OPC reposted this
CEO of Late Checkout, a holding company for businesses powered by community
At 20, you're dangerous because you don't know what's impossible. Every founder is building "AI for X" - you're asking why does Visa still hold your money for 3 days? Why doesn’t IG feel like a social app for friends anymore? Your naivety is your secret weapon. Plus, you’re probably pretty broke so you have tons of ambition to make it. Then reality teaches you expensive lessons. You launch a "worse" product but get distribution right. Your "MVP" gets traction but can't scale. Users love the product but won't pay. The feature everyone said they needed? No one uses it. Your “dumb” buddy from high school sold his company for $15M because he knew the director of product of Google. Your biggest competitor isn't other startups - it's inertia. Users hate their current solution but hate changing more. Customers enthusiastically saying "yes" in meetings never write checks. Your perfectly scalable tech stack doesn't matter when you can't find users. Your product never really answered the “why now” question. By age 30, the game reveals itself. You see patterns others miss: - Paper valuation of your startup is kinda BS - The best companies start by solving a small, boring problem perfectly - Consumer social is the hardest game in town (but fun) - “X” is a bubble - Failing marketplaces become SaaS companies - Growing SaaS companies build marketplaces - Every big company is a distribution company wearing product company clothes - Your "clean" architecture matters less than your first 100 customers - Most startup ideas are timing mistakes, not product mistakes But you do start getting more jaded. At thirty-five, you can't unsee these lessons: - Profitability gives you ultimate leverage to do what you want in life - Bad UI with distribution beats great UI without it - Consumer indifference kills more startups than competition - The best products look like toys to incumbents - If you plan on selling your company one day, probably good to know the people in charge of making those decisions - What you can't measure is usually what matters - Market timing beats execution every time - Edge cases reveal your true moat - The best products solve problems so fundamental, they look obvious in retrospect The words cash-flow sounds better and better to you. If you're lucky, you learn the 35-year-old lessons at 21. I share these lessons at gregisenberg.com in real time (free to subscribe) And if you’re into startup ideas, I’ve got a database of 30+ profitable startup ideas for you to download for free at https://lnkd.in/eKicBBqe
bring back the stache
"If you're lucky, you learn the 35-year-old lessons at 21." This is what we all wanted to happen but boom and we're almost 30. Great post Greg as always.
the glasses though
and if you don’t learn at 21…and you’re 41 and a “late bloomer”? that’s perfectly okay. maybe in your 20s you were taking the “one path” you thought you had to take. maybe in your 30s—after Wall Street, law school, or a teaching degree—you rekindle your childhood love of building, tinkering, creating. maybe you’ve only learned 50% of the lessons above. but you’ve got 50% more experience in (random but often connected) areas of expertise than the 30 year old. maybe you’re 50. maybe you’re 60. and the shit you think no one cares about? they do. oh, and your common sense? it’s not common to many. the point? you’re still alive. you still have so much to give. it’s whether you’re going to take this moment and jump in. not knowing fully where it will go. or if you’ll be looking back at 70, 80, 90 and questioning… I wonder if I could have created some magic? beauty post Greg Isenberg
Love this. At 38, I'd add: the best thing about learning these lessons the hard way is you stop romanticising startups and start seeing them as what they are - a vehicle to solve real problems. One thing that hit home: the part about distribution being everything. Spent my first startup years obsessing over product, only to watch "inferior" solutions win because they nailed distribution. Expensive lesson, but worth every penny 😅
Basically at 35 you become Bane, telling 21 year olds “I was born in the darkness…molded by it.”
By age 58, if you’re still curious and ambitious, you finally absorb the lesson that no lesson is universal, no formula for success is going to give you success, and the trying is all. Being smart, resourceful, and diligent are table stakes. Luck is undercounted. Keep swinging.
Statistically the most successful founders are in the their 30s/early 40’s and have been working for 10+ years “Several existing studies have shown that the quintessential successful founder is not particularly young or a college dropout.” https://endeavor.org/stories/unicorn-founder-pathways/
"What you can't measure is usually what matters." (DROPS THE MIC...) I do content strategy and executive branding for a ton of execs in Fintech. The NUMBER ONE challenge for most of my clients is grasping that NOT everything is measurable. - The power of a relationship. - The value of experience. - The wisdom of failure. - etc. The best parts of us are the un-measurables. Always.
Business Development Lead | GTM & Growth Strategist | zevvy | KAPSLY | UZH Alumni Entrepreneurs
1wYou had me at Cashflow 🤤