Idea to Startup
203 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 134 ratingsA 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."
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
When to Pivot and When to Stick (aka what to do with all your startup ideas) ITS Classic
April 10, 2024 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBToday, 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 their main 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 Idea to Startup Newsletter 00:26 Intro 05:40 Chronic Pain Side ...
How to Pick Your Startup's First Customer
April 03, 2024 09:00 - 33 minutes - 30.4 MBToday, we'll help you pick your startup's first customer segment. This decision dooms a huge percentage of first time entrepreneurs - if you don't understand what the job of your first customer segment is, you'll likely pick a customer incapable of doing it. Your first customer has a unique responsibility that no other customer will have - you need to choose them carefully. Conversely, if you choose the right first customer, you'll set yourself up for serious growth. We go through the fiv...
A System to Do Hard Things (ITS Classic)
March 21, 2024 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBToday, we help you become the type of founder who relishes uncomfortable things that lead to successful startups. There are no real secrets in the startup world - the hard, proactive, uncomfortable work leads to businesses that matter. This work doesn’t happen without a system. Today we help you build that system, using The Costanza Swap, The Three Levers of Resilience, and The Failure Case. Hoo ahh. Byldd Tacklebox 00:24 Doing Things You Don’t Want To Do 02:45 Why the Eisenhower Box Do...
How to Build the First (Magical) Version Of Your Product This Weekend (ITS Classic)
March 06, 2024 10:00 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MBToday's classic episode will help you get the first version of your product up and out this weekend. We use a three-part framework to help you focus in on the one core feature you've got to nail that can be built by someone with no technical or product building skills in an afternoon. 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....
A System to Generate Ideas (aka how to let your brain be a brain)
February 29, 2024 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBToday, we talk through a 4-part system to generate ideas - one that'll tap into your brain's natural ability to develop novel solutions rather than just waiting (hoping) inspiration will strike. We'll do it with a little help from a baseball training facility, a corked wine bottle, and an MRI startup. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter Fermenting Ideas Pod: Customers speak Problem Pod: How to Create a Strategy for your Startup Readwise Idea to Startup Bot 00:26 Idea People 02:47 A...
20-ish Minute Skill: The Concierge MVP (ITS Classic)
February 21, 2024 10:00 - 26 minutes - 23.8 MBToday's classic ITS episode discusses the Concierge MVP, an indispensable tactic early stage entrepreneurs can use to get the feedback of a full product without the money and time required to build one. We go through the 4-step method that'll get you data from customers you can use to raise funding, hire, or recognize the opportunity actually isn't worth your time. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter Idea to Startup Bot More Concierge MVP Examples 00:00 - Opening and introduction 02:00...
How to Create a Strategy For Your Startup
February 14, 2024 10:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBToday, we'll talk about strategy - what good (and bad) strategy looks like for startups, and how most early-stage companies lack any strategy at all. Using a framework from Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, we'll explore the three core elements: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent action. We'll examine strategies from a stand-up comedian and GoPro as examples, before applying the framework to craft a strategy for launching a successful children's book. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter T...
How to Build a "Skeptical Startup" - 8k per month in 10 hours per week
January 31, 2024 10:00 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBToday, we'll help you tackle the big question for entrepreneurs with startup ideas and jobs - when's it time to quit the job and focus on the startup full-time? You should think about this question the second you start working on an idea, and you should use the Skeptical Startup framework - a goal of $8k per month in 10 hours per week - as a guide. The Skeptical Startup framework is magical, and Brian will show how it'll help you focus with an example startup. Tacklebox Idea to Startup N...
The Magic of One-Sentence Marketing
January 11, 2024 10:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBToday’s episode is for everyone who struggles to summarize their startup in a sentence. We lay out a framework to do this well with help from a sticker on the street, a hedge fund, and a Vietnamese coffee shop. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter Idea to Startup Bot 00:33 One Sentence Marketing 01:10 Train to NYC 03:04 The best marketing Brian’s seen in a while 06:42 Smooth Jazz 07:28 Choosing a Customer and the Knowledge Spectrum 08:54 Air Quality Idea 13:07 Inflection Points + The Con...
