Jan 04
232: Why Founder Mode Works —
My new piece in MIT Sloan Management Review
Dec 15
231: The Early-Stage Crucible —
The triad of challenges that most early stage founders face
Nov 23
228: Building 10x Better —
Why founders have to narrow down and compound to create truly exceptional products in the post Chat-GPT era
Aug 23
215: "You Have to Be a Little Delusional" —
Sharing my talk and Q&A from Medium Day 2024 on pivoting and the smarter way to revive a struggling startup
Oct 12
Startups As Chemical Reactions —
Originally written in 2014, updated with a new example in 2021 (Homejoy →
Robinhood)
I'm sometimes envious of people who studied subjects in college that correspond
to their actual careers. Finance majors who become bankers. Computer Science
majors who become software engineers. Must be nice to actually apply the
Dec 05
Two Feelings You Need Before Starting a Startup —
First published in 2013, republished in 2020 with minor tweaks
I was talking to some folks about applying to Y Combinator and preparing
themselves to found a startup more generally. One point that I found myself
talking about, especially in terms of timing, was the two distinct emotions that
I
Apr 12
How to Become More Adaptable —
Republishing my piece from TechCrunch
Dec 31
Solve for the Harder Problem [Interview with Bilal Mahmood] —
How ClearBrain’s CEO Used These 7 Lessons to Create a New Product Category
Nov 16
Three Days with MaGIC —
Inspired by Silicon Valley, many cities and nations around the world are trying
to build startup and technology hubs – to spur innovation and economic
development. In Asia, Shenzhen, Singapore, Indonesia, and Bangalore have become
known as startup hubs
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150723075401/http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/
Mar 15
The Minimum Viable Transaction —
In 2009, an entrepreneur named Eric Ries coined at term that would move the
field of product development forward. The minimum viable product (MVP) making
something that could “collect the maximum amount of validated learning about
customers with the least effort
[https://www.jasonshen.com/%22http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/
May 08
Eleven Compelling Startup Pitch Archetypes —
Over the past few weeks, I’ve helped a handful of startups work on their YC
applications and interviews. I spent much of the time brainstorming with the
founders on the best way to explain their business in the most clear and
compelling way possible. These founders knew a lot