Just Start (Up): The Founder’s Guide to Becoming The Next Great Thing

Table of contents
Chapter 1: Effectuation...................................................................................................................page 8
A “just start” framework for entrepreneurial decision-making
1
Chapter 2: Pump Up the Empathy................................................................................page 14
User-centric principles to grow by
2
Chapter 3: Keep it Simple, Desirable, and User-Centric.......................page 22
UX and product design matters. And quality design matters most.
3
Chapter 4: Frameworks that Work..............................................................................page 30
Build structure, align teams, deliver impact
4
Chapter 5: A Responsible Approach to Generative AI...........................page 38
How to prompt and protect our AI future
5
Chapter 6: Founder Lessons...............................................................................................page 46

Expert advice on starting, growing, and scaling
6
References...............................................................................................................................................page 58

About Andrew Greenstein
Andrew Greenstein is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Head of
Product at SF AppWorks, an award-winning custom web and
mobile design and development agency. An entrepreneur
and storyteller with an insatiable curiosity and passion for
what’s next in tech, Andrew is also the host of The Next Great
Thing, a popular technology podcast that explores new digital
products and experiences –
and conversations with the
leaders making them great.

For over a decade, Andrew and his team have collaborated
with Fortune 500s and startups to design, develop, iterate, and
grow custom web, mobile, and software projects that create
impact. An expert in lean startup methodology, design
thinking, product development, and rapid prototyping,
Andrew has partnered with AARP, Vanguard, Humana, West
Elm, the Golden Globes, Google, and many others, helping
them transform their game-changing ideas from concept to
code.

Prior to SF AppWorks, Andrew was a startup founder and
consultant. He received his JD from the UCLA School of Law.
When he isn’t thinking about effectuation theory or behind
the podcast mic, you can find him behind a drum kit keeping
the beat for his band, cheering on Steph Curry at a Golden
State Warriors game, or walking his golden retriever, Taco,
through the streets of San Francisco.

4

Every next great thing begins the same way: just start.
Being a founder or entrepreneur is like being an explorer without a compass in a land of unknowns.
With little more than an idea and a vision, you're constantly navigating uncharted territory, facing
obstacles at every turn. Y
ou have to be quick-thinking, resourceful, and decisive on the fly. Oh, and
did I mention securing funding?

But here's the thing: just start
As an entrepreneur and founder myself, I know that sometimes the hardest part of starting
something new is…starting. The power to start isn’t in your business plan. It’s not in your MVP or
flashy new marketing campaign. And it’s not in a way-too-cold conference room full of venture
capitalists on Sand Hill Road.

It's within you. In this moment. Like, right now.

Just start. Those two words might seem simple. But let me tell you, every great entrepreneur knows
that positive outcomes are a product of starting and that indecisiveness and timidity push them
further away from success. They take action, even when it's scary. They lean into the just start
mindset – whether they’re conscious of it or not – whenever they set out to build a new product or
feature, pitch an investor, or look for new ways to innovate and grow their company.

It's a mindset that you can tap into, too. I have. T
en years ago when I started SF AppW
orks, I
partnered with someone who had what I lacked: serious development and engineering skills. I had
something he lacked, too: irrational confidence and a willingness to stand in front of potential
investors, partners, and employees and tell them that we had something, and we wouldn’t give up
until we figured it out. T
ogether we co-founded the company. Our first project was creating an app
for runners called SportMe. From there, our partnership was forged and our client base grew, slowly,
one project at a time. T
oday, we have more than 50 employees, and we work with companies of all
sizes, from startups to Fortune 500s, to help them build and launch amazing digital experiences. But
before all of that, the first thing we did was just start.

Don’t get it twisted: just starting doesn’t mean running blind into the next task. It requires taking the
time to listen and learn from those that have done it before. That’s why I started The Next Great
Thing podcast – to learn from the best “just start-ers” across the tech landscape. Founders, CEOs,
CTOs, product managers, and designers share how they have launched and scaled new products or
companies. Some just started a few years ago. Some have been just starting for decades.
.

5

You’ll learn from these leaders in the pages that follow. They’ll share their expertise in user-centered
design thinking, product testing and rapid prototyping, leadership frameworks, and team alignment.
They’ll let you in on how they’re thinking about and confronting the new era of generative AI. Finally,
they’ll share advice about starting and growing a business to help you stop fearing the unknown,
start executing your ideas, and create the next great thing.
 
Ready? All that’s left to do is just start.
Andrew Greenstein

Co-Founder, CEO, and Head of Product

SF AppWorks
6

1
Effectuation
A “just start” framework for

entrepreneurial decision-making
Chapter 1

Chapter
1
Effectuation
A “just start” framework for entrepreneurial decision-making
Create opportunities with what you have rather than predict outcomes.
Uncertainty. Doubt. Risk. Fear. Just a handful of concerns that can haunt entrepreneurs and hold them back
from starting something. It’s easy to get discouraged, but keep in mind: the future is largely unpredictable, and,
at the end of the day, you can only control the means, not the outcomes.

This is the grounding principle of effectuation, a theory and decision-making framework developed and first
introduced in 2001 by Saras D. Sarasvathy, an award-winning entrepreneurship professor at the Darden School of
Business at the University of Virginia.

Effectuation theory is based on the idea that, instead of predicting and controlling the future, you create your
future by taking action and making things happen. It’s a way of thinking and decision-making that’s focused on
creating opportunities and solving problems in the face of uncertainty by using the resources that are available
to you, rather than making predictions and trying to plan for – and control – the future.1 (Spoiler alert: you can’t!)

Entrepreneurs who use effectuation are savvy. They start with who they are, what they know, and who they
know, then iteratively develop new products and services by leveraging their existing resources and forming new
partnerships with others.
CAUSAL VS. EFFECTUAL
two different entrepreneurial approaches to decision-making and problem-solving
Effectual entrepreneurs don't believe the
future can be predicted; there are too many
outcomes and unforeseen variables. They
start with the resources they already have
and form partnerships to take action and
create new opportunities to shape the
future.

Effectual entrepreneurs ask: “Given what
I’m facing and what I have, what is my next,
best step?”
Causal entrepreneurs believe the future can be
predicted and controlled based on past events.
They start by focusing on the end, on a desired
goal they want to achieve, then identify the
means necessary to achieve that goal.

Causal entrepreneurs assume that the future is
largely predictable and that they can control
outcomes by making the right decisions.
8

Effectuation is based on four principles2:
Bird-in-Hand Principle  
Start with what you have, not what you want or need. Rather than figuring out new
ways to achieve your goals, create something new with what you already have. Begin
by taking honest stock of your strengths and advantages – the resources at hand –
and use them to create solutions.
Lemonade Principle 
Turn constraints into opportunities. Because you can’t predict the future, expect
surprises. Remain flexible above all else, and, when dealing with unexpected
obstacles and challenges, look for opportunities. Turn lemons into lemonade.
Crazy Quilt Principle  
Build partnerships with others, rather than trying to compete against them. New
partnerships and collaborations can bring new funds and opportunities. Seek to
partner with anyone who will make actual commitments and who shares your vision
and values. Don't worry about the opportunity cost. The partners determine the
goals and direction, not the other way around.
Affordable Loss Principle  
Commit only to investing in what you can afford to lose. Don’t look at the outcome
and then determine what’s worth risking. Calculate what’s at risk, then decide what
you’re willing to lose and take action accordingly.
Effectuation theory is effective in helping entrepreneurs to start, innovate, and grow successful businesses. It is a
powerful tool that can help you to overcome challenges, achieve your goals, and create successful ventures in the face of
uncertainty.

Start with what you have. Expect surprises. Look for committed partners. Risk only what you can afford to lose. Don’t wait
for perfect market conditions, and, whatever you do, don’t try to predict the future.

9

10
Jasmine-Crowe Houston 
Founder and CEO, Goodr
Goodr
The Next Great Thing Jasmine
Goodr
What was the impetus behind finding Goodr? What inspired the idea?

Partnerships are a big part of your business model. Can you talk about how you use them
to help you grow?

is an Atlanta-based startup that’s using technology to fight two battles at once: food
waste and hunger. The company has rescued millions of pounds of unused food and
delivered it to millions of people in need, reducing food waste in the process by diverting
perfectly edible food from landfills. On podcast, shares her
idea for starting and how she’s leveraged partnerships to grow the business.

The story has such an organic start. Prior to leading Goodr, I had a consultancy where I
basically helped celebrities start and manage their nonprofits. I used to do all their
fundraising, create their programming, and help them define their giving blueprint and how
they were going to use their star power for good. And I was saying to my clients, “You know,
people that are standing in line for turkey in November are hungry in September, as well.”

I drove through downtown Atlanta one day and saw hundreds of people experiencing
homelessness and decided to do something about it. So, I started a pop-up restaurant series
called Sunday Soul. I was cooking meals for 300-500 people and feeding them every other
week until a video of my work went viral; I woke up one morning to millions of views and
thousands of comments and friend requests. One of the reoccurring questions people kept
asking me was, “Who donated the food?” And the truth was, nobody! As I researched food
waste and learned [more about it], I became really upset and decided I was going to start a
company to combat food waste and end hunger.

Partnerships are critical, and they’ve ultimately allowed us to scale a lot faster. I think that's
something every [founder] needs to be very aware of.
ON AIR with

11
We're asset-light. We don't have fleets of vehicles that are moving this food, so we depend on
a lot of logistics partners. When I first was starting Goodr, I literally was spending time in Uber
and Lyft groups thinking I was going to hire these drivers to come and drive for Goodr, and I
was going to have my own little logistics ride-sharing company. Then I realized how expensive
it was going to be to build that from the ground up. So I thought, why don't I leverage what
they've already built? They'll still make money, I'm still going to pay the drivers, but now I'm
tapping into a network of millions of drivers versus having to go and find drivers in every
single market. That's just an idea of how partnerships can help you scale a lot faster.