Designing a System to Actually Prioritize Your Startup This Year
January 04, 2024 10:00 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MBToday, we dive into a practical, resilient system to help you carve out and hold time for your startup amidst the craziness of your life. Most startups fail because the founders lose momentum when predictable life things pop up - you were supposed to work on your startup but your kid was sick or your job gets busy. You need to build a system that adjusts to this constant "failure state" - one that doesn't require Herculean willpower (wake up every day at 4am) and makes working on your startu...
Seth Godin and Brian Go Through Startup Ideas (ITS Classic)
December 27, 2023 10:00 - 49 minutes - 44.9 MBSeth Godin (!) and Brian go through startup ideas. Seth gives his opinion on how he’d start everything from a pasta truck to an updated CSA program. We dive into risk, emotion, tension and doing things that matter. Seth talks about the distinction between entrepreneurs and freelancers and the danger of thinking you’re one when you’re really the other. We talk about marketplaces and domain expertise and knowing what it is you’re actually selling. This is Brian's favorite episode ever. The S...
How to Think Bigger (feat. The Problems and Opportunities Method)
December 20, 2023 10:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBToday, we’ll teach you how to avoid sabotaging your startup. Most founders think the best way to build a startup is to mitigate risks - to optimize for worst case scenarios. But the actual way to build a successful startup is to optimize for tasks with the highest ceiling - to do the things that might give you asymmetric gains, if they work. This is unnatural and hard - the Problems and Opportunities Method, the second in our Method series, will help. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter...
How to be Different, Part 1 (feat. The Personal Venn Diagram Method)
December 14, 2023 09:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBToday, we'll help you build a system to be different. We dive into the Persona Venn Diagram Method - a tool designed to help you identify and capitalize on your unique strengths - and we'll talk through how the path you might think holds the least risk actually guarantees the most. This is the first in a series of episodes on the Methods we use at Tacklebox to help our founders build differentiated businesses. Tacklebox Beehiiv (Idea to Startup Newsletter) Day One Journal 00:25 How to be...
Testing Another Startup Idea Live Part 1: Picking the Idea, Nudging the Boulder
December 06, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBToday, we'll kick off a new series where we'll start an idea live on the pod. Actually, we'll start two. One in the healthcare space, one in the AI space. The hope is that you've got an idea and can follow along with us. Today we'll cover when your idea is ready to start, how to structure the first couple of weeks, and how to think about the giant boulder sitting in front of you. Also, there's a brief Ruby cameo because she's been absent for a few weeks. Tacklebox AI Brian 4000 Weeks
The Quest for an Identity
November 30, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBToday we'll help you find an identity. An identity is something unique that you can organize your business beneath. A north star that can act as a lens for every decision you make. We talk through how to use category shifts and first principles to find and evaluate possible identities and when to stick with an identity vs when to jump ship. We use a bunch of examples - from an Italian restaurant to a skincare company called Jolie to the 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team. Tacklebox ...
How to Find a Differentiator (ITS Classic)
November 22, 2023 10:00 - 18 minutes - 17 MBToday we'll outline two frameworks that'll help you find a meaningful differentiator. We'll use a bunch of examples to show how Inversion + Before and After can change your business. A baseball academy, Krispy Kreme, and Nutrisystem help show us the way to a product your customers will happily overpay for. Tacklebox
Customers Speak Problem, But You’re Speaking Solution
November 16, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBToday, we'll talk about why so many entrepreneurs can't effectively explain what they're doing to their customers. The short answer is they speak the wrong language. Customers speak Problem, entrepreneurs speak Solution. It's like two people trying to have a conversation when one only speaks Latin and the other only speaks Dutch. We go through how to start speaking Problem, and show the power of Problem Language through a live idea test - two landing pages for an AI bot to help people get o...
An SOP for Testing a Startup Idea
November 08, 2023 10:00 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBToday, we'll help you build an SOP for testing startup ideas. We'll use an example from a listener - a startup in the homeschooling space - as a guinea pig. The best way to have a great startup idea this time next year is to test out a bunch of ideas in the interim. This SOP will help you do it, and scale the process. Tacklebox Byldd 00:00 Tacklebox 00:30 Pros and Amateurs 02:08 Homeschool Idea 05:47 The Story of Future You 06:16 Entrepreneur Pro Tactic Number One - Working Backwards from...
