Put in hard work and push through rejection to succeed in a startup, while finding a co-founder and focusing on making something people love.

• 🤔
  00:00

  Decide if you should become a startup founder and how to best prepare for it.

  • This talk will help you decide if you should become a startup founder and how to best prepare for it.
  • It is hard to know for sure if you are suited to be a successful startup founder, as many different types of people can succeed with different strengths.
• 💪
  02:04

  Put in hard work and push through rejection to succeed in a startup.

  • To succeed in a startup, you need to put in hard work and push through rejection to get users to care about your product.
  • Founders need to be resilient to succeed, but confidence is not a reliable proxy for resilience.
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  03:36

  Sagi persevered through rejection to become a successful leader, while others gave up.

  • Benchling struggled to raise seed funding and took two years to start making revenue, but now they are on track to become a public company with many top biotech and pharmaceutical customers.
  • Sagi overcame rejection to become a successful leader, while other Founders lacked the resilience to do the same.
• 🤔
  05:23

  Starting a startup can be a great learning experience, but make sure you have the right motivations and can handle the worst case scenario.

  • It's okay to start a startup to become rich, or just out of curiosity, as it's the only way to know if you'll enjoy it.
  • Founders' initial motivations to start a startup may change over time, so focus on finding enduring motivations such as genuine interest in the problem and love for the people you're working with.
  • Can you handle the worst case scenario of spending a year working on a startup without earning much or any salary?
• 🚀
  08:11

  Starting a company can be a valuable learning experience, even if it doesn't succeed.

  • If you can't handle the worst case, factor in the valuable learning you'll gain from starting a company before self-sabotaging your startup efforts.
  • Startup experience can improve career opportunities, even if the startup doesn't succeed.
  • Being a startup founder is a great way to meet smart, ambitious people and transform your career.
• 🤝
  10:58

  Find a co-founder to discuss and debate ideas with to turn them into tangible projects in a startup-friendly environment.

  • Find a co-founder to discuss and debate ideas with to help develop them into tangible and concrete concepts.
  • Have conversations about ideas and technologies you find interesting, then do your own research to learn more.
  • To increase the chances of starting a successful company, it is best to choose an environment with many potential co-founders, such as a startup, and start experimenting with turning ideas into side projects.
• 🚀
  13:30

  Build a product over a weekend, find a co-founder, and focus on making something people love!

  • Turn your idea into something real by building it over a weekend and pitching it to potential users to get feedback.
  • To start a company, you need to either learn to code or find a co-founder who can, and you should start working on side projects to gain experience.
  • It's better to make a product that a few people really love than one that a lot of people are indifferent to.
• 💡
  15:55

  Start side projects to gain experience and find a great co-founder to start a company with if you both want to.