Our nonprofit partners are [also] a huge part of what we do. We could not be Goodr without
[them]. We have nonprofit partners in multiple cities, like Covenant House, which is a
homeless shelter for teenagers. That's a partnership that I love because I know that in every
city we go into, there's a Covenant House and we're going to be able to get them food.

2
Pump Up the Empathy
Chapter 2

Chapter
2
Pump Up the Empathy
“It's easy to start thinking about your spreadsheets and your numbers and the growth that you're
driving – which is critical. But doing that without understanding who you are doing it for and what
you are trying to accomplish just leads to suboptimal product.”
Donna Boyer, Chief Product Officer, Teladoc Health
It can help a founder make better decisions – or lead you to an ah-ha moment. It has the power to influence key
stakeholders and potential investors. It can guide teams to get creative, leverage new technologies, and create
amazingly successful digital experiences and products.

No, we’re not talking about generative AI (we’ll get to that in a bit). We’re talking about user empathy.

When Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, CEO at Grammarly, was on the podcast, he offered a simple yet powerful
declaration about the importance of empathy from the product management perspective:
“Fundamentally, the essence of product management is the ability to have empathy for users. It’s the
ability to understand that what we're doing is trying to solve a real user need and a real user problem –
and always keeping that front and center.”
40%
Founders can spend up to  
 
on non-revenue-generating tasks like
payroll and HR management3
40% of their working hours
Let’s be real: in the day-to-day work of running a startup, there are
so many factors to juggle that it can be easy to lose sight of the
user and their problems! It’s a constant balancing act of internal
politics, investor pressures, the latest tech trends, payroll, what
your competitors are doing, what your team is building, and a
million other moving parts, competing demands, and distractions
coming from both inside and outside the business.
Amid all these distractions, getting to user empathy is hard. Or, as Rahul puts it, “It's easy to talk about clichés like
‘put the user first.’ It's just one of those things that people say. It's a different thing to walk the talk.”

But, that empathy walk is worth it. Great founders understand that, above all else, user empathy is a competitive
advantage. Understanding users’ lives, what they need, and the problems they need to be solved – that’s how
you build a user-centric business, not just a user-centric product.

14

Meet the Empathy Experts
Jenny Arden
Chief Design Officer,  
Zillow Group, 
one of the largest, most popular
real estate websites in the U.S.
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury
CEO, Grammarly, 
one of the world’s most popular
and advanced AI communication
assistants
Donna Boyer
Chief Product Officer, 
Teladoc Health, 
one of the world’s largest providers
of telemedicine services
Follow these steps to pump up the empathy:
Do your user homework
Who are your users, really? Is it one type of user? Multiple types of users?
Who are the users you want to have today versus the users you might want
to reach tomorrow? Figuring all of this out means talking to them, observing
them, understanding their motivations, and connecting to their world. You
can do this in a number of quantitative and qualitative ways; for example,
through user survey data, interviews, ethnographies, and usability testing.
Then, create user personas or empathy maps to go deeper and make it
easier for product and design teams to have a shared understanding of
users' goals, behaviors, and preferences.
Jenny’s take:

“It's really understanding the day in the life of a user – what is making their
life not so great, and how do you solve for it? This goes back to user
observation, observing people in the wild. We do these things called diary
studies, where we actually shadow somebody from the moment they wake
up to the moment they go to bed. And you learn a lot about things you can't
see in a digital environment.”
58%
58% of startup founders  
prior to launch4
wished they’d done more research
P 15

Chapter
2
Define the real user problem 
(not the problem you want to solve)
After you’ve studied your users closely, define the problem or pain
point they need to be solved. Often, it’s not what you think and may
not totally align with the solution you have in mind. (That’s OK, it’s
why you did your homework!) Why are users experiencing the
problem? What they are trying to achieve? What’s the root cause?
Write a problem statement that’s clear, specific, and actionable. It
should be something that can be solved by your development team.
Remember: not all problems are created equal. Some problems are
more important to users than others. Prioritize problems based on
their impact on users and their likelihood of being solved.
Jenny’s take:

“A great business starts with the user and
starts with a real human need. You design for
it, you solve that problem, and you have a
thriving business…First, deeply understand
your customer better than anyone else.
Obsess [over] it. Continue to observe and
recognize that you are not the user. You are a
version of the user. You are one instance of
what your users might be, but you are not the
entire population. So you truly have to watch
what they do and really solve the problems
that they are faced with.”
“A great business starts with the user and starts with a real human need.
You design for it, you solve that problem, and you have a thriving business.”

Jenny Arden, Chief Design Officer, Zillow Group
Get creative and brainstorm solutions 
(apart, then together)
You’ve done the hard work of understanding your users. You’ve
gathered the data. You’ve connected the dots. Now you have the
white space to get creative. Before brainstorming as a group, have
each stakeholder brainstorm on their own first. Then, bring everyone
together to take turns sharing their ideas. This approach ensures
thoughtful participation and that everyone’s voice is heard. It also
leads to the best ideas (sometimes, solutions that are the least
expected!). Involve the whole team – designers, engineers,
marketers, interns – to generate as many ideas as you can.
Encourage out-of-the-box thinking, and create a safe space for
freethinking where all ideas are welcome. Look for ways to use new
technologies in new ways to your creative advantage, keeping in
mind that the best ideas are rooted in the defined user problem, not
simply the technology.
Rahul’s take: 
“We stay rooted in making sure that we are
solving real user problems. We're not creating
technology in search of solutions. We have a
problem that we want to solve, and we'll bring
whatever technology and resources we can to
bear to solve that problem... And as
technology changes and enables new things,
we're going to keep changing what we do
because, ultimately, we just want to be
focused on solving that user problem.”
16

Embrace rapid prototyping and user testing
Once you have those creative ideas, it’s time to turn them into realistic proofs of concept. Start prototyping and testing
them – fast! Your rapid prototypes don’t always have to be fancy, expensive, and highly functional. They just need to be
enough so that you can get critical feedback from users and make sure that your solutions are on track to solving their
problems.
Donna’s take: 
“The way that I think about testing with my team is, we need to aggressively look for reasons why we’re wrong. We're right a
good amount of the time, but finding the areas where we're wrong, where we're missing the ball, where we're missing an
insight – that’s what leads to the biggest product breakthroughs. We are constantly doing prototype testing, pushing
ourselves to understand what we are missing – whether it's through quick sketch testing, or prototypes, or watching users walk
through and use our live products. There are always opportunities to learn from how people experience your products in the
real world.”
Jenny’s take:

“I always tell my teams that the first five
concepts are going to be terrible. Just expect
it. Just understand. Your job is to get through
the terrible stuff as quickly as you can, so that
means rapidly prototyping, iterating over and
over again, trying to get as much of the bad
stuff out of your system so that you can
actually get to the good stuff.”
Iterate and improve. Rinse and repeat.
Empathy never ends, so great products are never finished. There
will always be unexpected usability issues, design flaws, and
functional limitations in your initial product. User needs and
market conditions will change. What you think is the user-centric
product you've created today might not be tomorrow. So, keep
iterating and improving. That’s how you make progress and get to
the good stuff! Doing all of this means (yup, once again) getting
valuable feedback from your users, making tweaks, and testing,
testing, testing. Again and again.
What is Rapid Prototyping?
Rapid prototyping is a combination of techniques used to quickly
create and test a website or application. It’s also used to test out
new technology platforms before building on top of them. Rapid
prototypes are built upon a series of iterative steps that incorporate
design sketches, user feedback, and tweaks based on that feedback.
Rapid prototypes can be varied in terms of exactness, or fidelity, in
their functionality, appearance, and user interface. They can be as
down-and-dirty as a sketch on a piece of paper or as sophisticated
as a working, pre-launch version of a website or app.
P 17

Benefits of  
Rapid Prototyping:
Reduces the time and
cost of product
development.
Improves the quality and
usability of products by
allowing designers to test
with users and iterate on
designs quickly and
easily.
Early-stage design/
concept validation of the
form, fit, and function of
your product design.
Improves
communication between
product designers and
engineers.
New technology
platforms are explored
more thoroughly, leading
to a better
understanding of
potential integration
complexities.
Shortens the time to
market for new products
– critical to staying
competitive and relevant
in the fast-moving
startup landscape.
Low-Fidelity
Prototypes
Low-Fidelity Prototypes are produced quickly and cheaply and
can be as simple as a sketch on paper. These rough, unfinished
versions aren’t overly concerned with visual appearance; they’re
used to test the basic functionality of a product or design early in
the design process and to get quick input and feedback from
users. Low-fidelity prototypes can also help you to visualize
alternative solutions, inspiring further innovation and
improvement.
High-Fidelity
Prototypes
High-Fidelity Prototypes are more detailed and realistic versions
of a website or application, sometimes indistinguishable from the
final product. These prototypes are much closer to how a user
would actually experience and navigate your product in real life.
High-fidelity prototypes are often used later in the design process
to test the overall look and feel of a product and to get final user
feedback before launch. Because they’re often as close to the final
product as possible, high-fidelity prototypes take more time to
create but are often more effective for conducting user testing and
gathering user data (e.g., time to complete a task).
P
18

19
Donna Boyer

Chief Product Officer, Teladoc Health
A seasoned tech executive with more than 20 years of product leadership experience at
companies like , , and , shares her advice on
podcast on user testing, prototyping, and how to build and manage an innovative,
empathetic, and diverse product team that both respects and represents the audience
you’re building for.

