All of our First-time founders articles

Management

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 biggest lessons from building Hubspot, from co-founder harmony to engineering the culture — Dharmesh Shah

Today’s episode is with Dharmesh Shah, the co-founder and CTO of Hubspot. In today’s conversation, we deeply explore some of the marquee moments along the 15-year journey building Hubspot.

Instacart co-founder Max Mullen gets tactical on crafting company values and intentionally building culture

Today’s episode is with Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart. He started as a generalist, running everything from product to payroll, but as the company has grown over the years, he’s come to focus on one particular area: culture.

Management

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.

PR & Marketing

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.

PR & Marketing

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.

Management

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.

Starting Up

Advice for the Pre-Product-Market Fit Days — This Founder’s Playbook for Pivoting with Purpose

CEO Tara Viswanathan shares her biggest lessons from the early years of building Rupa Health — including how to pivot your way into the right product and build the winning team.

Product

8 Product Hurdles Every Founder Must Clear — This PM-Turned-Founder Shares His Playbooks

Repeat PM turned first-time founder Ryan Glasgow addresses the tough product questions every founder faces, from segmenting the market and iterating on early MVPs, to finding product/market fit and spinning up a second product.

Starting Up

The Startup Happiness Formula — This 3X Founder Shares His Approach to Figuring Out What to Build Next

Repeat founder Waseem Daher, co-founder and CEO of Pilot, has founded three startups with the same group of co-founders. He pays particular attention to Pilot’s first year — including validating the idea, choosing an ICP, and outlining the product roadmap for a company that can go the distance.

Don’t have a UX research team? Jane Davis’ tips from Zoom, Zapier & Dropbox to get you started

Today’s episode is with Jane Davis, the Director of UX Research and UX Writing at Zoom. She previously led UX Research and Content Design at Zapier, and managed the growth research team at Dropbox.

People & Culture

When it Comes to These Company Building Blocks, Borrow From Others — Advice From Thumbtack’s CEO

As Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta tells it, sometimes your company is a special flower, and sometimes you should borrow from others. He shares his advice for how to tell the difference.