Two Ways to Approach Your Startup Idea Like A Pro (ITS Classic)
November 01, 2023 09:00 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MBToday, we'll talk about pros and amateurs. Pros build businesses that have a shot - amateurs never leave the starting gate. Unfortunately, most amateurs don't know they're approaching their idea the wrong way. We talk through your vision and your internal system - the internal process you'll build, automate, and scale to help you execute that vision. We do it with a little help from the best run solo business I've encountered (an interior designer), and the best tool for your internal syste...
Writing Persuasive Copy to Test an Idea
October 25, 2023 09:00 - 18 minutes - 17 MBToday, we talk through how to write compelling copy. We go through a few counterintuitive archetypes you can use to dramatically increase the clarity of your messaging, which will allow you to increase your conversion rate and get more people involved earlier in the process. Copywriting is an idea-testing superpower. Tacklebox AI Brian Byldd 00:00 AI Brian 00:33 When Copy Becomes Important 02:40 Why You’re a Bad Writer 05:40 Is This Anything? 06:50 Byldd 07:55 The Big Misunderstanding 1...
How to Embrace Risk, Uncertainty, and Chaos
October 18, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MBToday, we'll help you embrace risk, uncertainty, and chaos. The only way to get asymmetric results in life is to spend a lot of time in what we call the "chaos" zone - the uncomfortable place where you're finding things no one else has yet. This type of work (life) is uncomfortable and stressful, so people don't do it. But, it's where all the potential asymmetric value is. So, we go through tactics to make this stage feel safer, allowing you to spend more time in it and increasing the chance...
The Three Types of Problems Worth Your Time to Solve
October 11, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBToday we talk through the three types of problems that deserve a solution. We start off with a few higher level thoughts about problems and startups - specifically around achievement incentives and how some bad early decisions usually can't be salvaged by good decisions later on. Then we talk through Hole Problems, Teleporter Problems, and Status Level Jump Problems. Byldd Tacklebox Getting God at the Wrong Thing Bad Early Decisions 00:40 The Types of Problems Customers Will Solve 01...
How to Find Your Wedge, feat. Bleeding Neck Problems (ITS Classic)
October 04, 2023 09:00 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBIf you can't get traction, you likely need a wedge. Today, we talk through how to find one. We leverage a few frameworks we use at Tacklebox - the Bleeding Neck Problem, Productizing the First Step, and the 100 Character Landing Page. The goal is to solve an immediate, painful problem that'll build trust and allow you to pitch your bigger, North Star vision. Wedges get you started, and life is 100x harder without them. Tacklebox
Are you a Freelancer or an Entrepreneur?
September 27, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBToday, we'll help you think through a deceptively tough question - are you a freelancer or an entrepreneur? Every decision you make needs to nest neatly below this core decision for your business to work, but tons of founders are either trying to do both simultaneously or think they're one when they're really the other. We clarify the difference between freelancer and entrepreneur, help you decide which will make you happier, and get you started on the path for whichever you choose. BYLDD...
A System to Relish the Uncomfortable Stuff
September 20, 2023 09:00 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBToday, we help you become the type of founder who relishes uncomfortable things that lead to successful startups. There are no real secrets in the startup world - the hard, proactive, uncomfortable work leads to businesses that matter. This work doesn’t happen without a system. Today we help you build that system, using The Costanza Swap, The Three Levers of Resilience, and The Failure Case. Hoo ahh. Tacklebox 00:24 Doing Things You Don’t Want To Do 02:45 Why the Eisenhower Box Doesn’t W...
How to Identify and Kill Bad Startup Ideas Masquerading As Good Ones
September 13, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBToday, we'll lay out a framework to help you identify and kill bad ideas. It's hard to objectively evaluate your idea early on - this framework helps you rise above your idea to do it effectively. A side-effect is that the framework will help you find and pursue the good ideas. We talk through 1) Finding and Evaluating the Real Risk, 2) Predicting Organic Growth Potential, and 3) Predicting the Likelihood of Converting Early Customers, using a startup idea from a listener as an example. T...