The most important thing is staying curious. No matter what, things continue to change.
Technology changes around you. There will be new ways of doing things. Staying at the
forefront of what's changing, how we take advantage of that, and [asking] how might we do
things differently has led to quite a bit of innovation on my product teams.

The other piece that's so important is to stay really focused on the customer. It's easy to start
thinking about your spreadsheets and your numbers and the growth that you're driving –
which is critical. But doing that without understanding who you are doing it for and what you
are trying to accomplish just leads to suboptimal product. So, stay centered on the job you're
trying to do and who you're doing it for, and stay connected to that. That’s what leads to great
product.

[It] starts with the people on the team. People who are connected to what you're doing, who
are passionate about the problem that you're trying to solve, and are not afraid to take
appropriate risks.

The other part is really making sure that, as you’re innovating, there's also an emphasis on
Yahoo Airbnb Stitch Fix Donna The Next Great
Thing
What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned over the course of your career about
building and managing innovative product teams?

What’s your biggest piece of advice about the best way to build a great product team?

ON AIR with

20
simplifying. It's very easy to make things extremely complex. In order to keep that velocity and
to take advantage of the innovation in the market, simplify, simplify, simplify how you're
building so that your products are elegant, they're clean, and you can move quickly and
nimbly.

When you are building a product for a population, it's really important that your team reflects
that population. It's too easy to miss cultural concerns, to miss the diversity of different
experiences, and to make assumptions if your team does not reflect the population that
you're trying to serve. It's a big passion of mine. It's critically important. It's even more so
important in health care, given health equity disparities.
What are the potential risks of not having a diverse and empathetic product team?

3
Keep it Simple, Desirable,
and User-Centric
UX and product design matters. 
And quality design matters most.
Chapter 3

Chapter
3
Keep it Simple, Desirable, and User-Centric
UX and product design matters. And quality design matters most.
“Design is about possibility. My role is to make sure we're always thinking bold and big and
thinking about all the different possible ways in which we can solve [users’ problems] in balance
with feasibility and how can we make that possible.”
Whether you’re buying something on Amazon, ordering takeout on Uber Eats, or looking for the perfect movie
to watch tonight on Netflix, there’s a common thread that runs through every tap, click, and swipe you make:
design.

Design is what makes the digital world accessible, useful, and fun. It’s the front door into how you experience a
digital product or brand. And when design is done right, it gives off a unique vibe – a feeling that you instantly
connect with.

And when we say “instantly,” we mean it. Users form a first impression of your website in the blink of an eye.
Literally. It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that
determines whether they’ll stay or go somewhere else.5 And if they leave, the likelihood that they’ll come back is
minuscule; 88% of consumers are less likely to return to a site with bad UX design.6 Talk about consequential!
The essence of great design is simplicity
Think of your favorite website or app. What makes it stand out
from the rest? Perhaps it's the ease of use and intuitive navigation.
Or maybe it's the whimsical and playful visual elements that make
it memorable and fun. Or maybe it just does one thing really well,
like give you the weather so you know if you need to bring an
umbrella or not.

In his memoir, Wind, Sand and Stars, French writer, poet, and
aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry penned the well-known
aphorism, “Perfection is finally attained not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to
take away.”9 This certainly holds true for UX design; true perfection
is not attained by continuously adding things, but by eliminating
all the unnecessary elements until there’s nothing left to remove.
It takes about  
for users to form an opinion about
your website that determines
whether they’ll stay or go5
50 miliseconds  
(0.05 seconds)  
88%
less likely to return 
of consumers are  
to a site with bad UX design6
Only 55%
conducting UX testing7
 
of businesses are currently
Every $1
returns $100
ROI of 9,900%!8
a company invests

in building a good UX

.

That’s an
22

Chapter
2
So, if you remember one thing, remember this: great design is simple. It’s visually appealing, uncluttered, and free from
unnecessary distractions. It creates a seamless experience that allows users to complete their tasks efficiently and
effectively. Great design carefully distills vast amounts of data, content architecture, and user journeys into a user
experience that is elegant, intuitive, and easy to use.

Moreover, simplicity is inherently linked to utility. A design must not only look good but also solve the user's problem.
Slick graphics and pleasing fonts on their own aren’t enough to cover up a website or app that doesn’t work the way
users need it to and doesn’t solve the user’s problem.
Bad design has bad consequences
If your UX isn’t designed in a user-friendly way, it becomes user-unfriendly. And that will cause user hostility – to your
product, company, and brand.

It’s helpful to think about great design from the perspective of what users don’t want in their digital experiences. Your
website or app can’t be too slow to load; 88% of users will bail on you for this very reason.10 It can’t be overly complicated
or confusing to navigate. It shouldn’t look like it was designed in 2012. It shouldn’t overwhelm users with annoying auto-
play videos. And, please, whatever you do, it shouldn’t send users on a wild goose chase looking for the content and
information they need.

When any or all of these design no-nos occur, users get frustrated. Then, they leave. What’s worse, they might even leave
you a 1-star review, or take to social media and tell their friends and followers to avoid you at all costs! And no founder
wants that, the “Scarlet A” of UX design! You likely won’t survive as a business if your design falls into that unfortunate
category.
Top Reasons Why a User Will Leave a Website10
88.5% Slow Loading
73.1% Non-Responsive Website
61.5% Bad Navigation
38.5% Outdated Design
34.6% Poor Content Structure
3.8% Obtrusive Use of Audio/Video
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Chapter
2
Great design is about prioritizing users above all else
As product designer Frank Chimero said, “People ignore design that ignores people.” Design is not just about how things
look or how they are built. It’s about prioritization, specifically prioritizing solving user problems and placing their needs
above all else. Sometimes even above your business or marketing goals.

That’s why it’s critical to ensure that your UX design puts users at the center of every color choice, button size, dropdown
menu, page layout, and site navigation. To do this, you need to tap into the psychology of human behavior and get real
feedback from users to design intuitive digital experiences that reflect their behaviors and expectations.
“My role is to make sure we're always thinking bold and big and thinking
about all the different possible ways in which we can solve [users’ problems]
in balance with feasibility and how we can make that possible. We find the
right middle point in which to prioritize our work.”

Getting to quality UX design isn’t just about pushing out a bunch of iterations. It’s that and incorporating a ton of user
insights – including, sometimes, getting off your computer and observing your users in the wild. Quick feedback on a
clickable prototype or 30 minutes of user testing is always a good idea, but, to truly fulfill your product vision and address
users’ known (and unknown) needs, you’ve got to go way deeper than that. (It’s all about that empathy stuff we talked
about in Chapter 2.)
“Having design fundamentally connected to product leans us more in the
space of desirability and, with it, the customer.”

Leslie Witt, Chief Product and Design Officer, Headspace
Short on time? Embrace the design sprint!
If you have a big or important problem to solve, and you’re not sure where to start, consider starting with a design sprint.
A design sprint is a structured problem-solving approach used by teams to rapidly prototype and test ideas. It was
created by Google Ventures and is based on a process Google uses to develop and test a new idea or product in a short
amount of time, usually five days.11 Ultimately, a design sprint is a way to generate a hypothesis, design a prototype, and
swiftly test it with users while keeping costs low.
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During a design sprint, a team of cross-functional experts with diverse skills and perspectives – product managers,
designers, developers, marketers, and sales managers – works together quickly to ideate, prototype, and test a solution to
a specific user problem.

By the end of the design sprint, your team should have a prototype that has been tested with and validated by users,
allowing you to move forward with confidence in your solution. Design sprints can be used to answer so many questions,
from what your first features could be, to what you should name it, to how it should look on a search results page.
Here’s what a 5-day Design Sprint could look like:
Monday - User maps and the BIG WHY
Start at the end and figure out the big picture goal. Why are you doing this? That should be
clear before you proceed. Pick a target audience, gather information, research and analyze the
problem, and map the user journey from start to finish.
Tuesday - Inspiration and ideas
Conduct rapid competitor research and run brainstorming exercises, followed by sketches of
feature ideas. Everyone generates and explores a range of ideas.
Wednesday - Decide and storyboard
Pick the best idea, or pick a few to test against each other. Storyboard everything: words,
images, buttons, names. Details matter.
Thursday - Prototype!
Build a testable, low-fidelity prototype. It doesn’t have to be fancy or fully functional (there’s no
time for that here!).
Friday - Test, validate, and draw conclusions
Test your prototype with real users, gather feedback, and draw conclusions. Validate your
concept, or learn how to iterate and refine the design of an invalidated concept.
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26
Jenny Arden
Chief Design Officer, 
Zillow Group
Leslie Witt
Chief Product and Design Officer,
Headspace
As the first-ever Chief Design Officer at
, one of the most popular real
estate platforms in the U.S., leads
the company’s product design, research,
and user experience initiatives. Before
, she worked in high-level creative
and design roles at , , ,
, and .

It's been pretty seamless. [Zillow] always
cared very much about design, and they've
cared about users tremendously. What
[I’ve] done is elevated the conversation to
the top. This means a balanced view with
my data peers, my product peers, and my
engineering peers. All of us come with a
different angle and a different perspective
on the same problem. Collectively, we get
together and we really understand, what
are we going to prioritize? What are we
going to do first? Obviously, the engineers
will talk a lot about what can we do now
and in the future, what are the really 
Zillow Group
Jenny
Zillow
Nike Lyft Airbnb
Google IDEO
Chief Design Officer is a new C-level
position at Zillow. How did this new role
change the way things were already
working? Did you come in with a new
philosophy?

Leslie
Headspace
Leslie
Intuit IDEO
Amazon Nike
Walmart
What’s the difference between product
and design? Does one beget the other?

oversees the Product, Content,
Science, Research, Design, and Brand
teams at , one of the world’s
largest digital mental health and wellness
platforms. formerly held positions at
and , partnering with fintechs
and companies like , , and
. Before all of that, she was an
architect and an academic.

