Tools for progress #60
Europe’s great founders must unretire, Guide to getting a job at a startup, Build, sell, understand
We (humans) read hundreds of articles on company building, angel investing, and self-management and curate the best ones into a weekly summary—helping founders and operators stay on the top of their game.
Better thinking
Europe’s great founders must unretire (4 minute read)
After achieving financial success, European entrepreneurs tend to retire whereas their American counterparts tend to continue building. Why? Europe shouldn’t celebrate homegrown entrepreneurs who decide to retire early. Instead, they must be encouraged to remain in the arena rather than shelving their entrepreneurial ambitions. The French Riviera can wait.
The two types of mistakes (1 minute read)
Those you make through inaction, and those you make through action. You should always favour the later. In fact, you should embrace it. It’s the only way to learn and make progress. Sitting on the sidelines does nothing for you.
Lies per second, meetings per decision ratio, and other important biz metrics (6 minute read)
Andrew Chen of a16z geeks out over quirky metrics like "micromorts" (1-in-a-million death chances) to rank risky activities, then applies the same nerdy approach to business problems. Metrics like "Lies per Second" in startup pitches and "Meetings per Decision Ratio" for organisational dysfunction become surprisingly useful ways to spot when things are going sideways. It's quantified self meets workplace reality checks.
Operational tactics
Guide to getting a job at a startup (10 minute read)
Garrett, founder of Galaxy (the Cursor for Data teams), ex-Morgan Stanley IBD, and first Growth/BizOps hire at Unify, walks you through the step-by-step sequence to land a role at a startup. After spending hundreds of hours coaching others, networking, and helping people land jobs that they love and are excited about, he’s compiled a detailed guide to help startup seekers fulfillment in the workplace. This is read-now worthy material.
Create an ownership culture (1 minute read)
Shoestring budgets force you to think efficiently. They also create accountability. Everything you do has to serve a purpose, and you (the deployer of that budget), become very tied to that purpose. Wherever you can, tie your team to outcomes and give them extreme ownership over them.
Here’s why product and design operate better as one team (6 minute read)
AI startups are hitting massive scale with tiny teams. It’s possible through a combination of tooling and team structure. In a lot of cases, they’re merging product and design into one unified team, designed to eliminate handoffs and build shared context. When teams stop treating these as separate functions and start thinking together from day one, they ship faster and create products with genuine taste that users actually love.
Refer and we’ll send you our favorite books as a “thank you” for spreading the word.
Venture investing
The future of enterprise applications (12 minute read)
Enterprise software giants like Salesforce built empires by owning data, forcing everyone to work through their UIs. AI agents are flipping this model by acting directly on data at scale, making traditional application interfaces obsolete. The real value shifts from UI-driven workflows to an intelligent agent layer that can process unstructured data and automate business processes without human bottlenecks. But, doesn’t it make sense for those giants to own the agent layer also? They have to act quickly.
What is going on with early-stage founders? (9 minute read)
Today's founders have more funding options than ever before (including not to raise it..), which slightly shifts the power dynamics between them and VCs. With reduced startup costs and global access to investors, top founders are increasingly choosy, gravitating toward either resource-rich megafunds or specialised microfunds while abandoning generic mid-tier VCs that offer little differentiated value.
10 easy rules to avoid the typical mistakes angel investors make (2 minute read)
shares 10 rules for angel investors. There’s a lot of classics in here (diversification, say no more than yes), but a few that are often less discussed (assess founder ambition level, focus on relationships). If nothing else, you’ll get a snap of Alex LARPING as a cowboy.Managing your career
Product leadership next (8 minute read)
Product management is evolving as AI makes building easier but discovery harder. Two new executive roles are emerging. CPTO (combining product and engineering) works for technical companies, while CPMO (combining product and marketing) suits consumer businesses. As "vibe coding" lets anyone build products quickly, the real challenge becomes getting them discovered and adopted in an increasingly crowded market.
Build, sell, understand (3 minute read)
A startup career framework breaks down every role into three core functions: building products, selling to customers, or understanding what to do next. Most people eventually end up doing sales work through recruiting and managing, whether they like it or not. As AI automates building and selling tasks, the "understand" function becomes increasingly valuable and central to most roles.
Tips for making asks (1 minute read)
How you ask for something (information, help, etc) is more important than what you’re asking for. Make it easy for the receiver. Reduce the cognitive load they need to apply in order to truly understand what you want. “Can I pick your brain” becomes I need help figuring out [x] and need your top 3 tips". If you’re DM’ing mentors, investors, teammates, etc, it’s how you increase your reply rate.