Weekly 🔥 29: The paradox of being a “scrappy” founder
In this week’s edition, we discuss
- Why first-generation founders need to learn to spend
- How to market your startup — even when you hate doing it
P.S. If you’re deep in the entrepreneurial trenches and have a story to tell, we’d love to read it (and publish it).
Why first-gen founders need to learn to spend
One of the hardest lessons Dalia Katan had to learn as a first-time founder was to SPEND. “Be scrappy” is great advice for most founders, but for first-generation and minority founders, it’s often the wrong advice.
Here’s why:
- 99% of startup advice is built for an outdated founder persona — and this can be damaging for the new wave of diverse founders.
- Being scrappy is a strategy — and just one of many. It’s essential to know when it’s time to change it.
- As a company evolves, its founder must evolve with it — The scarcity mindset that takes a company from 0 to 1 isn’t the same one that will lead it from 10 to 100, and shifting to an abundance mindset is game-changing.
- Learn how to ask for money and how to spend it — on things that will help you focus, save time and energy, or help you work faster and smarter.
👉 Dive deeper: The Paradox of Being Scrappy: Why First-Gen Founders Need to Learn to Spend
How to market your startup — even when you hate doing it
While entrepreneurs are passionate about their business, most are less passionate about marketing. But as Saskia Ketz argues, your real job as a founder is ensuring your business succeeds, which means marketing it.
She shares a few simple strategies that will help you (even if you hate it):
- Create buckets for each task — blocking chunks of your workday specifically for various marketing tasks — like social outreach, answering customer questions, or working on the long path of SEO — works as a forcing function for you to spend time on them.
- Develop multiple systems of accountability — like Saskia’s Q-tip trick or accountability groups, finding ways to get yourself to do something you dislike are essential.
- Stay close to your feedback loops — Positive loops can motivate you and show you that your efforts are working.
- Do yourself a favor and just get started ASAP — The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll learn by doing, reducing some of the anxiety and overwhelm that can come with marketing.
👉 Go deeper here: I Hate Marketing My Business — Here’s How I Motivate Myself to Do It Anyway
Till next time,
Team EH