I come to [my] role from a design
background. To me, that’s an important
attribute of how I think about the [dual]
role. I come into the product role from a 
customer-centric, research-oriented
philosophy where my top priority is to ask:
“Does this work? How does it work? Is it
delightful?”

The difference between [product and
design] often sits around prioritization. The
positive of having the two roles interlaced,
particularly if the person has a deep
respect for design, is the ability to reconcile
business priorities and short-termism in
tandem with customer priorities and 
ON AIR with

27
difficult technical problems that we need
to solve. We'll talk to our research team and
they’ll say, “This is what we see happening
out in the market, in the real world.”

Design is about possibility. My role is to
make sure we're always thinking bold and
big and thinking about all the different
possible ways in which we can solve [users’
problems] in balance with feasibility and
how can we make that possible. We find
the right middle point in which to prioritize
our work.

A lot of working with engineers and
product peers is about speaking the same
language and working together to solve
collective problems. The way that I have
been able to translate what design can
bring into their world is to learn how to
code and learn business acumen. That's
their language. And by the way, they
usually reciprocate. We use a program
called Figma, a well-established
multiplayer in cloud design software. I see
my engineers in Figma files all the time!
They're hanging out [in there] and seeing
what's going on, and they're super excited.
They're starting to think and noodle about
how [a design] is going to work technically,
how they're going to start building the
architecture and the back end for [it].

Similarly, for product leaders, when I start 
What are some of the common
challenges you face when working with
engineering and product teams?

long-term thinking.

Where it can be dangerous to conflate the
two roles is when the product muscle gets
overly aligned to business and in that way
is amplifying a disconnection from the
customer. There are always inherent
tensions, but it's when those tensions arise
and you have to reconcile them that you
most often see that design sitting within
the product frame can lose its voice.

Yeah, I think you have to have that tension.
[It’s] like three legs of a stool. Is [it] feasible?
That has both a technical and regulatory
dimension. Is it desirable? Do customers
actually want it? And then, is it viable? Are
we able to price it? Are we able to
operationalize it? Are we able to scale it?
And so I think a lot of times product is really
meant to act as the resolver that’s bringing
those forces to bear. Having design
fundamentally connected to product leans
us more in the space of desirability and,
with it, the customer.

It sounds like you're saying that a little
bit of that contradiction is healthy. So
long as the design muscle and the
product muscle are in balance and not
shifting one way or the other…

28
really understanding their business goals –
and even further, when I take partial
responsibility and ownership of their
business goals – I'm signing up to achieve
the same things that they're trying to
achieve. They reciprocate with a
collaborative nature where suddenly I'm in
all the strategy meetings, and they're
asking us actually to visualize the strategy…
But when they see a picture, they're like,
“Oh, that's what this is!” That's when you
know you have a great partnership and
you're starting to use your superpowers,
your various communication styles, to see
the same thing but in different ways.
[That’s when] everyone starts to get on the
same page.

4
Frameworks that Work
Chapter 4

Chapter
4
Frameworks that Work
So you have an idea for a new product that you think could be the next great thing. Awesome! How do you plan
on taking your product from “idea” to “shipped”? Have you thought about making sure that it’s actually
something your customers need, that your whole team is on board, and that it will help your startup grow?

There are no cheat codes, no magic bullet, no paint-by-numbers methods to launching a successful product. But
there are frameworks!

Frameworks provide a structured approach to starting any new project. Because there are so many things for
founders to consider – product development, marketing, sales, and finance – it can create chaos in your mind
and cause you to overlook important steps. Frameworks can help organize your thoughts and ideas, help
startups avoid common mistakes, and keep everyone from getting sidetracked. Simply put: frameworks keep
you and your team focused on progressing toward the right goals.

If you're getting serious about your new startup idea, you’ve probably already checked out some of the most
heralded frameworks out there, like Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup or Steve Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany.
These are certainly helpful, but what's even better is that founders often create new ones to structure their
decision-making as they face new and unexpected challenges (which is pretty much all the time!) and share
their experiences with others, allowing them to learn from their approach. If you ever get a chance to ask a
successful entrepreneur one question, ask them what frameworks they rely on.

Some of the leaders who have come on The Next Great Thing podcast have shared the frameworks they have
created to guide and align their product teams, and are here to help you do the same.
Nail It, then Scale It
Coursera’s “6 Ps Playbook” for Achieving Product/Market Fit
“The way we have designed the [six Ps] system and process is, you don't
serialize it; think of the six Ps in cohesion. You need to have hypotheses
across all six Ps when you start the [product] idea.”
Shravan Goli, Chief Operating Officer, Coursera
In a 2007 blog post titled The only thing that matters, entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen described the
startup concept of product/market fit as follows12:
“Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.”
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There are many different frameworks and models for achieving product/market fit. One that we love is the “6 Ps
Playbook,” created by Shravan Goli, Chief Operating Officer at Coursera, the world’s largest online learning platform.
At the start of any new product idea, Coursera’s product team uses this framework to craft hypotheses across what
Shravan describes as an interconnected hexagon of six Ps (see below) – Persona, Problem, Proposition, Product,
Positioning, Promotion – pressure-test each of them with customers, and, ultimately, determine product/market fit.
6 Ps Playbook for  
Product/Market Fit
Persona
Who is  
your customer?
What problem
or pain
point does your
customer need to be
solved?
If you can solve the
customer’s problem,
what is the unique
value your solution
brings to them?
What is your go-to-
market strategy to get
your solution in front of
the right customer in
the right way at the
right time?
How do you tell your
story to the customer?
How are you
positioning yourself
against competitors or
against customer pain
points?
How are you actually
solving the customer’s
problem?
Problem
Proposition
Product
Positioning
Promotion
“Nail it, then scale it.”
Lean into the product/market fit process, especially when you’re thinking about big ideas that could potentially become
big opportunities for growth. At Coursera, Shravan makes sure to involve a cross-functional team so that everyone has a
sense of involvement and ownership.

“For these big ideas, the product manager, designer, researcher, and maybe a product marketer go into the field and
pitch it to customers,” Shravan explains. “They’re really thinking about all these six Ps! That's where we think of [the
process] as nail it, then scale it.”

Achieving product/market fit is not a linear process. It requires continuous iteration, testing, and adaptation. As you work
through the steps, you may discover that you need to pivot based on new insights and customer feedback. That’s OK!
That’s the process. Trust it. Be agile and adaptable. That’s how to “just start” your startup’s growth.
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Align. Delight. Execute.
Grammarly’s Action-Based Framework for Building The Next Great Thing
“In the day-to-day work of building a product, there are so many
different factors to balance.”
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, CEO, Grammarly
Startup founders love to talk about being user-centric. In reality, as you just learned, walking that talk is never that
simple! It can be easy to lose sight of the user and their problems. But it is possible – as long as your business, product,
and incentives always align with users’ needs.

Grammarly CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury created a framework for that: Align. Delight. Execute. You can use it, too, to
develop a user-centric business and keep your company and customer incentives in lockstep.
Align
Align
What outcomes do you want to achieve? Do you have a clear sense of why you’re
focusing on certain tasks or projects versus others? Most importantly, are your
incentives 100% aligned with your users’ incentives? Writing OKRs is a powerful tool for
answering these questions (we’ll get into these a little later on).
Delight
Delight
Once you find alignment, empower teams across the organization to go build
delightful user experiences. Delight always lives inside a key user insight; use data and
user research/testing (or both) to find it.
Execute
Execute
Embrace an ownership mindset to drive product development forward. Be inclusive.
Listen to all your stakeholders. Take in as much information as you can. Then, make
the final call, move quickly, and get to work. Rahul issues a reminder here:
“Inclusiveness is not the same as consensus, and that's something that sometimes
needs a little bit of reinforcement.”
“Inclusiveness is not the same as consensus, and that's something that
sometimes needs a little bit of reinforcement.”
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OKRs
The Ultimate Goal-Setting Framework for Startups
Objectives and Key Results, commonly referred to as OKRs, represent one of the most prominent and efficacious
frameworks for goal-setting. Often utilized by startups, OKRs serve as a means to establish tangible personal and team
objectives and track their corresponding outcomes.

OKRs are an art. On the surface, creating them seems oh-so-simple. But, despite their apparent simplicity, crafting
meaningful OKRs requires effort. You have to put a lot of thought and consideration put into the process. Moreover,
refining, improving upon, and iterating OKRs over time is crucial for achieving optimal results while at the same time
remaining open to flexibility.

By creating and committing to OKRs, organizations, teams, and individuals can adopt and adhere to an impact-oriented
approach that facilitates alignment and leads to growth. OKRs are typically established on a quarterly or annual basis,
and they include two parts: objectives and key results.
OBJECTIVES are ambitious, qualitative goals that define what you want to achieve. They should be specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, an objective for your startup might be to "increase
website traffic by 30% in the next quarter."
KEY RESULTS are quantitative goals that measure progress toward your objectives. They, too, should be specific,
measurable, and time-bound. A key result for the objective of increasing your startup’s website traffic might be to
"achieve one million unique visitors to our website in the next quarter."
OKR PRO TIP: Strike the right balance between making your OKRs both ambitiously
aspirational and realistically achievable. They shouldn’t be so hard that you’d never
achieve them, but they shouldn’t be so easy that you’d blaze past them in no time!
Nearly
use OKRs as part of a change or
transformation initiative

60% of companies
83% of companies agree
that OKRs have a positive
impact on their organization
There’s a strong likelihood that you’ve already come across or used OKRs
at some point in your career. According to one survey13, OKRs are used by
almost 60% of companies as part of a change or transformation initiative.
The reason is simple: OKRs work! In that same survey, 83% of companies
agree that OKRs have a positive impact on their organization (what’s up
with the other 17%?!).

