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The Best Advice We Overheard at First Round's CTO Unconference
Engineering

The Best Advice We Overheard at First Round's CTO Unconference

Our second annual CTO Unconference brought together 160+ of the sharpest technical leaders we know. Here's a rundown of some of the best tactics we heard them share.
A Field Guide to Identifying and Integrating Independent Board Members
Management

A Field Guide to Identifying and Integrating Independent Board Members

Amazon veteran Michelle Wilson serves as an independent board member for Pinterest, Okta and Zendesk. From how to find independent board members to when to bring them on, here's what she tells startups that ask about this critical board role.
Don't Play with Dead Snakes — Kill Projects Before They Kill You
Management

Don't Play with Dead Snakes — Kill Projects Before They Kill You

DNAnexus CEO Richard Daly on how they tripled revenue by killing and scorching the earth under 'Dead Snake' projects.
Dear PMs, It's Time to Rethink Agile at Enterprise Startups
Management

Dear PMs, It's Time to Rethink Agile at Enterprise Startups

Flatiron Health's CMO and SVP Product Strategy Ogi Kavazovic explains how traditional PM practices break down at B2B companies, and what they can do instead.
How Instacart Uses Data to Craft A Bespoke Comp Strategy
People & Culture

How Instacart Uses Data to Craft A Bespoke Comp Strategy

When searches for talent are competitive and condensed, startups have a need for speed that makes freestyle negotiations or plug-and-play comp data resources attractive. But that's not how it has to go down.
Start Up on the Right Foot — Build a Customer Advisory Board
Sales

Start Up on the Right Foot — Build a Customer Advisory Board

Sales leader Peter Kazanjy on creating a group that will ensure you're building a product your customers want, need and will buy.
How Zapier Pulled Off Its One-and-Done Approach to Fundraising
Fundraising

How Zapier Pulled Off Its One-and-Done Approach to Fundraising

Zapier CEO and Co-founder Wade Foster is a fundraising contrarian. But he doesn't think he should be. He shares how it's possible to approach financing as a boost — not a crutch — and ways to approach key business decisions early on to keep the itch to fundraise at bay.
This Sales Plan Moves the Needle on Every Success Metric
Sales

This Sales Plan Moves the Needle on Every Success Metric

Derek Draper builds high-performance sales teams. His secret: a documented, bulletproof plan broken into stages and actions.
How to Become Insanely Well-Connected
People & Culture

How to Become Insanely Well-Connected

Chris Fralic is a world-class super-connector. Here's how the long-time First Round Partner has methodically built bonds spanning years and careers.
Why Chefs and Soldiers Make the Best Product Managers
Product

Why Chefs and Soldiers Make the Best Product Managers

Eaze CEO Jim Patterson has a theory that military and kitchen experience are solid indicators of great PMs. Here's why and what startups can look for to hire better.
Pivot Survival Tactics from Kabam's 3 Near-Death Triumphs
Management

Pivot Survival Tactics from Kabam's 3 Near-Death Triumphs

Kabam executed three tough about-faces to eventually sell for $800M. CEO Kevin Chou shares the keys that made this possible.
From Burning Millions to Turning Profitable in Seven Months — How HotelTonight Did It
Management

From Burning Millions to Turning Profitable in Seven Months — How HotelTonight Did It

HotelTonight went from a monthly burn of $2.5 million to profitability — in just over two quarters. Now a year since that milestone, CEO and Co-founder Sam Shank shares the tactics and lessons that helped the company execute the impressive turnaround.
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For the founder's notepad:
"If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months." – Molly Graham
“Asking ‘Why can't this be done sooner?’ methodically, reliably and habitually can have a profound impact on the speed of your organization.” – Dave Girouard
“End every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you’d like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person.” – Chris Fralic
“Focus is doing things with a clear intention. It doesn’t mean you charge single-minded toward a goal. It means you pay rapt and incremental attention to how you need to turn the rudder on a project.” – Fidji Simo
“It’s essential to grow with the company — rather than having the company grow around you.” – Cristina Cordova 
“You have to be impatient with shipping, but patient with your career.” – James Everingham
“‘I trust you, make the call’ might be the six most powerful words you can hear from a manager.” – Sean Twersky
“Your job as a CEO is to build fire departments, not put out fires.” – Sam Corcos 
“Can you say with confidence that each report would want to be on your team again? If you aren’t sure that the answer is yes, it’s probably no — much like how if you have to ask, ‘Am I in love?’ you’re probably not.” – Julie Zhuo 
“People can get addicted to yak shaving. An effective engineering generalist knows when to move on. Pay attention to whether they used their time wisely, not just the results.” – Mike Krieger 
“It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens.” – Kim Scott
“You’ll know you understand the customer problem enough when you can predict 75% of what a customer tells you. Keep having these conversations until three-quarters of it is stuff you already know.” – Christina Cacioppo
“I have a rule: no company swag until the business has at least $250K of revenue or 250k users. Until then, you don’t get to “feel” the benefits of having started a company.” – Gagan Biyani
“The business model ends up becoming the business. It’s equally important as the market you’re going after and the product that you build.” – Jay Simons 
“If speed is the yin, the yang is prioritization. You can’t be fast if you don’t know what’s important.” – Jaleh Rezaei
“If you treat your connections as a kind of personal ATM you use for frequent withdrawals, you’ll quickly be disappointed (and overdrawn).” – Karen Wickre 
“Delighting the customer always yields better returns than countering or copying a competitor. It’s just a lot harder to do.” – Andy Rachleff 
“When you’re a founder, every moment you’re not writing code or getting users, you need to be making a conscious choice: Is whatever you’re doing worth your time?” – Alexis Ohanian
“‘Why would a customer not want this?’ is often a far more interesting question than why they would.” – Rick Song
“When you leave the planning process wondering if you put too many resources behind a single bet, that’s the bet that ends up succeeding. Bold ideas need bold resourcing.” – Lenny Rachitsky and Nels Gilbreth
“Treat customer development as a one-on-one with a direct report — you just want to ask the hard questions.” – Ryan Glasgow
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