Published in Founders’ Hustle·PinnedMember-onlyHow I Write Cold Emails to Billionaires That Get Replies“Hi — hope you’re well?” isn’t it. — As a serial founder, over the years I’ve cold emailed a lot of super-successful people and got a ton of replies. When I use the phrase “super-successful” I’m not referring to people with high-flying careers or a general notion of what most people would consider successful in life. I’m talking…Startup9 min readStartup9 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Nov 11, 2021Member-onlyGetting Past The First MeetingNavigating from “nice to meet you” to closing. — Today I’m drilling down on first meetings. Specifically, from an outbound sales and business development perspective. Why? Despite a ton of enthusiasm shared between both parties in many first meetings, they notoriously lead nowhere a lot of the time. No sales. No partnerships. Nada. This adds up to a significant…Business7 min readBusiness7 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Apr 22, 2021Member-onlyFounders Should Have A Mental Health FrameworkHere’s one, from a psychologist turned founder. — Mental health is one of the most overlooked areas of productivity optimization for entrepreneurs. A lot’s been said about the mechanics of building a startup (MVPs, fundraising, customer acquisition, etc) but the driving force making it all happen, a founder’s brain, gets relatively little attention. Small investments in this area…Entrepreneurship7 min readEntrepreneurship7 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Apr 16, 2021Member-onlyThis Poker Strategy Built A $1.2 Billion Dollar StartupCritical business lessons from the card table. — Last year revered founder, investor, operator, and incredible human being, Tony Hsieh died totally unexpectedly at 46. He is probably best known as the former CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer acquired by Amazon in a deal worth $1.2 billion way back in 2009. His untimely demise was met…Entrepreneurship6 min readEntrepreneurship6 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Apr 15, 2021Member-onlyHow Two Hackers Turned Their Passion Into a B2B Business and Crushed ItTheir sales pitch to me was badass. — I know firsthand how frustrating it is to be a victim of commercial cybercrime. Both emotionally from watching your livelihood attacked, and, financially from losing a ton of money as a result of business disruption. Cybercrime has affected me since the first company I founded with friends, just over ten…Entrepreneurship14 min readEntrepreneurship14 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Apr 6, 2021Member-onlyA Psychological Model For Achieving Entrepreneurial SuccessWhat makes you unstoppable. — You often hear about how perseverance played a huge role in the success of an entrepreneur’s journey. Stories about how ‘XYZ founder didn’t give up’, ‘just kept at it’, and ‘defied the odds’ despite continual setbacks, marketplace resistance, and scepticism are characteristic startup origin scenarios that persist throughout a company’s…Entrepreneurship13 min readEntrepreneurship13 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Mar 21, 2021Member-onlyHow A First-Time Founder Raised $1m By Cold Email (And Zero Intros)From Mark Cuban and the founders of Twitter, Zynga, and Craigslist. — Cold emailing has been one of the most popular topics I’ve written about through Founders’ Hustle so far. The idea that you can connect with someone extremely knowledgable, well-connected, or wealthy — from anywhere in the world, right now, for free — is incredibly compelling. It’s such a powerful mechanism…Entrepreneurship12 min readEntrepreneurship12 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Feb 18, 2021Member-onlyAdvertising on iPhones is About to Change ForeverHow to make your customer acquisition thrive in the new iOS ‘era’. — If you have an iPhone app in the marketplace or are planning on releasing one, you’re likely astutely aware of the ‘bombshell’ update Apple is about to drop on iOS 14.5 as part of its App Tracking Transparency framework — IDFA deprecation. To those uninitiated, Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) is…Startup17 min readStartup17 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Feb 8, 2021Member-onlyHow To “Move Fast & Break Stuff” by Managing Risk OptimallyFirst-hand practical insight from an accomplished founder, advisor, and investor. — “People often talk about how Silicon Valley’s “Move Fast & Break Stuff” ethos is one of its secret weapons. This idea can be implemented in a huge variety of ways, from the wildly unethical, to the ill-considered, to just using the phrase to handwave away chaos and poor leadership. But…Entrepreneurship12 min readEntrepreneurship12 min read
Published in Founders’ Hustle·Feb 2, 2021Member-onlyHow 3 College-Aged Founders Built a Demo in 2 Hours That Led to a 13k+ Waitlist and $2.6mIt was pretty much a text-book ideal startup ‘launch’. — OthersideAI was launched in the latter half of 2020 by three college-aged founders — Matt Shumer, Miles Feldstein, and Jason Kuperberg. The company’s origin story is incredible. It’s pretty much a text-book idealistic ‘launch’ framework for founders who want to build a venture-scale business. Here’s a basic overview of key…Entrepreneurship8 min readEntrepreneurship8 min read