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In an interview with Harvard Business Review, John Doerr, author of the book Measure What Matters, and venture
capitalist who’s funded companies like Google, Intuit, and Amazon, outlines the five key benefits of OKRs.14

These are the “FACTS”:
Focus
Focus
What matters most. By forcing you to prioritize your goals, OKRs help you find and
focus on what’s most important. This can help to prevent teams and individuals from
spreading themselves too thin and ensure that they are making progress over time.
Aim to set no more than three Objectives. Keep them short (as in, they should fit on
one line!). Create 3-5 Key Results per Objective.
Alignment
Alignment
Everyone together. OKRs rally teams and individuals around a common set of goals
across the entire organization. This creates a sense of shared purpose and motivation,
and it also helps to avoid duplication of effort.
Commitment
Commitment
Open and honest. OKRs are public and measurable, which creates a sense of
ownership and shared accountability. Consider putting your OKRs on a shared Google
document or spreadsheet. OKR transparency ensures that everyone is working
towards the same goals and that progress is being logged and tracked over time.
Tracking
Tracking
From output to outcome. Because OKRs are tracked and measured on a regular basis
(weekly is best), you can identify progress and areas for improvement or tweaking.
Course-correct when necessary to get back on track. This iterative process ensures
that teams are making the most of their time and resources.
Stretching
Stretching
No challenge, no change. OKRs are ambitious and challenging on purpose, and that
stretches teams and individuals beyond their comfort zones. The result is more
confidence and resilience – the sweet spot where innovation and creativity happen.
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35
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury

CEO, Grammarly
What advice do you give your team when they're crafting OKRs?

don't
give up! so keep iterating on them
be very clear on
the why Pick a small set
the essence of strategy is choice
be aspirational
think big, be ambitious
get the balance right
get to 70% of your OKR
It is hard to get right, and sometimes you just need to iterate a few times to build that muscle.
If you're trying OKRs for the first time and it doesn't quite land, my first piece of advice is:
They’re actually a very useful alignment mechanism, .

There are a couple of things that will increase the probability of success. First,
. You have lots of possible objectives you could go after. . You shouldn't
have more than, let's say, five objectives because then, essentially, you're not making choices,
and . What are your objectives, and why are those the
objectives and not something else? You’ve got to be super clear on that. It's a hard thing to
get exactly right because sometimes it may lead to opening Pandora's box of, “Yeah, maybe
this isn't the right objective. Now that I'm digging into it, I should probably change it and do
something else instead.”

The second part of creating successful OKRs is you want them to . You want to
. You don't want OKRs to be super incremental. The whole point of
OKRs is you want to do big things and have a big impact. If they’re so aspirational that they’re
just not realistic, at the end of the year when you measure how you did against the OKRs, it is
going to be very sad. It’s a sad outcome for everyone on the team to feel like they worked hard
and didn't achieve the outcome. So, it's important to between being
aspirational and keeping it within realistic limits so that you can feel good about maybe not
achieving all of your OKRs but achieving a big chunk of them. A good rule of thumb is if you
, that's a very good sign that you did very well.
ON AIR with

5
A Responsible Approach
to Generative AI
Chapter 5

Chapter
5
A Responsible Approach to Generative AI
“My bias towards all technology is that it in some ways it’s neutral, but that neutrality doesn't bring
lack of power…We have to be intentional, careful, and safeguarded around how [generative AI] is
deployed, how it's overseen, what level of responsibility there is at the level of the organization and…
at a consortium and industry-wide level, if not within a regulatory landscape. [We have] to
acknowledge the power that these tools have and make sure that, even with best intentions, we're
driving positive outcomes.”
Leslie Witt, Chief Product and Design Officer, Headspace
We’re at an inflection point in technology. One of those tectonic shifts that, much like the introduction of the
iPhone, we’ll look back upon and say, “Nothing was the same after that.”

ChatGPT has captured our imagination in ways that blockchain promised to, but hasn’t quite delivered. Actually
changing how we work, create, and learn in ways that the metaverse was marketed to do, but users have all but
rejected. Your colleagues, friends, and even your parents are already using it in their day-to-day lives. And it’s
helpful. Generative AI is a creativity enhancer. A productivity 10x-er. If you couldn’t write well, now you can. If you
could write well, now you can do it faster, maybe even better. Its usefulness is why ChatGPT is the fastest-
growing app of all time, reaching 100 million users just two months after its debut.15

This is a unique moment for makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to use generative AI to just start new
companies. To grow their businesses faster than ever before. To disrupt existing business models (even ones that
were just disrupted a few years back). And it’s coming at an opportune time. Technology has been carrying the
economy upwards for the past 15 years, and just when it started to feel like we had reached a plateau, the clouds
parted and generative AI appeared.

It’s no surprise, then, that generative AI is on the minds of executives everywhere, eager to get ahead of the
curve. In fact, 98% of global executives surveyed by Accenture agree that AI foundation models will play an
important role in their organizations' strategies in the next three to five years.16
98% of global
executives agree:  
AI will play an important
role in their company
strategy in the next three
to five years
The market is ripe for innovation, and the startups that are first to
leverage generative AI technology effectively will have a major
advantage. But as the pioneers in generative AI, it’s the makers
who will chart the course toward a responsible, ethical, and safe AI
future. AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on. It’s only as
ethical as the humans who program it. What’s more, moving too 
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fast and breaking too many things without considering the consequences – unprotected security vulnerabilities,
nefarious synthetic content, or severely biased datasets, just to name a few – can cause irreparable harm to society. And
once the irresponsible AI genie is out of the bottle, there’s no prompt in the world that can put it back in.

So, before issuing equity shares to your generative AI co-founder, start with the ethical questions. How do we minimize
the potential harm to our users and our business? How do we maximize the usefulness of a powerful technology in a way
that is responsible and provides safeguards to our innovation teams? What can we learn from others who are
experimenting and working with a technology that we’re all just beginning to understand?

Here are some of the early lessons we’ve learned from the tech leaders prompting and protecting our generative AI
future.
“Remember, AI is a machine. We made it. If we make AI ethical, AI will be
ethical. If we humans are unethical, AI will be unethical. With great power
comes great responsibility. It’s kind of a cliché thing to say, but in this case,
it’s really true.”

Michelle Zhou, Co-Founder and CEO, Juji
Meet the leaders at the generative AI vanguard:
Leslie Witt 
Chief Product and Design
Officer, Headspace, one of the
world’s largest digital mental
health and wellness platforms
Jeff McGregor 
CEO, Truepic, 
a company that provides digital
content authenticity solutions
helping to restore authenticity,
transparency, and trust across
the internet
Michelle Zhou 
Co-Founder and CEO, Juji, 
a company that builds no-code
AI cognitive chatbot assistants
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury 
CEO, Grammarly, 
one of the world’s most popular
and advanced AI
communication assistants
Resist the pressure to implement AI for AI’s sake. 
It’s (still!) all about your users – and your company’s core values.
Companies big and small are feeling the pressure to implement generative AI somewhere in their solution, often driven
by a fear of being left behind rather than a clear vision of where they want to go. Then there are you, the next-generation 
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Rahul’s take: 
“[G]enerative AI is new, and it takes a bit of
effort to responsibly launch something from a
demo state to a feature that users get value
from that solves a real user need…If
generative AI can help us improve our user
solutions, we're going to absolutely use it and
bring that to our users in a responsible way…
As we evaluate all these new technologies,
the pace of change is dizzying. It's inspiring.
But also I want to make sure that we adhere
to our core values. We want to make sure that
our solution augments our users, gives our
users superpowers. Our goal is not to replace;
our goal is to augment. And so we want to
bring this technology to help our users.”
founders, knowing that AI ideas won’t stay un-created for too much
longer. There’s an urgency to act now, to swiftly execute one of your
ideas despite not being absolutely certain that it’s the right
approach.

To be fair, it’s hard to know where to just start and plant your
generative AI flag. We’re all trying to figure out how to get up to
speed and where we can be three to six months from now, or
however long it will take to create version one of your AI-powered
idea.

The AI field is constantly evolving, so it's okay to start small and
iterate as you learn and gain more experience. Trust the process. But,
before diving in, take the time to research and understand the
potential impacts of AI on your industry and customers. Don’t cut
user empathy corners (remember Chapter 2?). Define the user
problem you are trying to solve, and consider if AI is the best
solution. If it’s not, move on. Finally, whatever you do, take the time
to understand and prioritize user needs and align your AI
implementation with your company’s core values.
“If generative AI can help us improve our user solutions, we're going to
absolutely use it and bring that to our users in a responsible way.”

Develop a responsible AI framework for your organization
Right now, AI is having a bit of an identity crisis. It has the potential to be a powerful tool for good, but it also has the
potential to be grossly misused. Its rise is so dizzying that policymakers and regulators can’t keep pace (though some are
trying).

Be aware of the potential risks and ethical implications of AI and establish guardrails inside your company to mitigate
those risks. The first step is to create a responsible AI framework – a set of principles and guidelines that align teams and
guide the development and use of AI in a way that ensures accountability, transparency, fairness, user privacy, and
security.

