"Take Control of Your Desk," And Other Career Tips for ICs, Managers & Founders
After an 11-year career as an HR exec at Splunk, Shreya Iyer unpacks her comprehensive guide to startup career growth, with tailored tips for candidates approaching career planning, managers looking to retain top talent, and startups carving out their career development plans.
Ditch Your To-Do List and Use These Docs To Make More Impact
After tackling startup challenges from Stripe Press to Figma Education, Brie Wolfson shares her personal collection of templates — the docs that she's used to stay focused on the work that matters and true to her own career goals.
The Tactical Guide to Making Better Decisions When Starting and Scaling Companies
The First Round team has been lucky to work with retired poker player and decision-making expert Annie Duke in a special capacity these past few years. Here, we open-source some of the advice she gives to help founders face down uncertainty and make better decisions.
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.
Set “Non-Goals” and Build a Product Strategy Stack — Lessons For Product Leaders
Ravi Mehta, former CPO at Tinder & Product Exec at TripAdvisor, shares his framework for crafting a crisp product strategy for startups — a 5-step system called the "Product Strategy Stack." He also makes the case for setting "non-goals" and using an alternative to OKRs.
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.
Your Startup’s Management Training Probably Sucks — Here’s How to Make it Better
Plenty of startups leave manager training on the backburner until they become a bigger company — or try to fit it into a 30-minute lunch-and-learn. Melissa and Johnathan Nightingale, founders of Raw Signal Group, unpack why this is a mistake and outline their top tips for management training.
Great Startups Deserve Great Brands — Build a Strong Foundation by Avoiding These Mistakes
After working with hundreds of startups on brand strategy, Arielle Jackson shares the most common early marketing missteps that founders make. From how to articulate your product benefit and clarify your company's purpose, to tips for infusing your brand with personality and making your launch annou
The Art of Becoming a Better Listener — Tactical Advice for the Startup Setting
When it comes to annual resolutions and personal development goals, listening usually isn’t very high up on the list. User research leader and author Ximena Vengoechea makes the case for why you should put more intention and effort into sharpening this skill, offering tailored advice.
The Best Managers Don’t Fix, They Coach — Four Tools to Add to Your Toolkit
Anita Hossain Choudhry (The Grand, First Round) and Mindy Zhang (Dropbox, Oscar Health) draw on their experiences as executive coaches to unpack why managers fall into the “fixing” trap and make the case for adding coaching as a skill.