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The Case for Why Marketing Should Have Its Own Engineers
PR & Marketing

The Case for Why Marketing Should Have Its Own Engineers

Robbie Mitchell runs marketing at Knewton like an independent agency within the company and it's working like a charm.

This 23-Year-Old Built and Sold His Startup While in School - Here’s How He Did It
Product

This 23-Year-Old Built and Sold His Startup While in School - Here’s How He Did It

In 2014, Dan Shipper sold his company and graduated from college in the same month. These are the 3 tactics he says made it possible.

How Designers Can Earn a Seat at the Table
Design

How Designers Can Earn a Seat at the Table

Phil King rose through the ranks to lead design at Flickr. His mission: To help more designers become leaders and advocate for their craft.

How Startups Can Do Retail Right from the Inventor of the Apple Store
Design

How Startups Can Do Retail Right from the Inventor of the Apple Store

Ron Johnson is known as the creator of the Apple Store. Now he's sharing advice for startups that want to pursue and win at retail.

Product Hunt is Everywhere — This is How It Got There
Product

Product Hunt is Everywhere — This is How It Got There

Two years ago, Product Hunt didn't exist. Now it's the toast of the town. In this exclusive article, Found Ryan Hoover tracks its ascent.

How to Engage Your Users to Build the Product They Actually Want
Product

How to Engage Your Users to Build the Product They Actually Want

Massdrop's first users were so involved in shaping the product that it's become core to the company's culture. And that's a great thing.

The One Tool Startups Need to Brainstorm, Test and Win
Product

The One Tool Startups Need to Brainstorm, Test and Win

At the heart of the Lean Startup movement, the Business Model Canvas can help early stage startups carve out a successful model.

How Crowd-Funding Is Changing Everything and What That Means for Your Startup
Fundraising

How Crowd-Funding Is Changing Everything and What That Means for Your Startup

As crowd-funding becomes more popular, startups have more choices for financing than ever. Here's how to navigate this new landscape.

Positioning Your Startup is Vital — Here’s How to Nail It
PR & Marketing

Positioning Your Startup is Vital — Here’s How to Nail It

Arielle Jackson has experience crafting marketing campaigns at Google, Facebook and Square. This is her messaging toolbox.

Power Up Your Team with Nonviolent Communication Principles
Management

Power Up Your Team with Nonviolent Communication Principles

Ann Mehl and Jerry Colonna coach startups to communicate more clearly. These are the quick tips they've seen make a huge impact.

What I Learned As Pandora’s First Data Scientist
Engineering

What I Learned As Pandora’s First Data Scientist

Gordon Rios was Pandora's first official data scientist. Today, he's seen how a healthy, productive data team is grown and operates.

Employee Onboarding at Startups Is Broken – Here’s How to Fix It
People & Culture

Employee Onboarding at Startups Is Broken – Here’s How to Fix It

Carly Guthrie has helped onboard new employees in startup offices and crowded restaurants. Here's what she learned from hard-won experience.

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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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