To develop a responsible AI framework, follow these actionable steps:
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1 Co-create an AI code of ethics with your team. Outline the ethical principles that will guide how
you create, experiment with, implement, and deploy AI at your company.
2
Appoint a cross-functional AI ethics committee from diverse backgrounds. Monitor and
oversee how you’re using AI to check for bias, incorporate different perspectives, and ensure that
your AI code of ethics is being followed.
3
Conduct regular AI impact assessments. Whether quarterly or even monthly (given how quickly
AI is evolving!), frequent check-ins help you see around corners, spot the potential risks and
benefits of AI for your users, and develop smart mitigation strategies.
Leslie’s take: 
“We have a framework around responsible AI that helps
to guardrail the decisions that we make, and it covers
seven core principles around how we behave… One of my
favorite principles is around beneficence, which basically
means, are we evaluating what this machine is doing to
ensure that its outcomes produce a benefit to the user?
And a benefit to the user is not engagement; I think we
all know that. Engagement can be a mechanism to, say,
form a healthy habit, but you need to ensure that it
actually did that. Part of the framework we put in place
sits there as a kind of auditory balance in order for us to
be able to say, ‘I had you do this. Did it actually help you?’
And if it didn't, then that's getting rejected by the system
and algorithm itself.”
Put guardrails around AI
experimentation, and embrace
hackathons to unleash creativity around
specific use cases
To truly unleash the potential of generative AI, you will
need to constantly experiment and learn with it, which
requires giving your teams a collaborative environment
and the freedom to think big, get creative, and take some
risks to see what it can do. The problem is that the risk
associated with emerging technology like this can cause
hesitation or even fear among development teams. Or,
worse, fearless teams might cause irreparable damage to
the business or to users because of an experiment gone
wrong.

The key is to balance creativity with caution. Provide your
team with a focused, high-pressure environment that
encourages experimentation, collaboration, and creativity
and fosters a sense of community and shared purpose.
Nothing works better for this than a hackathon…with
guardrails.
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Hackathons offer startups an incredible chance to experiment with cutting-edge technologies, pool their creative forces,
and create new product ideas quickly. They’re a thrilling, caffeine-fueled, 24-hour race against the clock that can lead to
some major product breakthroughs. Because you’re working with generative AI, you need to create a layer of safety and
help mitigate the risk of unintended consequences. Invite company leaders and experts to help you establish the
guidelines, provide oversight, and help control mechanisms for new ideas, with a focus on user safety, privacy, data
science, and a principles-based framework.

The key is to focus experimentation on solving specific user problems for specific use cases. For instance, you can
experiment with creating AI-powered systems that analyze complex medical datasets to uncover new treatments, build
smart city infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions, or develop natural language processing models to help people with
disabilities communicate better.

Whatever it is, remember that, like the technology itself, the risks associated with generative AI are constantly evolving,
too. When you give your teams the freedom to experiment safely, you can truly unleash the team’s and the technology’s
potential. Let the hackathon-ing begin!
Leslie’s take: 
“In tandem with hackathons – which are a core part of fostering an innovation culture and delivering on the promise of
customer centricity – we've queued up these safety salons that bring in clinical expertise, data science, self-policing, and a
principles-based framework. [We bring in experts] to focus on and outline guardrails, oversight, and systems of control in
tandem with new ideas…”

“It's very easy to either get super utopian or to demonize [generative AI]. But as you actually get into concrete use cases, it’s
simpler to say, ‘Okay, that's actually something where we can go experiment with impunity,’ or, ‘Here's something where we
should proceed with caution.’ We need to be very intentional about how we govern and oversee early experimentation [with
generative AI]. There are concrete examples where you're like, ‘Hey, it's not ready yet. We're not comfortable even
experimenting in that space of risk.’ As you actually look at specific use cases executed with intention, it gets less scary.”
Build trust by being transparent about what’s real (and what’s not)
By 2026, experts estimate that up to 90% of all the content we see on the internet will be synthetically generated.17
Among this AI-generated synthetic media are deepfakes and cheapfakes – even AI voice cloning. Generative AI tools are
getting so accurate at impersonating real visual and audio content that it’s becoming nearly impossible to distinguish
fact from fiction.

But, like it or not, the deepfake horse is out of the barn. And it's faster than Secretariat. We can’t expect to identify fake
content faster than artificial intelligence can generate it. But we can verify what’s real.
42

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That’s why, when it comes to any kind of media you produce, you need to give your users a way to certify that it’s
authentic (or, if it’s synthetically generated, be transparent about that, too). For example, provide them with tools and
resources, like links to fact-checking websites or access to the source data that was used to create the content. Be
transparent about the history of your AI-generated content and work with other organizations or consortiums, such as
the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or the C2PA, to share information and resources.

By proactively establishing a formal process that ensures authenticity, you can play a role in staying one step ahead of
the manipulative media landscape and help to preserve trust in our institutions, our relationships, and in society.
By 2026, 
will be synthetically generated
up to 90% of all the
content we see online 
Jeff’s take:  
“One of the fundamentally scary things about what's happening on the internet
today is that, as more disinformation and misinformation spreads and as
technologies that allow for the creation of synthetic content continue to
proliferate, we start to end up in a world where we can't trust anything. We can't
even trust the real content because…we’ve been victims of fraud or we've seen
disinformation in real time on our social media platforms. And that creates a
dynamic where we start to call everything into question. So, if anything can be
faked, nothing is real anymore. And it starts to sow a societal level of distrust in the
information that we're consuming.”
43

44
Michelle Zhou 
Co-Founder and CEO, Juji
A computer scientist by training and an expert in human-centered AI, is the
co-founder and CEO of , a company that’s aiming to be “The Apple of AI” by building no-
code AI cognitive chatbot assistants. Before , spent 15 years working at
and is the inventor of .

Algorithms themselves are not biased; they’re just counting numbers. What could cause bias
is training data. These algorithms use data, right? You want to collect as much data as
possible and as diverse types of data as possible. If you only, for example, collect one type of
data from one type of people, it’s very hard not to be biased. But if you collect data from
diverse populations in diverse contexts, then you cover as many situations as possible to at
least alleviate bias.

That’s one of my favorite topics! Remember, AI is a machine. We made it. If we make AI ethical,
AI will be ethical. If we humans are unethical, AI will be unethical. With great power comes
great responsibility. It’s kind of a cliché thing to say, but in this case, it’s really true. If
irresponsible people use AI to gain an advantage over people because they know their
strengths and their weaknesses, that would be really unethical.

I’m working with different organizations to figure out how can we come up with policies,
potentially even regulations. Because AI will be very powerful. It could become a very powerful
help tool. It could also become a very powerful hurting tool, as well. So, we need policies and
regulations in place to mitigate all these types of risks.
Michelle Zhou
Juji
Juji Michelle IBM
Research IBM Watson Personality Insights
AI is only as good as the humans who build it. And we humans are inherently flawed
creatures

– we come with our own experiences and biases. How do we minimize the
potential harm of algorithmic bias?

Then, do we teach AI to be ethical? How should we think about these issues? How do you
think about them?

ON AIR with

6
Founder Lessons
Chapter 6

Chapter
6
Founder Lessons
“I think the most helpful thing you can do as a startup founder is learn all of the tropes - and then
figure out which ones are actually true and which aren't.”
Zak Lefevre, Co-Founder and CEO, ChargeLab
Starting a new business is exhilarating and rewarding, but – let’s be real – it’s also fraught with challenges and
uncertainty. As a startup founder, you are likely familiar with the infamous, anxiety-inducing stat: 90% of startups
fail.18 You’re bombarded with clichéd tips and stereotypes that pervade the VC-backed tech world. “Fail fast, fail
often.” “The idea is everything.” Some are true. Some are false. Some fall somewhere in between.

To keep you grounded, we’ve gathered valuable advice and startup principles from founders who have appeared
on The Next Great Thing podcast. Some are just a few years into their startup journey and fresh off of their Series
A round of fundraising. Others are tech veterans who have been there, experienced it all, and taken their
company public. Let their advice give you clarity, confidence, and a competitive advantage.
Meet the founders:
Zak Lefevre
Co-Founder and  
CEO of ChargeLab, 
a startup that builds
hardware-agnostic
software for electric
vehicle chargers
Founded in 2015
Raised $30M in Series
A funding (at the
time of this writing)
Aaron Easterly
Co-Founder and  
CEO of Rover, 
the world’s largest
online marketplace that
connects pet owners
with pet sitters and dog
walkers
Founded in 2011
Raised $360.9M in
funding over 12
rounds; went public
in August 2021 on the
Nasdaq
Jasmine
Crowe-Houston
Founder and  
CEO of Goodr, 
a startup that’s using
technology to fight two
battles: food waste and
hunger
Founded in 2017
Raised $8M in Series
A funding (at the
Kyle Rand
Co-Founder and  
CEO of Rendever, 
a company that provides
virtual reality for older
adults to help them
overcome social
isolation
Founded in 2016
Pre-Series A (at the
James Reinhart
Co-Founder and  
CEO of thredUP, 
an online marketplace
for buying and selling
secondhand clothes and
accessories
Founded in 2009
Raised $304.1M in
funding over 8
rounds; went public
in March 2021 on the
Nasdaq
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When pitching to VC firms, 
it’s not always about the partner
Fundraising is the ultimate make-or-break for a startup. With the fierce
competition and inherent ambiguity of the process, it's hard to know
where to even begin – every investor has their own unique criteria, and the
stakes are high.

A lot of founders make the mistake of thinking they should only be
pitching to VC partners. This isn’t always true. In fact, sometimes it’s short-
sighted and can be potentially harmful to your funding chances. Don't
discount or dismiss pitching associates. While they may not have the final
say, associates are responsible for vetting and screening potential
investments and have a lot of influence over which companies get funded.
Zak’s take:

“A partner at a top-tier VC firm is going
to meet with hundreds of companies
per year, but they're only going to pick
one associate every two or three years.
So, they have invested a lot more in
that associate that you really want to
brush off than they've invested in you!
It can be pretty harmful to be like, ‘I
don't speak to associates. I only want
to speak to the partner.’”
Stick to the business case
As a founder, you have a unique opportunity to make a real difference in the world. And building businesses around
solving big challenges is a fulfilling goal that will attract like-minded customers and employees who are passionate
about your mission. But when it comes to investors the mission is simple: make money. Don't ever forget that. They want
a return on their investment.

