All of our First-time founders articles

How to Chart Your Engineering Career Path: IC, Manager or Technical Founder?

How to Chart Your Engineering Career Path: IC, Manager or Technical Founder?

From early employee to technical founder: Amber Feng shares essential lessons for engineers up and down the org chart, drawing from her 8-year career at Stripe and becoming a technical founder of Cocoon.
23 Tactical Company Building Lessons, Learned From Scaling Stripe & Notion

23 Tactical Company Building Lessons, Learned From Scaling Stripe & Notion

From Stripe to Notion, Cristina Cordova has worked on some of the biggest products in tech. She shares tactical tidbits on what she’s learned about about scaling companies and shaping your career.
Run This Diagnostic to Thoughtfully Build (and Evaluate) Your Startup’s Culture

Run This Diagnostic to Thoughtfully Build (and Evaluate) Your Startup’s Culture

There are tons of reads on why company culture matters, but few on how to actually architect it. And it’s rarely examined at the co-founding duo, 5-person team, or 30-person startup level. Laura Del Beccaro aims to change that by sharing this 3-step framework she’s leaned on while building Sora.
The Company-Building Cornerstones Every Founder Needs to Focus On — Advice From HubSpot’s Dharmesh Shah

The Company-Building Cornerstones Every Founder Needs to Focus On — Advice From HubSpot’s Dharmesh Shah

Dharmesh Shah has spent the last 15 years as co-founder & CTO of HubSpot. He pinpoints the inflection points and key decisions that other founders face in the early days, from choosing a co-founder to crafting the culture, and shares unconventional advice.
The 30 Best Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs in 2021

The 30 Best Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs in 2021

Start the new year off on the right footing with the 30 most impactful insights and ultra-tactical frameworks from every article we published in 2021.
The Feedback Founders Need to Hear — How to Grow Yourself To Grow The Company

The Feedback Founders Need to Hear — How to Grow Yourself To Grow The Company

After 20 years of executive coaching, Alisa Cohn shares advice for getting better at self-reflection, collecting feedback, and changing behavior.
The Playbook This Startup Used to Get Their Founders on 100+ Podcasts in 6 Months

The Playbook This Startup Used to Get Their Founders on 100+ Podcasts in 6 Months

When it comes to turbocharging brand awareness for your startup, think podcast Interviews over ads. Tom Griffin, Head of Partnerships at Levels makes the case for why you should do a podcast tour for your startup, with a step-by-step guide for getting it right.
The Playbook for Hiring the Right Marketer at the Right Time for Your Startup

The Playbook for Hiring the Right Marketer at the Right Time for Your Startup

Should you hire a brand, product or growth marketer, and how do you know when you've found the right candidate? Maya Spivak, former marketing leader at Segment and Wealthfront, unpacks her frameworks for identifying the type of marketer your startup needs, interviewing and closing candidates.
The Ultimate Guide to Running Executive Meetings — 25 Tips from Top Startup Leaders

The Ultimate Guide to Running Executive Meetings — 25 Tips from Top Startup Leaders

Learn 25 tips from top leaders to run effective leadership meetings. From getting started with an executive team to crafting the agenda and tracking success.