Taslim Okunola

Thought for the day for Investors and Founders. Every startup needs 3 people on the team; Tech visionary, Sales missionary, Product designer. The CEO should be an expert at one of these roles. You might think that a Founder CEO can fill all three roles, but that is rarely the case. You might think the startup can fill those roles later in the evolution. Maybe, but you lose so much time, and risk getting too far off track if you wait. You might think not having deep domain experience in the market they are targeting, isn't important. Thinking smart thoughts, and having a crisp pitch deck is NOT the same as grinding at the problem for years. If you don't see 3 strong people on the team that totally get those 3 roles, and people who have deep domain experience... don't invest.

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Shreyas Doshi on annual planning: We sped 6 weeks planning. We go into January super excited! And then, inevitably, the first week of February, 3 key client features come up and, by the end of Q1, the plan is completely thrown out. So then, I ask “well, why are we doing planning for 6 weeks?” And someone really smart says something like “the plan is useless, but the act of planning is powerful”. And everyone nods their head because it sounds smart but no one has a clue what it means. YES 😂😂😂 The solution: spent 3 days refining a simple, clear product strategy. Everything that comes up can run through that filter. If it’s not aligned, don’t do it. If it is, consider prioritizing it. The result: You stay fluid & dynamic without sacrificing your north star.

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Ami Vora is the Chief Product Officer of Faire. Prior to Faire, Ami spent over 15 years at Meta where she was VP of Product and Design for WhatsApp (2B+ users), VP of Product for Facebook’s ads system (now a $130B business), and director of product at Instagram where she created Instagram's first ads platform. In our conversation, Ami shares: 🔸 Why execution eats strategy for breakfast 🔸 Using metaphor to rally teams around a shared goal 🔸 “Dinosaur brain,” “Toddler soccer,” and “hill climbing” 🔸 A pro tip for handling disagreement 🔸 Tips for working well with product-minded founders as a product leader 🔸 The story of Ami’s incredible 15-year journey from temp to VP 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gQasbCbp - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gQCjrhwn - Apple: https://lnkd.in/ghYTapTG Some key takeaways: 1. Execution eats strategy for breakfast: While strategy is undeniably valuable for guiding direction and setting goals, it’s the execution—the tangible implementation of those plans—that truly drives success. Without strong execution, even the best strategies can’t succeed. This means being willing to get your hands dirty, to tackle the mundane and sometimes tedious aspects of the work that lead to real results. Successful execution allows you to learn from both your triumphs and your setbacks, enabling you to refine and improve your strategy over time. 2. When handling high-stakes product reviews with executives (who are so inundated with information that they can't go deep on all of it, aka "dinosaur brain"), focus on distilling complex information into concise, actionable recommendations. By doing so, you not only clarify your recommendation but also empower execs to offer useful context, patterns, or insights at the right altitude. 3. When having a disagreement, use phrases like “Fascinating! You have to tell me more about why you think that” to show a genuine interest in learning. While everyone loves being right, delivering the best outcome is what truly matters. Put your ego aside, embrace curiosity, and collaborate to broaden your perspective and information set. 4. Use the “hill climb” metaphor to remind your team that moving from a local to a global optimum is like traversing hills and valleys. Imagine your product roadmap like climbing a mountain range, with your current solution being a local peak. Reaching the global optimum or the summit requires leaving your comfortable vantage on an arduous journey to explore other hills and valleys. Trying to play it safe by staying put means forfeiting your shot at reaching the global maximum. Use this analogy to remind your team that achieving the best outcome demands risk-taking and perseverance through challenges. Embrace these hurdles as crucial steps toward success, knowing each stride brings you closer to the summit.

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Growing up, I was fascinated by Rube Goldberg machines. They were built to perform simple tasks through overly complicated means and were a joy to watch. Today, I see them everywhere—in the tech world. Take these examples: Spark vs. Ray: Spark feels like a Rube Goldberg machine for distributed computing, while Ray’s simplicity shows what’s possible when you focus on the essentials. React vs. Svelte: React has become an ecosystem of complexity with layers upon layers, while Svelte feels like cutting through the noise. Kubernetes vs. VMs: Running Kubernetes for small-scale apps feels like bringing a spaceship to a bicycle race. Sometimes, a few simple VMs are all you need. Pinot vs. DuckDB: Pinot offers incredible scale but often at the cost of simplicity. DuckDB? It keeps things efficient, local, and refreshingly straightforward. Microservices vs. Monolith: Microservices promise scalability but often devolve into chaos with too many moving parts. Sometimes, a well-designed monolith can solve the same problems with far less complexity. Have we built a tech ecosystem where over-engineering is the norm? Are we solving problems, or just building intricate systems for the sake of it?