When pitching your business to investors, lead with a strong business case that is financially viable and, ultimately, a
money-maker. You can still highlight the social impact of your business, but do it in a way that is relevant to investors.
The key is to clearly articulate how your technology or solution will save or make money, and provide concrete data to
back it up. By focusing on the business case, you can increase your chances of securing funding and growing.
Jasmine’s take:

“Always stick to the business case with investors. No matter if you have a great solution that can solve a really big problem,
they just want to know how they're going to make money…The sad reality is, a lot of investors don't care that you're creating
something that can solve hunger or whatever it is. You could be solving cancer. [Investors] want to know how they're going to
make money. I had to learn that early on in the fundraising process. I was like, ‘This is my idea. This is what I'm going to do. This
is how big it's going to be.’ And it just often didn't resonate with them because they couldn't see the money case. When I
changed and went in and said, ‘This is how much money businesses are throwing away, this is how much they could be
saving, this is what our technology does,’ then I started to get their ears.”
Think long-term, and let your data do the talking to investors
Investors love hockey stick growth. But – real talk – achieving this is the exception, not the rule. Most startups grow slow
and steady, with occasional spikes and dips over years, not months. Solving a user problem takes time. This reality might

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initially frustrate some investors (and you!), but many investors will believe and see the value in a long-term vision that’s
backed by strong data and metrics concerning product/market fit. Your data are the facts. Period. And facts lead to
funding.
Aaron’s take: 
“A lot of tech investors, particularly early-stage VCs, love that hockey stick where all of a sudden there is exponential growth…
[Rover is] very data-oriented. We are very transparent, we're honest, high-integrity. And so [in the early days] we weren't
culturally an over-promise and under-deliver mindset; we were an under-promise and over-deliver mindset. Probably a little
bit less sales-y and slick in the earlier days. Ultimately, we allowed the data to speak for itself… As an entrepreneur, I love being
in a situation where the data can actually talk instead of having to rely on salesmanship.”
Cash flow is king. Your business is to stay in business
Early-stage startup founders often make the mistake of spending too much money
too quickly. They assume that user growth is the ultimate indicator of success and
that revenue will follow. Or, they're so focused on user acquisition or product
enhancements that they can forget to stay on top of their finances. This neglect can
become a recipe for disaster as a company grows.

If there’s not enough cash in the bank, you're going to have a hard time staying
afloat. According to a 2022 survey of 492 startup founders by Skynova, 47% of
startups failed because they couldn’t secure any financing or get any investor
interest, and 44% failed simply because they ran out of cash they had managed to
secure, either through self-funding or other fundraising means like crowdfunding,
loans, grants, or private equity.4 So, be very mindful of your cash flow. Keep money
in the bank at all times, even if it means cutting back on spending in the short term.
A healthy cash reserve will help you cover unexpected expenses, grow the business,
and, ultimately, attract investors.
Zak’s take:

“In the early days, we almost
ran out of money multiple
times. My aspiration now is to
never be in that position
again!… In startups, we spend
so much time on our pitch and
our idea and our traction, but
that's almost all secondary.
Primary is, you are a business.
And the most important thing
for a business is to stay above
water. That was a huge lesson
for me: make sure there's
money in the bank at all costs.”
In 2022:

because they couldn’t
secure any financing or investor interest

simply because

they they had
47% of startups failed
44% of startups failed
ran out of cash

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It’s never too early  
to think about distribution
There’s a famous saying in Startupland: “First-time founders
are obsessed with product. Second-time founders are
obsessed with distribution." Truth is, you need both – and the
earlier you can think about distribution the better. No matter
how great your product is, if you can't get it in front of the right
people, it's not going to be successful. The earlier you start
thinking about distribution, the more time you have to
experiment, iterate, and find what works. It can also save you
money and prevent you from making costly mistakes down
the road.
Zak’s take:

“I always say, if I could choose between having the
most delicious, best-formulated granola bar in the
world or a granola bar that's on the shelves of every
Walmart in America, I'd choose the granola bar
that's on the shelves of every Walmart. You’re just
going to sell way more of it… As startups, we always
want to try to have great products. Great
distribution can compensate for a mediocre
product, but I don't think it goes the other way
around. Just because you have the best product, you
need to solve the distribution part, too.”
Jasmine’s take:

“A lot of times when I've kept
people on for too long, I've allowed
them to make too many mistakes,
and it ultimately ended up costing
me in business. When [a person]
isn't a good fit or the culture fit
isn't there, you’ve got to go ahead
and cut ties. It sucks to say. As an
entrepreneur, I used to hate
having to let people go. But then
when I would let them go, whoever
replaced them would make me
see so clearly that they were a
good fit, and I would ask myself,
‘Why didn’t I do this earlier?’”
Hire and fire fast
Startups are fast-paced and resource-constrained; you don’t have the time or
the money to waste on employees who aren’t a good fit. People who aren’t
on board with your company’s vision or who can’t adapt become a liability.
Alternately, employees that believe in the mission and who can keep pace
quickly are an asset.

Be decisive when firing and hiring. If someone isn’t working out, it’s better to
let them go – humanely and with kindness – sooner rather than later.
Ultimately, it’s about being proactive and taking control of your business's
future.

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Impact fuels your team
Your best work doesn’t just come from a paycheck; it comes from a sense
that your work has a purpose. When you're passionate about your work,
you're more likely to be engaged, creative, and productive. You're also
more likely to stick with it through tough times.

Ensure that everyone on your team, regardless of their role, has the
opportunity to see the difference you’re making in users’ lives in action. By
sharing impact across your company, you create a positive feedback loop
that encourages your team to keep pressing, keep innovating and finding
new ways to deliver the best experience possible.
Here are a few ideas on how you can integrate impact across your company:
1. Formally celebrate customer success stories. Set up monthly
meetings (Impact Fridays? Customer Mondays?) as a forum for your
team to share and evangelize user success stories. Allow employees
from different departments to share anecdotes of how they’ve seen
their work positively impact users.
2. Use technology to showcase and share impact. Collaboration
platforms like Slack or Asana are wonderful digital forums to show off
impact, especially when your team is scattered across geographies.
You can also create a digital dashboard that displays user satisfaction
metrics, testimonials, and success stories in real-time.
3. Incorporate impact into performance metrics and evaluations.
Help your team to understand how their work is contributing to the
company’s impact, and incentivize them to prioritize user success.
Building impact directly into individual and team OKRs (remember
those?) is a great way to do this!
Kyle’s take:

“We've found a lot of success in
building a company and an
organizational structure that makes
sure that, no matter where you sit
within our department structure, you
have access to impact. So, we really
prioritize our community
relationships. We prioritize our
customers, hear how impact
happens, and then share that
internally so that every single day
you're going to know that the output
of your work is actually leading to
[customer success] stories. It's just
constant fuel.”
Yes, non-tech founders really can (and do!) run successful tech companies
Whoever said you needed to know how to code to start a tech company? There are plenty of examples of non-tech tech
founders who have started and grown successful ventures. Brian Chesky of Airbnb. Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn. Evan
Thomas Spiegel of Snap. There are so many others. Maybe even you!

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Not having a technical background can be a strength, not a weakness. Non-technical founders bring a fresh perspective
to the leadership table. When you’re not bogged down in the nitty-gritty technical details of product development or
usability (you can hire someone for those things), it frees you up to focus on the big picture and come up with new ideas
that might not have been considered by someone with a technical background. You can also be more objective about
the decisions that need to be made and more adaptable to change. The key, like everything in business, is to be
authentic, lead with purpose, and build a strong team of people with complementary skills and expertise.
Jasmine’s take:

“I think the advantages [of being a non-tech tech founder] are that I'm always learning and that I meet people where they
are… I come in with a lot of humility. I didn't know everything when I started this company, and I think that allows us to have a
level footing where everyone feels like we all care about solving this problem. We don't all have to have a computer science
degree or know how to code. Of course, we have people on our team who are experts in these areas, but they're here because
we're trying to solve hunger and food waste. It creates a great level-setting, and people feel really good about working at
Goodr. Some of our employees have even said that this is the best culture they've ever experienced or the best place they've
ever worked. I don't know if that's because I'm a non-technical founder, but I think it shows people that I'm vulnerable, and I
talk about that…and I think it just makes for a better experience.”
James’s take:

“Anything that you're working on, be passionate
about it for the next 10 years. Because that is the
minimum that it takes to build anything of real
value and real impact. In some ways, maybe it's 20
years that it takes to really make a difference in the
world. And there are exceptions to that, but,
generally speaking, you have to find problems that
you're really passionate about.”
Passion is essential for long-term success
One of the biggest mistakes first-time founders make is
underestimating the amount of time it takes to build a
successful company. Don’t expect to go viral and have a
hockey stick growth moment overnight. Do you have an idea
for a product? Or do you have an idea about how to solve a
problem you’re passionate about? There’s a difference
between having a cool idea and being really passionate about
solving a hard problem.

Founders who focus on their passion are more likely the ones
who put in the effort, dedication, and time (like, 10 years or
more!) it takes to build a successful company. It's not easy.
There will be long hours, hard work, setbacks, challenges, and
times when you just want to give up. But if you're not
passionate about your company, it will be difficult to stay
motivated.

When you just start with a passion for solving a hard problem
and you’re willing to put in the work, it’s possible that your
company can become the next great thing.