A System to Test and Build Your Startup (Part III - Implementing Your System This Weekend)
September 06, 2023 09:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBToday is the last episode in the three-part series on an internal operating system for people working on startup ideas. We talk through the core pillars - Projects, Areas, Inbox - and the multipliers (like Keystone Actions) that'll make sure you're focused on the things that could be differentiators for your business. After today, you'll have everything you need to build your own system. Tacklebox The PARA Method Getting Things Done Notion GTD Template 00:24 Your Startup System 02:18 ...
An Operating System to Help You Move Faster By Focusing On Less - Part 2 (feat. a monkey reciting Hamlet)
August 30, 2023 09:00 - 28 minutes - 26 MBToday is part 2 of our series helping you build an internal operating system. We identify the four things you'll need to have happen for your startup to gain momentum, then we organize those into a system that'll help you move fast based on inertia. Tacklebox Beehiiv Monkeys and Shakespeare 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think Delta 4 Status Level Jump 00:25 - Internal Operating System Part II 03:15 - Monkeys and Shakespeare 07:40 - Smooth Jazz 08: 05 - Reverse Engineering a...
A Weekly System to Keep Entrepreneurs With Jobs Moving Fast (Part 1 - Strategy)
August 23, 2023 09:00 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBToday, we'll kick off a series that'll help people with jobs and startup ideas build an internal system that'll help them track progress and build momentum. Too many founders have no strategy or measurement system around how they pursue and test an idea - this series will help you do it. In part 1, we go through what a strategy should look like and the three counterintuitive benefits to creating one. Tacklebox Beehiiv 00:00 Jazz 00:25 What should you work on today? 02:29 Golf Clubs in C...
The One Thing That Matters - How to Find a Differentiator That'll Support a Business
August 16, 2023 09:00 - 24 minutes - 22 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Beehiiv Popup Bagels 00:00 Beehiiv 00:33 Differentiator intro 04:00 What do you hire a differentiator to do? 05:44 The Attention Pie 09:03 Smooth Jazz 09:28 Popup Bagels 16:30 Five Prompts fo...
How to Stop Being Your Startup's Bottleneck
August 09, 2023 09:00 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Idea to Startup Newsletter (Beehiiv) 00:34 Rem...
A Framework for Building Wildly Useful Startups
August 02, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Beehiiv (Idea to Startup Newsletter) Byldd Greenlight...
Four Characteristics of Great Startup Ideas
July 26, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Beehiiv 1:27 The Personal Venn Diagram 5:18 Smooth Jazz 5:46 The Four Characteristics of Great Startup Ideas 6:48 Characteristic 1: Potential for Organic Growth 9:14 ...
The Organic Growth Equation - Why People Share and How to Pick Ideas that'll Grow
July 19, 2023 09:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBToday 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. Tacklebox Insider Newsletter (beehiiv) 00:34 Intro to organic growth 4:24 Why social ads won’t work 5:54 Outline of the Organic Growth Equation 7:08 S...
A System to Help You Become Wildly Creative
July 12, 2023 09:00 - 21 minutes - 20 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Weekly Podcast Newsletter The Great Talks, Lectures, and Speeches of His...
Ep. 165 - Should You Niche?
June 28, 2023 09:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBToday, 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 Up Tacklebox Kurt ...
Why You Didn't Build a Product Last Weekend (feat. A Framework to Seek Out Discomfort)
June 21, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBToday, 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. Byldd Tacklebox 0:35 Magical Products 1:51 Story of company that helps restau...
How to Build the First (Magical) Version of Your Product This Weekend
June 14, 2023 09:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBToday 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 eps Tacklebox The Personal MBA Epis...
