A podcast for people working on startup ideas. We have 15-minute tactical episodes and occasional interviews with people who did the early things exceptionally well. We've helped launch hundreds of startups worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and these are the building blocks. "This is, without a doubt, the best podcast for people trying to build startups out there." "If you aren't listening to this podcast and you're considering building a business (or you're already building one), what are you doing?" "Must listen for first-time entrepreneurs - excellent storyteller."
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The One Thing That Matters - How to Find a Differentiator That'll Support a Business
Today, we'll help you find a differentiator powerful enough that it can support your business. We'll talk through what a differentiator actually allows you to do, five prompts to help you uncover and test one for your business, and Brian's favorite current differentiator - Popup Bagels. TackleboxBeehiivPopup Bagels 00:00 Beehiiv00:33 Differentiator intro04:00 What do you hire a differentiator to do?05:44 The Attention Pie09:03 Smooth Jazz09:28 Popup Bagels16:30 Five Prompts for Your Differentiator
How to Stop Being Your Startup's Bottleneck
Today, we'll help you get out of your own way. We subscribe to the Charlie Munger school of "instead of trying to be smarter, try to be less dumb," and this episode digs into three ways to simplify your startup so that you can move faster. We talk through how to actually implement jobs to be done, how to build systems to amplify your willpower 100x, and how to be more courageous. Also, I'll watch Interstellar. Everyone calm down. TackleboxIdea to Startup Newsletter (Beehiiv)00:34 Removing Yourself as the Bottleneck2:33 Leverage Jobs to be Done to Focus (Fishing Story)6:23 Elderly Relocation Idea11:08 Smooth Jazz11:37 Run Towards the Rain13:45 Thrashing to find a Secret - The Plant Story15:25 A System for the Uncomfortable Stuff (fiverr + IG DM’s)17:13 The Process for Improving Willpower18:31 What Would You Do if You Knew It Would Work?
A Framework for Building Wildly Useful Startups
Today, we'll talk through a framework that'll help you evaluate whether you're building something useful enough to anchor a business. Most startups fail because the thing they built doesn't make a big enough dent in their customers lives. We'll make sure you don't make this mistake with help from Habit Kangaroo, a startup Brian ran back in 2014, and a GMAT training program his friend ran that helped people get into Harvard. TackleboxBeehiiv (Idea to Startup Newsletter)BylddGreenlights0:30 Building a Wildly Useful Startup2:12 Why Measuring Usefulness is Hard7:00 Byldd7:53 Habit Kangaroo12:50 The Usefulness Framework13:24 What is your Secret?13:51 Three Categories of Secrets: Customer14:45 Three Categories of Secrets: Acquisition15:16 Three Categories of Secrets: Product17:08 Rivers and Dams19:00 GMAT over 700 Product23:02 Hire Yourself
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Today, we talk through four characteristics of great startup ideas (with a bonus fifth Brian thought of post-recording). We discuss organic growth, market innovation vs. product innovation, growing markets, product swaps, and happiness. The goal of this episode is to help shape fuzzy ideas and give you new ideas. TackleboxBeehiiv1:27 The Personal Venn Diagram5:18 Smooth Jazz5:46 The Four Characteristics of Great Startup Ideas6:48 Characteristic 1: Potential for Organic Growth9:14 Characteristic 2: Market Innovation > Product Innovation10:57 Characteristic 3: Prioritizing Around a Growing Market12:40 Four Buckets of Market Growth12:45 Hype Markets13:36 Dig out of a Hole Market (nurses, agriculture, skilled trades)16:23 Momentum Markets16:56 Subsidized Growth17:42 The Swap21:19 On Happiness
The Organic Growth Equation - Why People Share and How to Pick Ideas that'll Grow
Today we talk about organic growth. Your startup won't be successful if your first customers aren't compelled to tell people about how you've helped them. Luckily, organic growth is straightforward. There are ways to predict it and ideas better suited for it. We talk through an equation for organic growth and dig in on why people share. TackleboxInsider Newsletter (beehiiv) 00:34 Intro to organic growth4:24 Why social ads won’t work5:54 Outline of the Organic Growth Equation7:08 Smooth Jazz7:36 Jury Duty9:27 Jury Duty Shareable Moments13:49 The Organic Growth Equation deep-dive + The Crime Triangle15:02 Problem Variables18:53 Customer Variables21:41 Why we share horror movies23:18 Product Variables25:10 Multipliers
A System to Help You Become Wildly Creative
Today, we'll help you build a system for creativity. We'll start by defining creativity as an equation to make it more accessible. Then, we'll develop a system that focuses on the inputs of the creativity equation. We talk through the Commonplace Book, Commencement Speeches, a sports writer and the movie Sahara. Then, we get into the weeds on how to set up and implement your own personal creativity system. TackleboxWeekly Podcast NewsletterThe Great Talks, Lectures, and Speeches of HistoryNotion + Notion Web ClipperReadwiseZapierOgilvy on Advertising0:30 Intro - Creativity2:00 What if you’re not creative?2:53 Creativity is Mushing3:39 Creativity Equation5:15 Summer Internship6:28 Bill Simmons7:48 In on the joke9:20 College Commencement Speeches10:07 Kenyon Commencement Speech - Two Fish11:20 Smooth Jazz11:52 The System14:00 The Logistics15:22 Intake17:29 Reflection18:30 Output19:30 Ogilvy on Advertising
Ep. 165 - Should You Niche?
