Factors Influencing Startup Success

I’ve been a part of starting six companies. I’ve mentored several dozen founding teams. I’ve invested in more than 100 early-stage companies, and I’ve heard countless pitches. All of that has given me a finely tuned sense of the factors that really matter for the success of an early-stage company. Here are my top three (in order): 1.) The Team 2.) The Team 3.) The Team Hopefully this comes as no great surprise (well, maybe that third one does). And if it does, then let me explain for a minute why your team matters more than everything else combined. When you’re in your early stages, there are a lot of unknowns, and plenty of elements that are guaranteed to change. Your initial product is just a hunch, you don’t have product/market fit, and you’re basically guessing about pricing, go-to-market, and customer type. Eventually, you’re going to realize that the only constant is your team. What really matters at this stage isn’t what you’re making, or how well-funded you are. Instead, it’s all about execution, flexibility, and persistence. And that all depends on the quality of your team. Not only that, but you’ll also realize that employee talent works on a power-curve: the best people are not just marginally better than average…they are many orders of magnitude better. So while my “Top Three” list is obviously tongue-in-cheek, my belief in the importance of talent isn’t.

It took Darkroom 2 years to get from 2 to 5 employees, and then only 1 year to get to 80 employees. I learned a few vital lessons from that experience: 1. Most products/services that are high growth are not massive innovations.        They are 25% improvements in the customer experience of an existing product/service. This, combined with the Three T’s is the secret formula for initial product-market fit.     2. The Three T’s: Timing, trends, and tailwinds.        These are critical. Grit and brute force are important founder traits, but realistically, timing is the through line for any high-growth company.     3. Retention / recurring revenue is the most important biz model foundation.        Validate that you have a customer retention curve that flattens for at least six to twelve months before blitz-scaling the org.     4. Don’t aim to grow as fast as we did (<1 year) unless leadership will commit to spending a disproportionate amount of time interviewing and hiring.        If you don’t hire properly for your culture, the negative effects won’t manifest for another 12 months. “Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or tech, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.”     5. The most underrated tools to design within a company are the org chart & the budget.        Design is the keyword. Within the financial constraints, design your org for less bloat and no-brainer incentives for A+ talent. When you pair that with a clear vision, it’s magic.     6. While customer retention is the most important business baseline, a company will go nowhere without distribution that enables lead gen and accurate sales forecasts.        The best product doesn't win. The most 'sufficient' product with the best distribution wins. There's a massive opportunity to leverage influencer-founders more - particularly in B2B. #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

I've made many mistakes in my career, but every success comes down to one thing: people.  In the technology world, it's easy to get caught up in the hype of rapid growth, valuations, and what “mode” you’re in. But after leading multiple ventures, I've seen firsthand that success hinges on the team you build, the culture you foster, and the purpose that unifies them. One of the biggest mistakes startup leaders make is neglecting the team in blind pursuit of short-term wins. That’s the key theme I wanted to highlight in this Fortune article. I share lessons from my time scaling Google Canada, where a unified purpose helped us achieve bold goals, along with insights from leading companies through challenging market shifts. At GrowthLoop, we’re applying those same people-first principles to build an enduring company. Whether you're a founder, leader, or part of a growing team, I hope my experiences will inspire you to prioritize the human side of business. Check it out on Fortune and let me know your thoughts. I’d love to hear your take on this people-first approach. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gSxxAB8V #Leadership #StartupGrowth #PeopleFirst #SustainableSuccess #BusinessStrategy

In the traditional business landscape, strategy formulation often takes precedence over execution. However, what if reversing this order could unlock greater success? Here’s why focusing on execution first can be a game-changer for organizations: 1. Real-World Insight: Prioritizing execution allows organizations to gather practical insights and align strategies with actual conditions. This ensures plans are based on real-world data rather than theoretical assumptions. 2. Continuous Learning: Execution fosters a culture of continuous learning. As organizations implement their strategies, they collect valuable feedback, allowing them to refine their approaches and adapt to changing circumstances. 3. Adaptive Flexibility: In today's fast-paced market, adaptability is crucial. By emphasizing execution, organizations can quickly respond to market changes, ensuring their strategies remain relevant and effective. 4. Stakeholder Engagement: Early execution involves stakeholders directly, fostering a sense of ownership and alignment. This collaborative approach ensures everyone is committed to the same strategic goals, reducing resistance and enhancing commitment. 5. Tangible Outcomes: Focusing on execution drives measurable results. This practical emphasis ensures that strategies are not just theoretical exercises but are translated into actions that generate real value for the organization. How to Use This Info: 1. Analyze Your Current Context: Before diving into strategy design, thoroughly understand your organization’s current situation. Align your strategy with real-world conditions and constraints. 2. Learn from Past Initiatives: Review significant projects and initiatives from the past year. Identify what worked and what didn’t. Use these insights as input for your strategic planning. 3. Identify Immediate Actions: Even while formulating your strategy, identify actions you can take right away. There’s always something you can start doing. Implement these actions and adapt as you learn. 4. Engage Stakeholders Early: Develop early initiatives that engage stakeholders. This helps build commitment and alignment. Use these early initiatives to gather feedback and improve your approach. 5. Focus on Measurable Results: Aim for early, tangible outcomes. Use these initial successes to demonstrate accountability and to show that your strategy is practical and effective. While strategy formulation is crucial for setting direction, focusing on execution first highlights the importance of turning plans into action. By executing and learning from the process, organizations can refine their strategies, enhance their chances of success, and achieve sustainable growth.

