Combinator, leading to a successful launch and growth of their company.

  • Y Combinator was the first to definitively say yes to The Muse, despite their previous rejections, and their determined attitude resonated with the investors.
  • Received call from YC while watching a movie, got accepted, and felt excited.
  • After being accepted to YC, the speaker's team learned to simplify their ideas and focus on testing demand, leading to a successful launch and growth of their company.
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  12:47

  Honoring agreements and getting them in writing is crucial in start-ups, as seen in the speaker's experience with their first hire.

  • Honoring your word and getting agreements in writing is important in the start-up community.
  • The speaker had to make a deal with their first hire to pay them a small amount of money consistently and then a little bit more later on once they had raised more funds, which caused the speaker stress until they were able to raise enough money to honor the agreement.
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  14:49

  Don't wait for perfection, find your target audience, be persistent and polite, and offer value to get early traffic to your startup.

  • Don't wait for perfection, start somewhere and put your ideas out in the world to survive the test of real customers.
  • Find the right target audience for your product to ensure its success.
  • To succeed in a startup, be persistent and polite, as most things will not be achieved by asking once.
  • The speaker shares how they got early traffic to The Muse by offering career content to Forbes in exchange for a link back to their website, and it took several attempts to find the right person to make the deal happen.
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  17:41

  Find the right people and share values to avoid ruining your life when investing.

  • When investing, find the right person and be persistent, and find people who share your values to avoid ruining your life.
  • Failure of the speaker's first company was due to a business dispute between founders caused by overlooking red flags around values issues, emphasizing the importance of working with people who share the same values and creating velocity in startups.
  • To succeed, it's not enough to have an amazing product, you also need to identify and target the right users who will become evangelists for your product and build an amazing team.
  • On Doug's first day of work, his colleagues dressed up in formal wear as a prank to welcome him.
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  20:54

  Figure out what motivates people and help them achieve their professional goals to build a powerful team, even if you're strapped for cash.

  • Building a company is hard and you may not have a lot of cash to compensate people, but there are many things that motivate people besides money.
  • Figure out what motivates people and help them achieve their professional goals to build a powerful team, especially if you're strapped for cash.
  • To find potential hires, use job posting sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, keep an eye on startups in the "dead pool" on sites like Hacker News and TechCrunch, and network and speak with others in the industry.
  • Don't believe the hype in the industry and get close to your product and users to understand what drives them to use your product and come back every day.