398 Posts found for Source: First Round Review

Product-market fit is one of the most important, yet elusive, concepts in company building. It’s not a clear metric you can measure or a milestone you can easily check off your to-do list. I think of product-market fit as the transition moment you feel as a founder when you go from “pushing” your product on people to them “pulling” it out of your hands. But … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Todd Jackson | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

I firmly believe that the majority of my time and coaching energy should actually go into people who are high-performing. They are the rocket ships that could end up running parts of the company someday. To me, as a manager you’re looking to bring out the maximal optimized version of each person. So when you have someone who’s doing really well, the question should be, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Molly Graham | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

My approach to management is about fighting cognitive biases. Humans have a recency bias, meaning we tend to overweight recent experiences. In management that means I’m mostly paying attention to whoever I talked to last — as the saying goes, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” So I try to be on alert for the people who I haven’t heard from. It’s often because they … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Matt Wallaert | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

It’s easy to assume that listening is merely about showing up and paying attention to the other person, but it’s also deeply tied to paying attention to ourselves. Being an effective listener is about building self-awareness around how you naturally show up in conversation.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ximena Vengoechea | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Communication, Personal Development

We often think of miscommunication as an issue with our own content or delivery — that if we could tweak the what or the how, our message would be more effective. But that perpetuates a dynamic where we view our counterparts as an audience, not as collaborators.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ximena Vengoechea | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Your job in 1:1s is to make each person feel heard.

Content: Quotation | Author: Liz Fosslien | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

As part of the strategic planning process, you’re making choices. It’s important to document those concrete choices — not just that we’ve chosen to do A, but also to explicitly reinforce that we’re not going to do B.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ravi Mehta | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Strategy

We have not found a single market where customer needs are homogenous. Yet, time and time again, companies design products for the average customer.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Georg Tacke, Madhaven Ramanujam | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Innovation, Management, Marketing / Sales

Goals are great — as long as you have thought in advance about what would make it so that you wouldn’t pursue that goal anymore.

Content: Quotation | Author: Annie Duke | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Goals, Management

One of the things that give startups an advantage is that they’re exploring in a way that established companies aren’t able to. Enterprises have an innovation problem. Startups are exploratory. But what we have to realize is that the very act of setting a goal makes you become more and more enterprise-like. You stop exploring other avenues, strategies, products, and motions that you could be … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Annie Duke | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Innovation

When we look at success stories that were a long time in the making, there’s a temptation to say sticking to it is just good — full stop. But the problem is that the grit that allows us to power through will also get us to stick to things that aren’t worthwhile. Success comes from sticking to the stuff that’s working and quitting the rest. … [ Read more ]

Author: Annie Duke | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Personal Development

When you’re trying to balance the hiring opinions of so many different interviewers, you don’t always wind up with the best candidate. You end up hiring the candidate that skates through by getting a more neutral opinion from most interviewers.

Content: Quotation | Author: Liz Kofman-Burns | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Hiring, Human Resources

Lack of delegation and an inability to understand where you truly add the most value can derail meaningful growth opportunities for your team, cause unnecessary burnout and stress, and ultimately impact how well your company scales.

Content: Quotation | Author: Massella Dukuly | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

I have to constantly remind myself: When I don’t delegate, I take away an opportunity for my team to grow.

Content: Quotation | Author: Shivani Berry | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

I’m constantly thinking about who is ready to replace me and where the gaps are. It’s not because I’m planning to leave, but it forces me to think deeply about the strengths I’m trying to develop, how to coach better business relationships, or who needs new exposure and opportunities.

Content: Quotation | Author: Colleen McCreary | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Personal Development

Without the business context on why you’re doing the tasks you’re doing, you’re just not going to be as motivated or excited. I want to ensure that my team knows and believes that every single thing they are doing is driving value for the business. So I do my best to invite them to the meetings when possible, and when it’s not possible, give the … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jenna Klebanoff | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

Most people describe finding product-market fit as an art, not a science. But when it comes to sales-led B2B startups, we’ve reverse engineered a method to increase the odds of unlocking it. We’ve worked with some of the world’s most iconic enterprise founders and distilled what they did in their first six months into a series of tactical sessions for taking a straighter path to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Many think of burnout as if it’s solely related to how much we work — and that if we take time off, we’ll soon bounce back, born anew. But a vacation will not cure burnout. Burnout isn’t only about the hours you’re putting in. It’s also a function of the stories you tell yourself and how you approach what you do — in the office … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Liz Fosslien, Mollie West Duffy | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Content scales, your time does not. Try to do more things in the form of content.

Content: Quotation | Author: Sam Corcos | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Delegation, Management, Productivity / Work Tips

Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined. Otherwise, you waste someone else’s time instead of your own, which now wastes your hard-earned cash.

Content: Quotation | Author: Tim Ferriss | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Delegation, Management, Productivity / Work Tips