Why Startup Marketers Should Be Diagnosticians — Advice from OpenAI's and Stripe's First Marketing Hire

Why Startup Marketers Should Be Diagnosticians — Advice from OpenAI's and Stripe's First Marketing Hire

Krithika Muthukumar was the very first marketer at OpenAI and Stripe. Here, she unpacks what it takes to found and scale a marketing operation to build an enduring brand.
Gong’s Path to Product-Market Fit — Why This $7B Company Still Works With Design Partners

Gong’s Path to Product-Market Fit — Why This $7B Company Still Works With Design Partners

Gong co-founder and CPO Eilon Reshef sits down with First Round partner Todd Jackson to unpack how he turned an early bet on AI into a multi-billion dollar category leader in revenue intelligence.
Here’s What You Can Really Expect When Pitching Your Seed-Stage Startup at a VC Partner Meeting

Here’s What You Can Really Expect When Pitching Your Seed-Stage Startup at a VC Partner Meeting

There isn't much advice to guide founders on navigating their first VC partner meeting. So First Round Partner and former founder Liz Wessel shares her playbook for seed-stage startups tackling one of fundraising's most opaque processes
An aerial view of a stack of orange, green and red heirloom tomatoes.

Make an Org Chart You Want to Ship — Advice from Linear on How Heirloom Tomatoes Should Inspire Team Design

Nan Yu, Head of Product at Linear, has advised dozens of startups of all stages and sizes. He unpacks why founders should be suspicious of symmetry in their team structure, and offers a three-part framework on how to optimize for an “heirloom tomato” org chart.
The Guide to Going Multi-Product: 11 Tactics for Tackling Your Next Bet

The Guide to Going Multi-Product: 11 Tactics for Tackling Your Next Bet

Founders and product leaders from Atlassian, Stripe, Gong and more share their strategies for going multi-product, from managing extensive product lines to bringing brand-new bets into being.
Starting an Analytics Org From Scratch — Lessons From a Decade at DoorDash

Starting an Analytics Org From Scratch — Lessons From a Decade at DoorDash

DoorDash VP Jessica Lachs has grown the company’s analytics team from a band of scrappy generalists to a highly specialized 300-person org. Here, she spells out how founders can lay the groundwork for an analytics function at their startup and pick the right first hires for the team.
Clay’s Path to Product-Market Fit — A 7-Year 'Overnight Success'

Clay’s Path to Product-Market Fit — A 7-Year 'Overnight Success'

Clay co-founder and CEO Kareem Amin sits down with First Round Partner Todd Jackson for a behind-the-scenes look at how he grappled with narrowing Clay’s scope and tactics for landing on the right ICP.
Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders — Lessons From Stripe, Uber & Carta

Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders — Lessons From Stripe, Uber & Carta

Will Larson, a veteran engineering leader and the CTO at Carta, holds three conventional engineering management “anti-patterns” up to the light for a closer look.
20 Lessons From 20 Different Paths to Product-Market Fit — Advice for Founders, From Founders

20 Lessons From 20 Different Paths to Product-Market Fit — Advice for Founders, From Founders

After more than a year of showcasing dozens of founders in our Paths to PMF series, we pulled together a list of the biggest lessons that stuck with us from these winding startup journeys.