Idea to Startup

Latest Episodes:

When to Pivot and When to Stick (aka what to do with all your startup ideas) ITS Classic Apr 10, 2024

Show notes

Today, we'll talk about one of the most common hurdles entrepreneurs run into - getting tempted by a new idea a few months into working on their main idea. We lay out a framework to identify the first principles of the new idea fast so you can decide if it's worth a pivot. We also dig in on why the urge to pivot shows up, procrastination, and how to win a baking contest. And, English Lords from the 17th century.

00:26 Intro
05:40 Chronic Pain Side Idea
08:30 Smooth Jazz
09:00 All Babies Are Cute
13:00 Internal vs. External Signal
14:01 Why You Have a Lawn
16:50 What to Look For in a New Idea
20:30 How to Win a Baking Competition

How to Pick Your Startup's First Customer Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

Today, we'll help you pick your startup's first customer segment. This decision dooms a huge percentage of first time entrepreneurs - if you don't understand what the job of your first customer segment is, you'll likely pick a customer incapable of doing it. Your first customer has a unique responsibility that no other customer will have - you need to choose them carefully.
Conversely, if you choose the right first customer, you'll set yourself up for serious growth.
We go through the five characteristics your first customer needs, give a preview of what your successful startup will look like, and help a listener find the first customer for their Myers Briggs startup.

Byldd
Tacklebox
Getting Real (museum curator reference)
Everyman Espresso (☕️ 🐐)

Timestamps
00:27 First Time Entrepreneurs vs. Second Time Entrepreneurs
03:20 The Idea: Personality-Based Management
06:29 Why You, Why At All, Why Now
08:55 Byldd
09:55 The Story of Your Successful Startup
15:35 The Five Necessary First Customer Characteristics
16:41 Characteristic One: Pain
21:51 Characteristic Two: The Knowledge Spectrum
25:43 Characteristic Three: Measurement
28:24 Characteristic Four: Influence
29:48 Characteristic Five: Frequency
31:45 The End

A System to Do Hard Things (ITS Classic) Mar 21, 2024

Show notes

Today, we help you become the type of founder who relishes uncomfortable things that lead to successful startups. There are no real secrets in the startup world - the hard, proactive, uncomfortable work leads to businesses that matter. This work doesn’t happen without a system.

Today we help you build that system, using The Costanza Swap, The Three Levers of Resilience, and The Failure Case.

Hoo ahh.

00:24 Doing Things You Don’t Want To Do
02:45 Why the Eisenhower Box Doesn’t Work for Entrepreneurs
03:30 The Al Pacino Problem
04:45 Creating Content
08:00 Smooth Jazz
08:30 The Costanza Swap
10:15 One Out, One In
11:20 The Three Levers of Resilience
12:40 Scheduling
13:24 Committing
14:30 Dissecting
17:40 The Failure Case
21:15 Happiness

How to Build the First (Magical) Version Of Your Product This Weekend (ITS Classic) Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

Today's classic episode will help you get the first version of your product up and out this weekend.
We use a three-part framework to help you focus in on the one core feature you've got to nail that can be built by someone with no technical or product building skills in an afternoon. We also find your customers inertia and ride that wave to make it easier to use your product than not.
We get help from an airbnb for lawn equipment startup and move the ball forward on the chronic pain idea.

0:55 The Two Questions Entrepreneurs Have About Products
2:35 A Great Product Does Two Things
4:26 Entrepreneur Baggage + Airbnb for Lawn Equipment
6:29 A Mindset for Today
8:13 Step One - Process
8:53 Organ Donors
9:55 Inertia
11:35 Chronic Pain
13:07 Frank’s Process
14:50 Harry Potter and Being Chosen
15:43 Step Two - Metrics
17:12 Chronic Pain Ex-College Athlete SOM
18:35 Outcome not Features - The Product is Irrelevant
19:16 The Five Marketing Archetypes - STTC, Pain, Cost, Apparate, Urgency
20:19 Step Three - Delivery (The Product)
20:32 Warby Parker
22:23 The Twelve Forms of Value
25:49 The Venmo Accountability Group

A System to Generate Ideas (aka how to let your brain be a brain) Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

Today, we talk through a 4-part system to generate ideas - one that'll tap into your brain's natural ability to develop novel solutions rather than just waiting (hoping) inspiration will strike. We'll do it with a little help from a baseball training facility, a corked wine bottle, and an MRI startup.