After backing dozens of startups, I’ve noticed the best founders share certain traits. Here are 6 things I look for in a founder before writing a check: ~~ 1) They know their numbers cold. Ask them about revenue, conversion rates, or CAC, and they can rattle off the numbers without hesitation. The best founders live and breathe their metrics. They have an incredibly deep, real-time understanding of their business. 2) They’re relentless problem-solvers. I once invested in a founder who followed up with me consistently for 18 months. They were “thoughtfully aggressive,” always bringing new insights or ideas to the table. That level of persistence? It’s exactly what you want when things get tough. 3) They are fast. They respond within hours or even minutes. They adapt quickly. They are available. They decide quickly. 4) They have a clear and compelling vision. Great founders can rally people around their ideas. From customers to investors to employees, their excitement is infectious. They make others believe in their vision as deeply as they do. 5) They’re magnetically resourceful. I’ve met founders who bootstrap their way through impossible odds. No office? They’ll work from a coffee shop. Short on cash? They’ll barter or negotiate like pros. They find ways to make things happen, no matter the obstacle. 6) They’re humble learners. A willingness to learn is the ultimate growth hack. The most successful founders don’t pretend to know it all. They’re hungry for feedback and are constantly improving themselves, their teams, and their companies. The common thread? I back founders who: • Know their business inside and out. • Refuse to take no for an answer. • Adapt, learn, and execute relentlessly. These are the people who disrupt industries and build enduring companies. What traits do you look for in a great founder? PS: If you're a founder in ecomm infrastructure looking to raise, shoot me a message.

I get to work with some incredible founders. Here are 4 common traits of the best founders I’ve come across: 1. They have a drive to “work for it” Startups are hard work. The best founders not only understand this, they have this innate feeling like they have to earn every single thing. There isn’t an entitled air about them. All they know is there’s work that needs doing. Some of the best founders I’ve worked with have immigrant backgrounds. Amit Bendov from Gong comes to mind. Here’s a wild stat: 65% of the top 50 AI companies (via Forbes AI 50) have at least one immigrant founder. My theory is they’ve either watched their parents fight for survival, or they’ve had to do that themselves. There’s nothing more powerful than a founder with this kind of drive. 2. They have an obsession The best founders are always thinking about their product and customer. They can’t turn it off (sorry, but startups aren’t the best place for “balance”). Startups require an insane level of grit to push through all the obstacles you’ll inevitably face. I think of Uber as an example. The founding team had to overcome a ton of regulatory issues to build that company. If they weren’t obsessed with the vision, it’s highly unlikely we’d know what Uber is today. 3. They have interpersonal skills or are a visionary As a founder, you need people to follow you. There are generally two ways to achieve this: • You have great interpersonal skills and the team really likes you • The team believes so much in your vision they’ll follow you to make it happen Take Steve Jobs for example. He was notorious for being hard to work for. Yet he was such a visionary that people were willing to deal with his personality and follow his vision. I’ve also seen incredible founders who really connect and care for their team, which inspires people to come along. 4. They work “on” the business as soon as possible In the early days, the founder has to do it all. But that’s not sustainable. Great founders are able to move out of day-to-day operations as quickly as possible and focus on building the company. Much of this work involves being deeply connected to the customer. You can’t talk to customers if you’re in the weeds of the business all day, and those insights from customers are the fuel for making informed decisions about the company. I’ve seen many startups die because of this. As soon as you’re able, build a team that can handle operations and shift your focus to leading the company.

Technical skills build products but Emotional skills build companies. The hardest part of a startup isn't coding. It's not quitting when you feel like a fraud. Startup success equation: - 1% inspiration - 9% perspiration - 90% emotional regulation Most founders obsess over: - Product-market fit - Funding rounds - Growth hacks What they should obsess over: - Self-awareness - Stress management - Becoming Resilient Your ability to handle rejection > Your ability to write algorithms Startup lessons nobody talks about: - Your team is your emotional bedrock - Failure is feedback, not a verdict - Flexibility beats perfectionism The best founders aren't the smartest. They're the ones who can smile through storms. True startup difficulty: - 10% technical - 20% strategic - 70% psychological Building a company is the ultimate emotional gym. - Every setback is a rep. - Every pivot is progressive overload. Want to win in your startup ? - Meditate more than you code. - Read psychology more than TechCrunch. Your startup can only grow as much as you do.