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There's not a day that goes by without someone asking me, "How are you managing to do all this?" Besides the fact that I've been waking up at 5 am every day for the past six months, I've come to realise there's more to it. This week, I listened to a podcast episode featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Shreyas Doshi, and it really resonated with me. They delved into why we're always so busy in product development, and it felt like they were speaking directly to my experiences. Shreyas shared that we often find ourselves overwhelmed no matter how many productivity hacks we employ. As we take on more responsibilities, our to-do lists grow faster than we can manage them. He emphasised that the real issue isn't about working harder or finding the next big efficiency trick. One point that struck me was the importance of having a clear and aligned product strategy. Without it, we end up drowning in endless meetings, planning sessions, and unexpected tasks. This lack of focus eats up our time and adds unnecessary stress. The same goes for life in general, by the way. Listening to their conversation confirmed that the steps I'm undertaking now in terms of productivity and efficiency are on the right path. Being constantly busy isn't a badge of honour, but a sign that I need to reassess how I'm working. It's about being intentional with my time, making thoughtful decisions, and ensuring that my efforts align with a meaningful strategy. So yes, waking up early helps, but it's not the whole story. It's about working smarter, not just harder. This podcast reminded me that sometimes, stepping back to see the bigger picture can make all the difference.

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Shreyas Doshi live at the Lenny and Friends Summit 🔥 Shreyas is a former product leader at Stripe, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo. He’s now a full-time advisor and coach to founders and executives. Shreyas is known for his insightful writing on product, which has garnered him a passionate following in the PM and startup community. Last week, we sat down at the very first Lenny and Friends Summit in San Francisco for a special live episode. We discussed: 🔸 Why product leaders often feel overwhelmed, and how to combat it 🔸 The importance of developing good taste, and how to develop it 🔸 How to reduce frustration in your product leadership role 🔸 The critical skill of truly listening as a leader 🔸 Common pitfalls in annual planning and decision-making Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g93Tthvm - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gxM8Wvi4 - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gtsjd4jM Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting the podcast: 🏆 WorkOS — Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/ 🏆 Paragon — Ship every SaaS integration your customers want: https://lnkd.in/geirC2qS 🏆 Vanta — Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny

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My lessons from this election: 1. Winning elections is about winning the media game. Period. 2. Winning as a startup is similar; hustle hard in the paint and win the media game and you can beat out your opponents

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Pie is LIVE in San Francisco. This is not a city that is dumb to new startups. There is e large and growing graveyard of companies and apps that have tried to solve the problem of making friends IRL. Having worked on this for five years, here is why we think Pie is right on time: 1. Our Pie Creator Fund is creating a gig economy of people building IRL communities. Loving people is one thing. Being able to afford the time and treasure to bring them together is another. Apply here: piecreatorfund.com 2. Most Pie plans are free. The internet is littered with paid opportunities to buy tickets. But what if you don't know what to expect? What if you don't know what is worth paying for? Believe in free: getpie.app (and click San Francisco). 3. We have secrets about the future. Not all of them are in our product yet. We hope that you give us a shot and maybe later we can tell you our secrets. Maybe you don't have to figure out who to hang out with, maybe we can do that for you.

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On tech businesses away from VC funding It doesn’t have to start as a tech startup. You should first run as a successful agency and then you build tech on that foundation, with agency revenue I’ll talk more on this on the spaces in 30 minutes. Join us https://lnkd.in/dBV-Hksx #tech #funding #vc #startup #africa #business

