50 Words of Wisdom from Founders
We recently published the 50th episode of our Wefunder podcast — Adventure Capital. Huzzah!!!
At the end of every episode, we’ve asked guests (mostly startup founders who have raised capital from their community on Wefunder) to give their best piece of advice for startup founders. And this blog post summarizes that treasure trove of wisdom. “You’re welcome world!”
If you want to catch the next episode, voilà le link.
(1) “Stay focused on what makes you different, never say no to an introduction, and be a good human” — Kelsey Witherow, Founder of DOUGHP.
(2) “Be very thoughtful about why you are starting your company. You’re going to reach a point where it’s hard to keep going, and the only thing that will pull you out of it is why you started the company” — Chai Mishra, Founder of The Essential.
(3) “Less talkey more makey. Test the market to ensure there’s demand for what you’re building” — Christine Outram, Founder of Everydae.
(4) “Talk to other founders so that you know what to prepare for” — Maxeme Tuchman, Founder of Caribu.
(5) “Build the brand early. Even if it’s just documenting the journey of building the product” — Fares Ksebati, Founder of MySwimPro.
(6) “If you have an engaged community and a loyal following — then why not open a Community Round” — Tim Kelly, Founder of Chattanooga FC (and now Mayor of Chattanooga!).
(7) “Everything takes more time and money than expected. Make sure you’re always overfunded.” — Klaus Moeller, Founder of The Boardwalk (and like a ton of things!).
(8) “Take time to build a strong foundation. That strategic building will lead to a smooth uphill ride” — Vanessa Braxton, Founder of Black Momma.
(9) “When making an investment or any business decision, pay attention to the wisdom of the crowd, your gut and a spreadsheet” — Brian Belley, Founder of Crowdwise (acquired by Kingscrowd).
(10) “Take human nature into consideration when developing your product” — Bill Ottman, Founder of Minds.
(11) “Find a pain point in the industry you’re working in and make it go away” — Erik Franks, Founder of Tesseract.
(12) “Building a startup is hard. Know what you’re getting into and decide whether or not you’re willing to make sacrifices for it” — Josh Morton, Founder of Barrow’s Intense.
(13) “Read Conscious Business by Fred Kofman” — Premal Shah, Co-Founder of renewables.org.
(14) “If you want to build something, know you’re going to have to screw it up before you get it right” — Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, Founders of The Beta Test.
(15) “Don’t start a new movement if there’s one you can join. See if someone’s already doing what you want to do. Be unique” — Astrid Scholz, Founder of Zebras Unite.
(16) “You can’t outsource your vision to others. You are in charge of your journey. You are the founder” — Sara Hanks, founder of Crowdcheck.
(17) “Don’t hoard your ideas, get them out there and get feedback to improve upon them” — Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison, Founders of Legion M.
(18) “Launch a Community Round” — Krishan Arora, Founder of The Arora Project.
(19) “Surround yourself with founders who have been where you want to be and don’t let them charge you equity for it” — Renji Bijoy, Founder of Immersed.
(20) “Get a mentor that has done it before — they’ll answer questions you never would have anticipated” — Keith Harrington, Co-Founder of Novel Growth Partners.
(21) “If you’re going to open a Community Round — do it on Wefunder” — Dan Kurzrock, CEO of ReGrained.
(22) “Trust your gut. If it doesn’t sit right, there’s probably something off” — Lloyd Armbrust, Founder of Armbrust American.
(23) “Focus on the right goal. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should” — Adam Weiler, Founder of Sunken Stone.
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(24) “Go deep in the stack. Find the core. That’s where you have the biggest impact.” — Dustin Byington, Founder of TWO12.
(25) “Hire a lawyer!” — Elizabeth Carter, Founder of Esquire LLC (a law firm!!).
(26) “Balance your burnout. And focus your time on things you know will be impactful” — Greg Belote, Co-Founder of Wefunder. (You know. Like the Wefunder).
(27) “Don’t forget about the community that got you to where you are” — Classic Reinvention of Wefunder. The man, the myth, the legend! (And the podcast producer!).
(28) “Put a stake in the ground. Create a deadline for yourself so that you have to get started” — Kate and Bryan Flynn, Founders of Sun & Swell.
(29) “Wake up everyday and do what you can. Accept that it’s going to be hard” — Tiana Laurence, Lead Investor.
(30) “Listen with an open ear to feedback, don’t get defensive” — Kimberly Lewis, Founder of CurlMix.
(31) “Make sure it’s something you want to do and are mentally prepared to do. And once you decide, don’t give up.” — Tommy Gibbons, Co-Founder of Hempitecture.
(32) “All founders, and especially B2C founders, should allow their customers and community to invest in them, as well as VCs and angels” — Sam Monac, Chief People Officer at Token Metrics.
(33) “Believe in your community” — Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein, Founders of Lil’ Libros.
(34) “Focus. Do a fewer number of things and do them well. Do what you are uniquely qualified to do” — Charlie Davis, Founder of Moxey.
(35) “Evangelize your company early and often. Build a tribe. The power is in the people” — Steven Plappert, Founder of Forcastr.
(36) “Do whatever you can to stay alive” — Wes Wierson, Founder of LEAH Labs.
(37) “Bad things are going to happen, but you’ll get through them as long as you believe in what you’re doing” — Alexis Gallivan, Founder of Blue Marble Ice Cream. (And some job at TikTok).
(38) “Better to be curious than certain. Be receptive to change” — Sara Moll, Founder of Vin Social.
(39) “Take care of yourself. Sleep. Eat right. Work out. Go to therapy. Hire for your weaknesses” — Bryce Reich, Co-Founder of Harness.
(40) “Understand the outcome that you want and then build around that outcome” — Andrew Gazdecki, Founder and CEO of MicroAcquire.
(41) “Experiment. And make the feedback loop short” William Stringer, Founder of Chisos.
(42) “Just keep turning up” — Josh Simons, Founder of Vampr.
(43) “Desire greatness. Love the spirit of competition, the grind and the desire to win” — Justin Renfro, wears pyschedelic tie-dyed clothing at Wefunder.
(44) “It’s a marathon. You have to figure out how to make this sustainable for yourself” — Waseem Daher, Founder and CEO of Pilot.
(45) “There is no one right way to build a company. The only thing that matters is that you keep moving” — Tyler Hayes, Founder and CEO of Atom Limbs.
(46) “You only lose when you quit. You can change lanes and pivot, but never give up” — Tim Martinez, Co-Founder of Digital Niche Agency.
(47) “Never stop talking to your customers. Be there” — Pedro Muller, Director of Startup Innovation at Intercom.
(48) “Build brand early”- Melissa Rosenthal, Chief Creative Officer at Click Up.
(49) “Capital efficiency. Understand the ROI on every dollar you deploy. This is key for building resiliency” — Elliot Begoun, Founder of TIG Brands.
(50) “Founding a startup is a marathon with sprints in it. Manage for your own mental health. Be aligned with what you’re doing or it will hurt you” — Lopa Van Der Mersch, Founder of Rasa.
Thanks for reading. Hope something resonated with you :)
