Milestones that matter on your $0-$1M ARR journey
Sprint 4 starts Monday - 30+ startups are joining, we totally sold out, and there’s already a waitlist for Sprint 5 in October! Learn more HERE. — I’ve seen so many startups waste time on stupid goals and LARPy milestones in the 0-1 stage… and I’ve seen more than a few die BECAUSE they focus on the wrong milestones. In the 0-1 stage, you’re going to be inclined to think like a “real company person”. You might be drawn to OKRs, SMART goals, cascading goals, splitting out goals by department / person, etc. In theory, this makes sense. In practice, it never seems to work. In the 0-1 stage, there can only be ONE goal at a time. For the whole COMPANY. Set one goal, sprint towards it as quickly as possible. But which goal? When? Here’s my take on the most-focused, least-BS set of goals/milestones you can set for your startup. Why is this the first milestone? Because without this, you don’t have enough volume of customer interactions to learn fast enough. Every sales conversation is a chance
Sprint 4 starts Monday - 30+ startups are joining, we totally sold out, and there’s already a waitlist for Sprint 5 in October! Learn more HERE. — I’ve seen so many startups waste time on stupid goals and LARPy milestones in the 0-1 stage… and I’ve seen more than a few die BECAUSE they focus on the wrong milestones. In the 0-1 stage, you’re going to be inclined to think like a “real company person”. You might be drawn to OKRs, SMART goals, cascading goals, splitting out goals by department / person, etc. In theory, this makes sense. In practice, it never seems to work. In the 0-1 stage,…
related reading
- A Smart Bearlongform.asmartbear.com
- How to Start a Startuppaulgraham.com
- What is -1 to 0? A Philosophy of Ideation.blog.southparkcommons.com
- lecture5-market-wireframing-design.pdfspark-public.s3.amazonaws.com
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- How to plan an MVP : YC Startup Library | Y Combinatorycombinator.com
- Excuse me, is there a problem?longform.asmartbear.com
- 21 Things You Need to Know to Validate Your Startup Idea – Trevor Owenstrevorowens.com
- The Wilderness Period - Bottom Up by David Sackssacks.substack.com
- The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learnpaulgraham.com
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- Before Growthblog.samaltman.com