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“So we try to work with founders and CMOs to get them to come through that process with us, and I think what we find then is once they know the process, the process is great, the process is cool, but we will then suggest some pretty differentiated and unique stories that they could be telling, and that’s when the rubber hits the road. Are they comfortable being this ambitious? Are they comfortable stretching to having a strong opinion on this or that, or do they kinda want to just play it safe and get all the goodwill from branding without doing some of the hard work of taking a stand? That’s where it gets dicey.” Quote of the Day with Shannon Deep and Kevan Lee in conversation with Leah Tharin about brand marketing. Some of the best brand marketing experiences I’ve had was doing rapid press response, in which a journalist would reach out writing a breaking story and I would provide a paragraph quote for them to cite. Whenever I took a definite stand on an issue - not veering into controversy for controversy's sake - it would always be published in the article and we would see the benefit. I find a lot of material on LinkedIn to be bland and samey and safe, and frankly that bores me. Even though I too have the pull to ‘play it safe’ at times, if I have a strong opinion, that may even run counter to the prevailing opinion, I try to be true to myself. There was a question asked the other day: Can you build a successful personal brand, if you have no personality? I don’t think so. I’m an introvert, so it’s not about having a gregarious extravert personality, but it’s definitely about having an opinion, calling it as you see it, even if you’re wrong. I’m certainly more engaged with brands that have opinions. But I find most to be bland and filled with safe corporate speak. What’s your opinion?

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After the incredible response to our AI fundraising deck, we decided to try to tackle another document - the PRD - we (especially Product managers) spend countless hours on. People have low attention spans, and honestly, so much of what we consume today is visual. No we don’t need “PPTs”, but why not bring that sense of concise, visual, easy to digest detail to the world of product management. Here’s our Criya AI PRD template not just to improve our workflow, but to improve how all product leaders communicate their vision - both internally and cross functionally ! This AI-powered solution goes beyond static documents, offering an interactive experience with ability to introduce video demos, quick Figma visuals. OH AND! Every web page has a kick ass Presentation mode. I’ve added the link below. Go to the footer, click the “DUPLICATE” button and test it out with your team! Drop a comment saying “CODE” to upgrade to access our full template library. #ProductManagement #PRD #Teamwork #Criya #Innovation #ProductDev #StartupLife #Collaboration #CriyaAI #Pitchdeck

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Having done YCombinator after over ten years of startup experience, it was like going back to school to learn about something I love and plan to continue doing as long as I live. Here is what I agree and disagree with. YC is great at creating a sense of urgency. I am a big believer that growth happens when you are outside of your comfort zone, not when you are comfortable. YC does a great job of creating that urgency. In fact, even after the batch, a few of us in the batch have continued the biweekly office hours tradition where we get together every couple of weeks and review our progress and goals. In reality, it turns into a biweekly "founder therapy" session. The other thing that YC is great about is the emphasis on being lean and scrappy. At the end of the day you want to build a company where $1 becomes $10, not the other way around. So you have to pay attention to cost, doing more with less. YC emphasizes scrappiness as a fundamental principle, and how it applies not just in the early stages but even as companies scale. You're not going to turn $1 into $10 if you don't care about ROI, and you won't get ROI if you only focus on output, not input. Having experience with both bootstrapping and venture, profitable and unprofitable, I wholeheartedly agree with this. YC also emphasizes raising as little possible, not as much as possible. As a YC company we get a lot of investor inbounds. This year alone I've easily received 200+ investors inbound all the way from $XXB funds to micro VCs and angels. At this point they start to feel like AI SDRs reaching out so I ignore most of them. I bet a lot of them made funny faces when we asked them what's the smallest check they're willing to write. The reason is, if you want to go work for a VC firm, go get a job at a VC firm, and enjoy the ski trips and summer vacations in France. The last thing you want to do is spend ten years of your life building something and end up working for a board / investors. The best way to avoid that is to not need them in the first place. Another thing I love about YC is the focus on technical founders. It's amazing what a couple of people can build in such a short period of time. The amount of constant experimentation and innovation that happens every week in YC makes it more interesting than most research labs. If you like building and tinkering, YC is the place for you. So what do I not agree with? One thing YC can do a better job of is focus more on people, culture and leadership. That is an important part of building a company. Sure, getting to PMF is the most important thing in the early days, but without valuing people, culture and leadership, you're not going to build a great company. IMO this is something that is underemphasized during the batch. There is only so much a founder can do alone. Ultimately you need to build a great team, attract great talent, and for the right reasons (passion, purpose, love of the craft), not the wrong reasons (love of money).