00:26 Idea People
02:47 A Baseball Training Facility
04:45 Inversion
07:46 Smooth Jazz
9:24 Part 1: Identifying the Problem
12:34 Part 2: Collecting
17:22 Part 3: Chewing
20:14 Part 4: Testing
21:37 The End + How to Start

20-ish Minute Skill: The Concierge MVP (ITS Classic) Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

Today's classic ITS episode discusses the Concierge MVP, an indispensable tactic early stage entrepreneurs can use to get the feedback of a full product without the money and time required to build one. We go through the 4-step method that'll get you data from customers you can use to raise funding, hire, or recognize the opportunity actually isn't worth your time.

00:00 - Opening and introduction
02:00 - The chicken and egg startup
04:50 - The value of a Concierge MVP
07:20 - The four steps of a Concierge MVP
11:00 - Example story of coaching service Concierge MVP
14:20 - Challenges with selling/positioning the Coaching MVP
18:30 - Learning from Concierge MVP results
22:45 - The End - Momentum

How to Create a Strategy For Your Startup Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

Today, we'll talk about strategy - what good (and bad) strategy looks like for startups, and how most early-stage companies lack any strategy at all. Using a framework from Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, we'll explore the three core elements: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent action. We'll examine strategies from a stand-up comedian and GoPro as examples, before applying the framework to craft a strategy for launching a successful children's book.

00:29 The Skeptical Startup
1:58 Strategies vs Goals
3:58 The Comedian Story
8:50 Smooth Jazz
9:30 Bad Strategy
11:38 Fluff
12:12 Failure to Face the Challenge
13:19 Mistaking Goals for Strategy
14:50 GoPro
17:16 The Kernel of a Successful Children’s Book
19:56 Guiding Policy
20:50 Coherent Action
21:24 The End + You

How to Build a "Skeptical Startup" - 8k per month in 10 hours per week Jan 31, 2024

Show notes

Today, we'll help you tackle the big question for entrepreneurs with startup ideas and jobs - when's it time to quit the job and focus on the startup full-time? You should think about this question the second you start working on an idea, and you should use the Skeptical Startup framework - a goal of $8k per month in 10 hours per week - as a guide. The Skeptical Startup framework is magical, and Brian will show how it'll help you focus with an example startup.

00:30 When to Quit Your Job
03:25 Life Expenses Excel Sheet
04:05 The Skeptical Startup Framework
06:25 The Idea: Home AV Improvements
07:44 Smooth Jazz
08:22 The Logistics of $8k
11:26 An AV Marketplace
12:46 Reduce the Surface Area
15:27 The Search
16:30 A Lead for the AV Startup
19:16 The End - Your Goals
19:26 A Goal Framework

What if the problem you're solving isn't "painful" or "urgent"? What if it's just something you think people will want? Should you still pursue it? (feat. Linguini) Jan 17, 2024

Show notes

Today is an ITS classic - an episode that was listened to and shared a ton. It hits on a fundamental question for idea-stage entrepreneurs - what if the problem you're solving isn't an urgent, painful, bleeding neck problem? What if it's just something you think will improve people's lives? Should you still pursue it? How?

The Magic of One-Sentence Marketing Jan 11, 2024

Show notes

Today’s episode is for everyone who struggles to summarize their startup in a sentence. We lay out a framework to do this well with help from a sticker on the street, a hedge fund, and a Vietnamese coffee shop.

00:33 One Sentence Marketing
01:10 Train to NYC
03:04 The best marketing Brian’s seen in a while
06:42 Smooth Jazz
07:28 Choosing a Customer and the Knowledge Spectrum
08:54 Air Quality Idea
13:07 Inflection Points + The Conference Exercise
14:09 The End - Vietnamese Coffee

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