Choose The Right Quest
June 07, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBToday, we'll talk through how to identify and pursue the big, consequential ideas - what we'll call Quests. We go through how to identify them, how to wrap our arms around them, and what to do when you (inevitably) feel intimidated. We'll do it with a little help from the 90 Yard Mistake, a ghost kitchen idea, and some chronic pain interviews. Quest (drink). Tacklebox Choose Good Quests
INTERVIEW: Seth Godin Thinks Through Startup Ideas in Real-Time
May 31, 2023 09:00 - 49 minutes - 45.1 MBToday, Seth Godin (!!) virtually dropped by to talk through a bunch of startup ideas. He gives his opinion on how he’d start everything from a pasta truck to an updated CSA program. We dive into risk, emotion, tension and doing things that matter. Seth talks about the distinction between entrepreneurs and freelancers and the danger of thinking you’re one when you’re really the other. We talk about marketplaces and domain expertise and knowing what it is you’re actually selling. This is my f...
When to Pivot and When to Stick (aka How Pros Deal w/ Distractions)
May 24, 2023 09:00 - 22 minutes - 20.9 MBToday, 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)
May 17, 2023 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBToday, 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. Tacklebox Owl City - Fireflies Daniel Priestley Unbounce Score
Ideation, Finding a Wedge, Seeding a Marketplace and How to Scale Yourself with an EA - with Jonathan Swanson, cofounder of Thumbtack, Athena, and Powerset
May 10, 2023 09:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBToday 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 cons...
The Law of The Startup Wedge (feat. circadian rhythms and trust transactions)
May 03, 2023 09:00 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MBToday, 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. Byldd Tacklebox Six Easy Pieces
How to Separate Yourself from Your Idea (feat. the five immutable laws of cold emails)
April 26, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes - 22 MBToday, we'll talk about people. An old boss of Brian's said the best way to see into the future is to see the present in higher resolution than anyone else. Understanding people - yourself and your customer - will let you understand their behavior. This will let you better predict how they'll act than anyone else and build for it. We talk through a cold email that'll get you customers to speak with and a method to make sure you're unbiased in what you hear. Tacklebox Stutz Pyramid Wes K...
Testing a Startup Idea Live, Part 2: An Organizing Principle and A Structure to Move Fast
April 19, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBToday is week two of testing out a startup idea live on the show. We're pushing and pulling on the chronic pain idea, setting up the system to get interactions with customers and establishing our organizing principle for the first phase of the business: speed. Tacklebox Chartr
Testing a Startup Idea Live, Part 1: The Idea, The Goldfish Cleanse, J.O.A.S.
April 12, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 20 MBToday, we'll kick off a series where Brian is going to test out a startup idea live. We begin the way every idea should begin - by figuring out why the thing will fail and building in systems to avoid that fate. Brian touches on Thrust and Drag, The Goldfish Cleanse, Journal of a Startup, and exactly what you should do to get to first principles for your startup idea. Tacklebox Thrust and Drag
When to Quit on your Startup Idea, and When to Stick It Out (feat. the systemic vs. solvable checklist and the idea growth curve)
April 05, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBToday, we'll talk through the hardest decision an early-stage entrepreneur has to make - quit on your idea or stick it through? This decision rarely has enough information and the entrepreneur never has enough context to make it. Lots of entreprenuers quit right before their idea was about to get interesting or stick with ideas that never had a chance for years. This pod lays out a decision framework to help with the quit or stick question. Tacklebox Sell the Position podcast
How to Find and Solve Hard Problems (feat. a used car startup and The Problem Hunters)
March 29, 2023 10:00 - 19 minutes - 18 MBHard problems are the only problems worth your time. Today, we'll talk about how to identify them and build a business around them. We'll dig in on decisions customers avoid and using those decisions to anchor early traction. We'll talk through Brian's favorite current business - a guy who buys used cars for you - and how to approach helping people with chronic pain. Byldd Tacklebox
How to Build Trust in Six Seconds (Thrust + Drag Part 2, feat. an elephant and the bus stop exercise)
March 22, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MBToday, we'll finish up on Thrust and Drag. This time, we'll talk about building trust with your customer in six seconds - creating thrust that'll buy you another six seconds, and another after that. There's art and science to getting people's attention in such a short period of time, and we'll talk through both. Tacklebox The Million Dollar One Person Business Building A Second Brain Clickdrobe