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“As an entrepreneur, I love being in a situation where the data can actually talk
instead of having to rely on salesmanship.”
Aaron Easterly, Co-Founder and CEO, Rover
“Great distribution can compensate for a mediocre product, but I don't think it
goes the other way around. Just because you have the best product, you really
need to solve the distribution part, too.”
“Find some really good people on your team, keep them happy, get them in
early – and don't hire just your friends and your family.”
Jasmine Crowe-Houston, Founder and CEO, Goodr
Speaking of Co-Founders…
10 tips for a healthy co-founder relationship
“If you're spending 100% of your time just nodding at each other, then there's probably something wrong.”
65% of startups
fail because of
conflict between
co-founders
Like any relationship, co-founder relationships are filled with inevitable ups and
downs. Collaboration can lead to conflict. It’s not always going to be smooth sailing (if
it is, that’s a red flag that something is wrong!).

You might have heard the quote, “When two men in a business always agree, one of
them is unnecessary.” It’s uncertain who said it first; the quote has been attributed to
everyone from Henry Ford to Ezra Pound to William Wrigley, Jr. But, whoever said it
first was right – especially if those two people (yes, people, not always men) are
startup co-founders.

Too much agreement means one of you is redundant. That’s a waste and a liability for
the business. On the other hand, too much disagreement can lead to a toxic
relationship and culture where nothing – or the wrong things – gets done. Constant
bickering and disagreeing with each other gets you nowhere fast. That hurts the
business, too. According to Noam Wasserman, author of The Founder's Dilemmas,
65% of startups fail because of unresolvable co-founder conflict.19

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What you want in your co-founder relationship is a bit of Goldilocks tension – a healthy amount that’s juuuuust right –
because that’s where breakthroughs and great ideas start. Success has its best chance of emerging through different
perspectives, collective efforts towards the same goal, and complementary skill sets. Out of 1,000 unicorn companies,
75% of them had two or more founders (they must have done something right in their relationships!), while nearly 25%
had a single founder.20
Single Founder
Multiple Founders
24.5%
75.5%
Choosing the right co-founder – or co-
founders – will likely be the most important
decision you make. Ensuring that your
relationship is productive and cooperative is
the next most important thing. Your co-
founders need to be just as passionate as you
are about your startup, and they need to have
the right skills and experience to grow the
business. It goes without saying, but you also
need to be able to work well together and
have a shared vision of what you’re trying to
achieve.
Number of Founders in 1000 Unicorns
Here are 10 tips on how to build, strengthen, and maintain  
your next great co-founder relationship.
Clearly define each co-founder's roles and responsibilities from the outset.  
Ambiguous co-founder roles can lead to confusion, duplicated efforts, wasted time, and critical tasks being
neglected. Sit down together and get super clear on who’s responsible for what. Write it down and put it
somewhere you can all access. Doing so creates efficiency, avoids unnecessary conflicts or delays, and makes
the most of your time and skills.
Maximize equity fairness, not your equity shares.  
One of the number one things that families and couples fight over is money. And your co-founder is like
family. So, don’t fight over equity! Instead, establish a fair and transparent framework early for determining
equity shares. Take into account factors such as initial investments, each of your unique skills, time
commitments, and future contributions. Deciding what’s fair with equity helps to prevent future
misunderstandings and uncomfortable conflicts related to ownership.
Embrace transparent, open, and constant communication. 
Schedule regular check-ins and meetings to talk freely about progress (OKRs!), challenges, and opportunities.
Be honest, and don’t hide what’s on your mind. Build trust by being vulnerable and authentic with your co-
founder. Share your fears, concerns, and aspirations.

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Protect psychological safety like it’s your most valuable asset.  
You should feel comfortable enough telling your co-founder anything – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Losing the ability to be open about ideas, concerns, and questions undermines trust and collaboration,
ultimately holding your startup back. Safeguarding psychological safety creates space for constructive
feedback, innovative thinking, and collective problem-solving.
Embrace constructive conflict as an opportunity for growth. 
Conflict is a normal part of any partnership; it just comes with the territory. But it’s the way you handle conflict
that matters. When (not if!) you butt heads with your co-founder, flip the script and use that tension as an
opportunity for growth and innovation. Adopt an open-minded approach when faced with co-founder
conflict, actively listen to what the other person has to say, and prioritize the search for win-win solutions that
contribute to the overall success of the business.
Prioritize active listening by taking a cue from improv. 
In life and in business, so many of us are fantastic talkers and (let’s be honest) so-so listeners. To sharpen your
active listening skills, draw inspiration from improv techniques. In improv, understanding and actively
supporting your partner's communication is vital; otherwise, the scene fails. Embrace a "yes, and" mindset by
building upon your co-founder’s ideas. Focus on non-verbal cues, don’t interrupt, offer your undivided
attention, and reflect on what's been said. Ask open-ended questions to encourage dialogue, seek clarification
when needed, and show empathy with your co-founder’s perspective. With conscious effort and practice,
active listening becomes a powerful tool for co-founder connection and effective communication.
Acknowledge team and individual achievements – and celebrate wins as a team.  
Hitting 100K monthly active users. Finishing the pitch deck. Releasing a new product feature. The life of a co-
founder is full of so many milestones, big and small. Take the time to celebrate them together. It creates a
culture that values progress and keeps everyone motivated and in it to win it.
Regularly reassess and realign your goals. 
Do you have to pivot? Find a new customer base? Scrap your old marketing strategy? Change is inevitable,
and adaptability is survival. As your startup evolves, so, too, must your co-founder relationship. Formalize a
process (like monthly check-ins or quarterly executive leadership team meetings) to regularly revisit and
refine your shared vision. Use these meetings to analyze relevant data, key performance indicators (KPIs), and
individual and team OKRs to gain insights into the current state of your startup. Assess the relevance,
feasibility, and alignment with your startup's vision and how each co-founder’s role is contributing to it.
Be deliberate about hanging out with each other outside of work. 
Yes, it’s busy being a co-founder. But literally put it on your calendars to do fun stuff together that – and this
is important! – has nothing to do with work. Grab a drink. Catch a basketball game. See a band you dig.
Whatever you do, use these hangouts as a much-needed time to decompress, connect, and strengthen your
friendship.
Turn to (an impartial and trusted) pro when you just can’t agree. 
Recognize and be willing to admit when co-founder conflict is at a stalemate. Don’t be afraid to seek outside
guidance, like an independent consultant, counselor, or arbiter. An impartial third party that everyone trusts
can take in all the concerns, assess them objectively, and help you find conflict resolution. Your relationship
just might get stronger because of it.

55
Zak Lefevre 
Co-Founder and CEO, ChargeLab
What’s your advice for picking the right co-founder and building a healthy relationship?

It's great to be challenged on your own ideas and have co-founders who complement your
skill sets. The only cautionary word is, you can't just pick anybody off the street or anyone from
your network. They have to be people who are independently very entrepreneurial. Ideally, if
you're the CEO, you want to be working with co-founders who just as easily could be the CEO,
and you could switch roles with them.

The best co-founder relationships are the ones where you're like, “You’re scrappy and
entrepreneurial enough – I would trust you to do my job, and vice versa.”... If you're disagreeing
at every turn, that's not good! You should spend 75% of your time with your co-founder
marching forward and executing on a plan and 25% of your time challenging each other,
building a strategy, and saying, “Hey, what if we did this a little bit differently?” If you're
spending 100% of your time just nodding at each other, then there's probably something
wrong.”
ON AIR with

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Just starting is just the beginning
You made it to the end of . Congratulations! Welcome to the beginning.

Wait…what?!

As a founder, just starting is something that you have to do every single day, from weekly tasks like product updates and
budget management to the big, strategic decisions on funding and pivots. Like forming any habit, it takes practice. But
when you learn how to just start, then put it into action, everything in front of you becomes less scary.

I hope you found the information in these pages helpful and inspiring. As you embark on your journey as a startup
founder, there are a few things I want to leave you with.

A great idea alone is not sufficient. To succeed, you need to be able to execute on
that idea effectively. This means having a clear plan, setting realistic goals, and being disciplined and deliberate in your
implementation. Mistakes are going to happen – that’s part of the process! – but attention to detail is vital.

Your product or service should be designed with the user in mind. Understand their needs,
pain points, and desires. Get their feedback and input. Learn from them. Test with them. Design for them. They are the
heartbeat of your decision-making process.

We’re all just beginning to learn what it’s capable of. The next great thing will
likely come from this exciting technological inflection point, and the founder steering the ship could be you, the person
reading this ebook. But, it's important to proceed with caution and use this technology responsibly. Put thoughtful
guardrails in place to ensure that generative AI is used in a way that is both ethical and beneficial to users.

Starting and growing a venture demands lifelong learning and a culture of
knowledge sharing. Embrace various frameworks to keep you focused, experiment with new ways of working, and
absorb all the knowledge you possibly can. When you meet other founders, be a sponge. Seek their guidance and
perspective on how they’ve navigated challenges and grown their business. And, pay close attention to your employees.
There’s so much you can learn from them, and so much wisdom you can impart to them, too.

Starting a startup is not easy. It takes hard work, dedication, and, above all, support from others. It’s why I started my
business, and it’s why I started – to learn from and with founders from diverse
backgrounds. Meeting new people, whether for a coffee, at a conference, on a podcast, or simply through emailing back
and forth, helps me to grow my business, and I’d like to think it helps them in small ways, too.

If you want to reach out to me for help, to share ideas, or just to connect, you can always email me or hit me up on
LinkedIn. I wrote this book to help you, but it also helps me on my ongoing founder journey…with a little help from some
friends.

So, go out there and The world needs your ideas.

Just Start (Up)
First, remember that execution is key.
Second, focus on the user.
Third, embrace the era of generative AI.
Finally, always be a student and a teacher.
The Next Great Thing podcast
just start!

Just Start (Up): The Founder’s Guide to Becoming The Next Great Thing

Just Start (Up): The Founder’s Guide to Becoming The Next Great Thing

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