The best founders I know share more than ambition. They share a mindset. A recent Entrepreneur Media called out emotional intelligence, risk tolerance, and resilience as core traits of successful leaders, and I couldn’t agree more. These qualities help entrepreneurs stay steady under pressure, lead through ambiguity, and keep teams aligned when the future is still unfolding. From my own experience building and scaling startups, I’d add two more: 1. Adaptability: The strongest founders know when to shift. Whether it’s adjusting the roadmap or responding to customer feedback, they move with clarity and purpose. 2. Curiosity: Great leaders stay open. They ask questions, explore new ideas, and seek feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable, because they know real progress often starts with hard questions. When founders lead with this mindset, they build stronger teams, make better decisions, and lead with more confidence through every stage of growth. What traits have you seen make the biggest difference for today’s entrepreneurial leaders? https://lnkd.in/gFUefF89 #Entrepreneur #Founder #Leadership

When it comes to startups, the debate between prioritizing growth or profitability is one that has divided entrepreneurs and investors alike.    From my experience, having seen the successes and failures of companies focused on either side of the equation, the answer isn’t cut and dry. It really depends on how clearly you can map out your path to profitability.    For an investor, profitability is the ultimate goal. We're in this to see returns, and those returns are tied to a company’s ability to generate profit. However, this doesn’t mean that growth should be ignored. In fact, growth can be a powerful strategy, if, and only if, it’s paired with a clear and realistic path to profitability.    Let me break this down. If your company has a well-defined trajectory towards profitability, focusing on growth might make sense. For instance, in a scenario where expanding into new markets shows each market becoming profitable within a predictable timeframe, aggressive growth can be justified.    I've seen international expansion efforts where, although the company as a whole was unprofitable due to rapid expansion, each new country became profitable within 18-24 months and returned the investment within 24-36 months. This kind of growth strategy works because the path to profitability was clear and the timeline was reasonable.    Consider technology companies with high fixed costs and low marginal costs. Here, growth can be more important. If you can demonstrate that scaling will eventually lead to profitability, then focusing on growth makes strategic sense. However, the key is in the word "eventually." Investors need to see that the scaling is realistic and that the market is there to support it.    When evaluating whether to prioritize growth or profitability, consider these three questions:    1. What will it take to reach profitability? This includes the time and resources required. How long will the funding last, what is the burn rate and what milestones are necessary to reach profitability?    2. How likely is it that you'll reach profitability? Is your strategy contingent on external factors like competitors or market conditions that could shift unexpectedly? You need to assess the risks that could derail your path.    3. How profitable will it be once you get there? A business that takes a significant investment to reach break-even but only yields minimal returns might not be appealing to investors. Profitability is more than just breaking even you must generate substantial returns that justify the investment.    #Profit #Entrepreneur #Transformation #BrandBuilding #Growth #ThePathRedefined

Bringing my cat, Kichi along with me when I fly is nearly impossible. Strict laws around bringing pets in-country, can sometimes make travelling for work a hassle. But I get it. Authorities around the world have come to both fear, and respect the power of compounding. From viruses to animals, and pests like bed bugs - things tend to grow in a compounded manner. In 1859, Thomas Austin, an English settler in Australia imported 24 rabbits from England into Australia, and released them into the bush for sport. They grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 35%. Five years later, there were just over a hundred rabbits: nothing to shout about. Even twenty years later, there were just 9,700 rabbits. Concerning, but not eye-popping. But 66 years after Austin’s fateful act, Australia had a staggering number of rabbits: nearly 10 billion from the original two dozen! The curious thing about compounding, is not merely that it leads to large numbers. What's curious is that nothing significant seems to be happening for a very long time. Until it explodes seemingly overnight. This makes us notoriously bad at underestimating it in our everyday lives. It explains why the slow accumulation of bad habits eventually snowballs into shocking changes in our body and health. Nobody becomes obese overnight. Nor can you go back from fat to fit, by running a marathon tomorrow. It also explains why we don’t invest regularly, despite hearing the tired quote from Einstein calling compound interest “the eighth wonder of the world”. Steady compounded growth generates more reliable returns than chasing sharp swings in asset prices. And it also explains the all too common phenomenon in startups: the illusion of overnight success. Or as McDonald’s founder, Ray Kroc famously quipped: “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.” As a startup founder, I see a lot of ambitious, but impatient people giving up too easily. They get frustrated when it doesn’t feel like they are “taking off” even after months of work, sometimes years. When you are starting from zero, compound growth often seems like very little is happening in the short run. But as your learnings, experiments, and traction grow - you are setting the stage for rapid takeoff in ways that are hard to see. That’s why I invest so much time and energy writing my thoughts and learnings here, and also sharing what we’re working on at my startup - no matter how small. Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing more about what we’re building Bluejay Finance, and the lessons we learn along the way. Don’t keep waiting for that big product reveal. Don’t keep chasing that 180% gain trying to time the price of an asset in a single trade. Don’t underestimate the power of showing up consistently, and grinding away at that iron block until it becomes a needle. I’d love to hear your stories on how compounding has worked for you - in any aspect of your life!