Startups are never straight lines

This is a recent tweet-storm that I wanted to cross post here as well as I feel so strongly about the lessons.

1/ So much of building a product/company is about progressive discovery. You build something, you figure out something else, then you build that, and so on. But you only figure out what to build by taking the first step, which may not always be *exactly* in the right direction.

2/ This is why it’s impossible to “accelerate” a startup. Some things you only figure out over time and only when your mind is ready to see and absorb the signals you're getting. Sometimes these are weak signals & if you didn't go from Point A to Point B, you wouldn't hear them.

3/ The metaphor I use to explain this to founders is "Sometimes there is no direct flight and you have to take a connecting flight." You can't get there from here, unless you go in some other direction first.

4/ I've seen this in many companies, but the experience with building @HiHello has put this progressive discovery of product at the front of my mind. The ideas start somewhere, they twist and morph, and then they eventually connect. And when they connect, it's magical!

5/ I will say that I've found most VCs like ideas that are straight lines. They want to see something simple, clean, and crisp. They don't like what I call "layer-cakes" or "connecting flights." IMHO this was why @cartainc had such a hard time raising in the early stages.

6/ You can only draw a straight line when you have clear signal, usually in the form of product-market-fit and user/revenue traction. This is what makes early-stage investing so much more fun and exciting for me. I would be bored out of my mind if I were investing at later stages

7/ Every startup is it's own unique puzzle. The founders job is to decipher and figure out their puzzle. And like when you're assembling a puzzle, you sometimes get it wrong, and have to go back and try again, or try a different approach.

8/ Today I felt like I got some of the puzzle pieces for @HiHello to click together in my head. Now we have to build it to run the test and see if they fit. Exciting stuff.

9/ P.S. I cleared my day today to think. Meetings, phone calls, & emails put you in constant triage mode and make it impossible to have clear, constructive, and creative thinking. So for anyone else trying to figure out their master puzzle -- create the space and the time for it.

10/ P.P.S. If you made it this far, then do me a favor and try out the @HiHello app and send me your feedback. It's those little tiny bits of signal that help me to navigate in the right direction. 💜🙏🏽