Seriously, I can’t hammer this one home enough. Just. Fucking. Take. The. Call.
In startup land, we like to tell ourselves a bedtime story that it’s all a meritocracy and we’re strictly about finding the best people. Hacker News is filled with comments like “who cares what race or gender they are; just pick the best people.” If only it were that easy, my little brogrammer.
90% of all startups fail, and these particular founders are betting on two successful startups in a row. For the mathematically inclined out there, those founders have an approximately 1% chance of success. Good luck to them.
Rapidly implementing investor feedback immediately builds an emotional tie between the investor and your company. Maybe they didn’t invest capital, but they invested an idea, and now their idea is a part of your idea.
As CEOs and product owners, we are effectively outsourced team members, contract force accelerators. Yet more often than not, we act like clueless employees, sleepwalking through the day, hoping that our actions align with our employer’s goals or, at worst, praying we don’t fuck up enough to be noticed.
Here’s a simple rule to follow: If an airline pilot wouldn’t do it the night before a long-haul flight, don’t do it as a founder. No getting drunk, no staying up until 3 am, no crappy midnight snacks. As a favorite children’s book once put it, just go the fuck to sleep.