Day 515: Startup Osmosis

personal

Today, I banished myself to the basement in the hopes that a more quiet environment will help me get out of the super unproductive slump I’ve been in since arriving in Hawaii. Trying to focus has felt like picking up an instrument I haven’t played in years — I know what I have to do, but everything feels clunky and difficult.

The benefit of being around Chris and Lydia while they take their calls is that I get to see exactly how they run their company and also talk about their company to investors, potential hires, and customers. It’s straight up inspiring. They’ve honed their pitch so well and made it compelling to the point that dropping Browserflow to join their team would be a no-brainer if I didn’t have the burning need to see Browserflow through. (Note to DK 5 years in the future: Hey, remember when you had the chance to join Chris and Lydia’s ridiculously successful company early on and you decided to work on Browserflow instead? lmao)

Here are some things I’ve been learning from being around Lydia and Chris the past few days:

  • The power of storytelling

    • When Lydia describes what they’re working on (they’re still in stealth so I’m avoiding going into details here), she weaves together a cohesive story that covers:

      • What the problem is
      • Why it’s important
      • Why they’re uniquely suited to solve it
      • How much their customers love their solution
      • How much traction they’ve been getting
      • The long-term vision

    • It’s GOOD

  • The advantage of moving quickly

    • Instead of spending time fiddling with UI or rebuilding existing solutions, they’re laser focused on moving as quickly as possible and solving their customers’ problems. That means being willing to spend money on services and products (e.g. UI templates, productivity software) that help them do more in less time.

  • The importance of talking to customers

    • Lydia and Chris are constantly on calls (which is why I’m moving down to the basement so I can focus a bit better). They know exactly what their customers want and how they’re using their product. I’m hoping that during this month, I’ll also transition more towards talking to users and working with them rather than coding all the time like I have been.

  • The value of a good co-founder

    • Lydia and Chris make great co-founders: Chris handles engineering and Lydia handles everything else (product, design, sales, etc.). Their complementary skillsets lets them fire on all fronts without stepping on each others’ toes, and watching them definitely makes me appreciate how having a well-suited co-founder can multiply the speed and output of a team. Not sure if it’s make sense for me to bring on a co-founder at this point, but I’m looking forward to when I can bring on people in general who can do things way better than I can.