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Newsletter Archive

How Figma taps into product taste, simplicity and storytelling

An interview with Chief Product Officer Yuhki Yamashita

What this founder learned from losing product-market fit

Lessons in intellectual honesty from a 3X founder

A growth expert’s guide to building billion-dollar marketplaces

This week, a growth expert behind some of the biggest marketplace success stories shares his commandments for the 0-1 stage. How to Build a Billion-Dollar Marketplace — Do’s and Don’ts from the Growth Expert Behind Grubhub, Pinterest, and More In the early days, Grubhub was “embarrassingly bad” on a

Your annual plan is already obsolete: here's how to fix it

This week on the First Round Review, we’ve got a seriously detailed guide to help you tackle one of the most dreaded organizational rituals: annual planning. Annual Planning Sucks — A CPO, CRO, CFO, and COO Share Advice on How to Make it Better Annual planning has always been painful,

How Replit went from side project to a $1B business

This week on the First Round Review, we're back with another installment in our Paths to PMF series, this time with Replit's CEO and co-founder Amjad Masad. Replit’s Path to Product-Market Fit—The $1 Billion Side Project The startup world loves its archetypes—the wunderkind

A step-by-step guide to starting a B2B marketing engine from scratch

This week on The Review, Alex Kracov spells out the channel strategies, messaging drills and big bets he invested in as the first marketing hire at Lattice, and which tactics he’s putting to use once again now as CEO and co-founder of Dock. Passing the Button-Clicker Test, and Other

Non-obvious signs of early traction — and how to spot them

This week, we asked founders to recall the moment they knew their startup was primed for takeoff — long before they had any splashy numbers to show for it. Non-Obvious Signs of Early Startup Traction — And How to Spot Them A viral launch. Leads pouring in. Off-the-charts usage. These are the

Why startup marketers should be diagnosticians

This week on The Review, a tech marketing maestro shares her reflections on founding and scaling the org at breakout startups. Why Startup Marketers Should Be Diagnosticians — Advice from OpenAI’s and Stripe’s First Marketing Hire Marketers may not have MDs, but according to Krithika Muthukumar, the best ones

How Gong used design partners to prove a bet on AI in 2015

This week, we’re back with another installment in our Paths to PMF series, this time on how Gong CPO and co-founder Eilon Reshef found conviction ahead of a market curve. Gong’s Path to Product-Market Fit — Why This $7B Company Still Works With Design Partners A decade ago, product

Here’s what you can really expect from a VC partner meeting

This week on First Round Review, we’re pulling back the curtain on one of the most opaque parts of the fundraising process. Here’s What You Can Really Expect When Pitching Your Seed-Stage Startup at a VC Partner Meeting One of the most admirable traits of founders is the

Why founders should be suspicious of symmetry in their org chart

This week on First Round Review, we delve into org design with a three-part framework optimizing for "taste" over symmetry. Make an Org Chart You Want to Ship — Advice from Linear on How Heirloom Tomatoes Should Inspire Team Design Tomato season is in full swing, and while you&

How to launch your second (or third, or fifth) product

This week on The First Round Review, we’ve rounded up the advice we’ve collected from product leaders on the topic of expanding your product suite. The Guide to Going Multi-Product: 11 Tactics for Tackling Your Next Bet Startup leaders know all too well that there isn’t really

Tips for scaling analytics at startups

This week on The First Round Review, a veteran analytics leader unpacks what she’s learned from a decade of helming the data team at DoorDash — and shares her playbook for startups first standing up the function. Starting an Analytics Org From Scratch — Lessons From a Decade at DoorDash Early-stage

2nd TEST: A seven-year “overnight success” story — Clay’s Path to PMF

This week, we’re sharing the latest installment in our Paths to Product Market Fit series, this time with the GTM powertool Clay. Clay’s Path to Product-Market Fit — A 7-Year “Overnight Success” Sometimes, getting the right messaging for your startup is more challenging than getting to the right product

Three unexpected anti-patterns for engineering leaders

This week on First Round Review, we hold three conventional engineering management “anti-patterns” up to the light for a closer look. Unexpected Anti-Patterns for Engineering Leaders  — Lessons From Stripe, Uber & Carta When Will Larson was CTO at Calm, he had to make the tough call to cancel a major

Three unexpected anti-patterns for engineering leaders

Will Larson, CTO at Carta, shares unconventional leadership strategies he’s learned from scaling teams at Stripe, Uber and Calm.

20 lessons from 20 different paths to PMF

This week, we're marking the last day you can apply to PMF Method by sharing an extra dose of encouragement, with 20 lessons from 20 different founders on tackling the winding journey to product-market fit. 20 Lessons From 20 Different Paths to Product-Market Fit — Advice for Founders, From

20 lessons from 20 different paths to PMF

Our favorite lessons from founders who tackled the winding journey to product-market fit

Asana’s Head of People opens up her company culture playbook

This week on First Round Review, we sit down with Asana’s Head of People for an inside look at how she built a company culture amidst rapid scale. Build Your Culture Like a Product — Lessons from Asana’s Head of People When it comes to company culture, there are

Seasoned founders share their best advice for first-timers

This week on the First Round Review, we’ve pulled together a guide for anyone sitting in the founder’s seat for the first time (or has their eye on taking the entrepreneurial leap). Navigating New Waters: 10 Tips for First-Time Founder Success Growing up, we’re constantly trying new

A founder-friendly playbook for early customer discovery

This week, we’re sharing a step-by-step playbook for how to approach early customer discovery and user research the right way.

After a decade of entrepreneurial pursuits, a $4B unicorn emerges

This week, we’re back with the latest installment in our Paths to Product-Market Fit series.

Why you shouldn’t focus on building the best product — and what to do instead

This week, we're diving into the how, what, when, and why of going from single product focus to multi-product strategy, a common stumbling block for startups.

Dig deeper in reference calls with these 25 questions

Happy Valentine's Day! This week, we’ve pulled together a mega-guide for falling back in love with reference calls.

Why the key to extreme product-market fit is simplicity & velocity

This week, a step-by-step guide on how to turn your startup into a learning machine.