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Join the Battle: Product Designer Wanted for Omelo. Omelo, we aren’t just building a product or a startup —we’re waging war against preventable pet health crises. This is not a job but call to action, those who can wield their craft like a weapon and shape a future where no pet suffers from what can be prevented. 🪖 We are looking for a Product Designer with 4+ years of battle-tested experience who’s ready to join the frontlines. 🪖 Build the user experience that will be remembered as the turning point in preventive pet health & conversational design. Why You Matter: Your designs won’t just look good—they’ll save lives. At Omelo, every pixel, every interaction, and every feature will protect families, guide pet parents, and redefine the war on preventive pet healthcare challenges. If you want decision making power as a designer this is your moment. I am hunting for an operator, a underdog. On a successful referral and you’ll earn ₹X ( Happy to share no. over DM ) and an exclusive Omelo merch bundle — a token of our gratitude for bringing the best to the battlefield. How to Answer the Call - - Send your portfolio to - [email protected] - Tag your fellow operators, in the comments below. ( Humbly, No work -life balance brigade. )We don’t need everyone—just the brave, the bold, and the brilliant )

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Simple, and very clear advice from Harry. This will also drive your focus on the right thing: what should you prove during this funding iteration to be ready for the next one (or default alive so you don’t need more money)

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Just shipped this week's Diaspora.nz podcast with Paul Copplestone, founder & CEO at Supabase. We talk about: ⚡️why open source is an unfair advantage — as a product development strategy, supercharging recruiting, and helping build customer community. ⚡️how they are building the end-to-end tech stack for AI startups — seeing many customers grow into the millions of users in just weeks, growing to be one of the most tagged products by makers on Product Hunt + most redeemed Y Combinator “perks.” ⚡️raising $116M, and scaling to ~80 people in 30+ countries over the past 4.5 years, operating as a distributed + asynchronous team. ⚡️building three startups over nearly a decade living in South East Asia. Subscribe + listen links in comments below👇 Subscribe at diaspora.nz for weekly episodes 🎧👈

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Engineers are experiencing a seismic shift driven by market volatility, the rise of GenAI, and new approaches to quantifying engineering impact. But there's a disconnect between business leaders and the engineers building their products. 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝘆 Jellyfish 🔗 https://bit.ly/3Vt3lcO 📉 71% of execs at large enterprises believe productivity decreased, while only 40% of engineers agree. 🤷‍♂️ 43% of engineers feel that leadership at their company is out of the loop regarding engineering challenges, compared to 92% of executives 😩 46% of engineers report their teams are experiencing burnout, compared to 34% of executives. This chasm between perception and reality can breed mistrust, misalignment, and missed opportunities. 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹, 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻: ✨ Foster psychological safety for open dialogue 🤝 Build trust through active listening and empathy 💡 Inspire teams by painting a compelling vision 🧭 Provide clarity amidst ambiguity and change By complementing hard metrics with soft skills, leaders can create an environment where engineers thrive and innovation flourishes. 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? #Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #Engineering

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Jevons Paradox makes this AI cycle different? i.e. no more cycles, instead, exponential growth? With all the investment dollars chasing the AI infra,I often hear that there's a looming oversupply of #GPUs. Jevons Paradox says otherwise. We're looking at exponential growth in demand for compute. https://lnkd.in/gAJcmCn8

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3 Things I Learned Not Getting into YCombinator The last round of decisions went out yesterday for YC and we got our formal rejection. Below are some quick reflections on the process. 1. Understand what an investor's focus is As we began the application, I looked deeper into YC and started to get feelings that even if we got in, it would not be the right place for kaizen.place. There are very few music related companies that YC has taken on and by extension one can assume that they don't really have experience in the industry. More importantly, this was a clear signal that a music startup is not something they would be interested in. The best thing to look at to get a sense of what they're looking for is their Request for Companies page: https://lnkd.in/gcaH2BP6. 2. Don't spend enormous amounts of time on application As the deadline came closer and closer, I felt guiltier and guiltier each day building our product took away from writing the application. I reviewed the questions very early on, so knew what information was needed and made sure those conversations were happening, but we didn't really set out to complete the application until a week before the deadline. If there's only a small chance that we get in, we would be better served focusing on building and growing rather than crafting a perfect application. Now having a rejection, this 'decision' gave us several days of attention back to pour into actual development. 3. Refine the business model and pitch As per 1, I don't think this would have helped much in this situation, but one of the main reasons I wanted to apply was to force us to think things through from a pitching to investors point of view. As a person coming from a builder background and near zero experience pitching for investment, the only way to learn is to practice (and fail). The questions you don't have answers to become more clear as you write this all out. Which, in turn, will improve the pitch the next time we do so.

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