Startup learnings from a successful CEO founder

Bigcommerce co-founder Mitchell Harper shared 28 things with us he would do differently from his learnings (Startup learnings) in building a big startup that raised $125m. They are worth reading and applying on your own journey. I think it sucks to learn your own mistakes when you can benefit from others’ experience (and misfortune :)) Mitchell has also posted a bunch of other useful content and is worth checking out!

Things we would do differently in building a new startup

• Hire top-down after the first 10 people
• Invest in design (team or agency) from day one
• Be tied to your vision and problem statement but not your approach
• Define customer personas up front and segment by pain/needs
• Focus on a single pain point and a single persona first
• Do less, but do it better, especially in product and marketing
• Start competing in a red ocean but try to redefine the market so it becomes a blue ocean
• Don’t rely on a single lead source driven by high demand and limited supply
• See your platform as multiple products, not multiple features
• Hire product managers with strong domain experience
• Run a 6-month (minimum) closed beta and nail your USP (Unique Selling Point) before going live
• Go for fewer customers at a much higher ACV
• Tie a good amount of everyone’s bonus to a customer success metric
• Build an open platform from day one (RESTful API, also consumed internally)
• Be patient and work on a 5/7/10 year timeline — ignore competitors and focus on the market opportunity, not feature wars
• Listen to your gut more, especially when it comes to people — assume all resumes are B.S. and back channel at least 5 people who worked with, for and above each candidate
• Listen to the entire organization (especially those in daily contact with clients) in a way that scales as you grow
• Build a customer advisory board who are incentivized to provide valuable feedback often
• Amplify the brand by building and remunerating a team of influencers
• Understand the 4 styles of leadership and use each effectively depending on the person you’re leading
• Know which stage your company is in (product-market fit, getting ready to scale or scaling) and only read books/blogs related to that stage
• Make sure all senior leaders have their own executive coaches
• Listen to and respect opinions, but realize they’re just opinions
• Don’t be emotional about the business — balance an intense focus on work with family, friends, and fitness
• Realize no one cares as much as you do, and that’s OK
• Fire fast and be less forgiving of mistakes, especially in departments that are measured with raw numbers, like sales and marketing
• Don’t speak at conferences — they’re a massive waste of time
• Don’t assume everyone has honest intentions just because you do
• Don’t beat yourself up because you make mistakes

Things he would do again in a startup

• Bootstrap to a MSP then raise a round as soon as you achieve product-market fit
• Recognize people for their achievements in front of the whole company on a regular basis
• Solve a problem you’ve personally experienced and that you could work on for the next 7–10 years
• Create a culture that’s different, unique, and feels like the founder(s) of the company
• Constantly ask yourself “Who is the BEST person in the world to help me solve X?” and reach out to ask for help — know you can’t fix everything on your own
• Negotiate hard on valuation to keep as much equity as possible, all the time — give way on terms before equity
• Early on, raise money from investors who have “been there, done that” — don’t take money from “spreadsheet VCs” because they only understand numbers
• Hire the best people, regardless of where they are and incentivize them heavily with equity
• Personally answer as many support inquiries as you can for the first year
• Own the product for the first year or two to make sure your vision is in the team’s DNA
• Know who your real competitors are and pay attention but don’t let them distract you from your original vision
• Be the face of your company and learn how to speak in front of large crowds
• Be confident hiring people who are twice your age and realize the only place age is a barrier is in your head
• Celebrate the good times but be brutally honest with everyone when things aren’t going well — and share your plan to get things back on track fast
• Communicate your vision until you’re blue in the face, then keep talking about it
• Do what you’re good at and delegate everything else to people who are much, much, much smarter and more experienced than you are
• Know when it’s time to hire someone to replace you — get a deep understanding of your skills and passions and hire that person before you top out
• Own the culture and continually shape what it means, reinforce why it’s important, and fire anyone who breaches your core values
• Have zero optionality — no “side project”, no job to fall back on, no plan B. Put your entire life into the company for 2 years then put your head up to assess where you are, and how you’re going and decide if it’s time to crank it up or call it a day
• Get good at pitching your vision and answering tough questions when you’re on the spot
• Be a genuinely caring person and try to change the world from a place of humility, humbleness, and honesty

Hope you learned something to start applying.