Today, we'll talk about the big question - should you start with a focused niche? There are pros and cons to the approach, but the perceived cons - "what if I get tired of the niche in a few years?" , "what if the niche doesn't lead to a bigger market?" , "isn't a niche just hiding from the bigger problem I want to solve?" have gotten louder lately. So, we'll address them. We'll go over what a good niche looks like, how to get one, and how to grow. Podcast Insider Sign UpTackleboxKurt Vonnegut Shape of StoriesSlice Podcast - How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers1:00 Kurt Vonnegut - The Shape of Stories2:38 The Niche Question4:15 The Jiro Problem5:20 Act 1 - A Chef's Startup7:48 Smooth Jazz8:15 Act 2 - What's a Niche For? 8:44 A Niche is a Shortcut to Trust11:49 A Niche to Seed Future Growth13:40 What a Good Niche Looks Like14:25 The Cook By Smelling Niche16:38 Act 3 - How to Grow From a Niche17:29 Grow Vertically or Horizontally?19:20 Grow through Influential Customers20:00 Spice Smelling Niche21:14 Act 4 - The Real Villain, and the Real Hero22:11 Trust in Future You
Why You Didn't Build a Product Last Weekend (feat. A Framework to Seek Out Discomfort)
Today, we'll talk through why you didn't get a product live last weekend despite an episode that walked you through a step-by-step process to do it. Last week, we ignored the emotional stuff. The inertia and discomfort that keep people from doing something new. Today, we tackle it. We give you a framework to lean into discomfort and answer the questions that nag at you and hold you back from putting stuff live. BylddTacklebox0:35 Magical Products1:51 Story of company that helps restaurants source ingredients6:27 11 Emails, 0 Products7:04 Inertia + Discomfort8:00 BYLDD9:04 Plan vs. Freestyle (How to Wiggle)12:35 The Things That Matter and The Things That Don't13:00 What if your product needs to be professionally designed?15:00 The Mirror Problem (and the three things to help with it)16:16 Discomfort = Growth and No One Cares About You17:12 College Philanthropic Story18:35 You're going to lose X if you don't > You're going to get Y if you do20:00 A new lane for the restaurant startup20:55 How the restaurant startup got their first product out
How to Build the First (Magical) Version of Your Product This Weekend
Today we'll help you get the first version of your product up and out. We use a three-part framework to help you focus in on the one core feature you've got to nail. We also find your customers inertia and ride that wave to make it easier to use your product than not. We get help from an airbnb for lawn equipment startup and move the ball forward on the chronic pain idea. Subscribe to get Idea to Startup extended info + show notes + frameworks + bonus epsTackleboxThe Personal MBAEpisode Details0:55 The Two Questions Entrepreneurs Have About Products2:35 A Great Product Does Two Things4:26 Entrepreneur Baggage + Airbnb for Lawn Equipment6:29 A Mindset for Today8:13 Step One - Process8:53 Organ Donors9:55 Inertia11:35 Chronic Pain13:07 Frank’s Process14:50 Harry Potter and Being Chosen15:43 Step Two - Metrics17:12 Chronic Pain Ex-College Athlete SOM18:35 Outcome not Features - The Product is Irrelevant19:16 The Five Marketing Archetypes - STTC, Pain, Cost, Apparate, Urgency20:19 Step Three - Delivery (The Product)20:32 Warby Parker22:23 The Twelve Forms of Value25:49 The Venmo Accountability Group
Choose The Right Quest
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INTERVIEW: Seth Godin Thinks Through Startup Ideas in Real-Time
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When to Pivot and When to Stick (aka How Pros Deal w/ Distractions)
Today, we'll talk about one of the most common hurdles entrepreneurs run into - getting tempted by a new idea a few months into working on a different idea. We lay out a framework to identify the first principles of the new idea fast so you can decide if it's worth a pivot. We also dig in on why the urge to pivot shows up, procrastination, and how to win a baking contest. And, English Lords from the 17th century.Tacklebox
How to Use Landing Page Tests to Find Your Beachhead Customer (feat. the One Person Landing Page and the ELU Framework)
Today, we'll talk through a landing page system that'll help you find a great initial customer - one that can anchor your business. We'll talk through the circle framework, as well as the One Person Landing Page and the Emotion / Logistics / Urgency flow. This will help you identify the right customer to focus your product building efforts on. TackleboxOwl City - FirefliesDaniel PriestleyUnbounceScore
Ideation, Finding a Wedge, Seeding a Marketplace and How to Scale Yourself with an EA - with Jonathan Swanson, cofounder of Thumbtack, Athena, and Powerset
Today we chat with Jonathan Swanson, cofounder of Thumbtack, Athena, and Powerset. We cover a ton of ground - starting with the Sunday idea club that led to Thumbtack, how to scale a marketplace, and how to choose ideas you'd happily spent a decade on. Next, we jump into the science of delegation - the idea at the core of Athena. Jonathan talks through how to delegate to an EA, when to start with one, a system of delegation that creates asymmetric upside and what type of founders should consider it. Athena deal for Idea to Startup listeners (good through 6/30)Athena / Thumbtack / PowersetTacklebox
The Law of The Startup Wedge (feat. circadian rhythms and trust transactions)
Today, we're going to talk about one of the fundamental laws of startups - The Wedge. It's the best way to build trust when you have a product that's got a longer feedback loop or requires a lot from your early customers. We'll show a few examples and build out a framework to help guide you when you're looking for, and implementing, a wedge. BylddTackleboxSix Easy Pieces