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--- imported_by: wikihub-q7gz scraped_at: 2026-01-30 source_gdoc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b4_T8Jlv1McWQ5GU_4WCyGDMmX-rubQq2EvM4lOYKtM source_url: http://startuptrickswiki.jacobcole.net/ title: Startup Tricks Wiki visibility: public --- [[systematicawesome]] \> [[startuptrickswiki]] \#connectordoc \#curatedList started by <jacob@ideaflow.io> See also: [[toolstacks]] Contribute to the list in the Inbox section! Startup Tricks Wiki Tricks, tools, and resources learned while founding and operating startups [Inbox](#h.ox96erasxh5) [Misc Uncategorized \#toFile](#h.ox96erasxh5) [2](#h.ox96erasxh5) [Tools](#h.3yzi5dctwtan) [3](#h.3yzi5dctwtan) [Real Startups’ Toolstacks](#h.gkqpt664ydx) [3](#h.gkqpt664ydx) [Tools by Category](#h.a2gjc0c676uz) [5](#h.a2gjc0c676uz) [Cap Table Management](#h.4tgk0u73qcid) [5](#h.4tgk0u73qcid) [Collaboration](#h.d9366p6tim4k) [6](#h.d9366p6tim4k) [Recruiting](#h.sqptpubvrsb6) [6](#h.sqptpubvrsb6) [Good Retained Recruiting Services](#h.1grvfcuitz6t) [6](#h.1grvfcuitz6t) [Making Homepages](#h.t2zyajg1rt9m) [7](#h.t2zyajg1rt9m) [Making Pitch Decks](#h.y2naidq1bhe5) [7](#h.y2naidq1bhe5) [Design](#h.vm2ffxazt9od) [7](#h.vm2ffxazt9od) [Development](#h.7fjk1l1ie05r) [7](#h.7fjk1l1ie05r) [Debugging](#h.gsdhy76gg2dn) [7](#h.gsdhy76gg2dn) [Ergonomics](#h.m0fo5sjbddsq) [7](#h.m0fo5sjbddsq) [Other Electronic Hardware](#h.vi38cy57zdtb) [8](#h.vi38cy57zdtb) [Tricks and Advice](#h.m22fbqrd4yf4) [8](#h.m22fbqrd4yf4) [Resources/Advice For Startup Beginners](#h.5rr0ownei4i1) [8](#h.5rr0ownei4i1) [Hiring](#h.fwx9vmvxtf27) [8](#h.fwx9vmvxtf27) [Accounting](#h.23v7wlragg10) [8](#h.23v7wlragg10) [Fundraising](#h.wqvmy71gawp) [9](#h.wqvmy71gawp) [Investor Updates](#h.p39mxilo8a51) [9](#h.p39mxilo8a51) [Interviewing](#h.i3y9i58zmzvt) [9](#h.i3y9i58zmzvt) [Interviewing Assistants/Ops/Chief of Staff Candidates](#h.adsyhqew0sp0) [9](#h.adsyhqew0sp0) [Interviewing](#h.60qkoaozwxw5) [10](#h.60qkoaozwxw5) [Management Tips/Concepts](#h.aa9h61rooib1) [11](#h.aa9h61rooib1) [Misc (#Good)](#h.kbnzmjeqob0p) [13](#h.kbnzmjeqob0p) Related: [[toolstacks]] • [[startupideas]] • [[hackathonprojects]] ----- # Inbox (Uncategorized - Add Notes Here) \#toFile <https://founderkit.com/> <https://x.com/natiakourdadze/status/1806386019828486208?s=46&t=CcQ9QvnBZ-uAJqzjufp3OA> <https://capiche.com/> Capiche is a repository of information and discussions about the software we use to get things done. Instead of relying on agenda-driven sales, marketing, and customer success teams, we can rely on each other. [What split inboxes do you use in Superhuman?](https://capiche.com/q/what-split-inboxes-do-you-use-in-superhuman#a2794) \#book [The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building Kindle Edition](https://www.amazon.com/Great-CEO-Within-Tactical-Building-ebook/dp/B07ZLGQZYC) \#hire \#services Hires & services that you should put extra effort towards in hiring/securing Lawyer Bank account (Mercury recommended by AbstractOps (over Chase, SVB, First Republic, etc.) Services that are more or less commoditized Bookkeeper, payroll, designer (Fiverr and Upwork offer great contracted design services) Landing page not super important early on \#interviewing Engr <http://codingchallenge.jacobcole.net/> [Interview Flow from Binc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pcLZgiqgzZsISc-ehwjD_R806U_Q1vmyUZTMUcxv8Rc/edit) Chief of Staff [\#todo \#private Interview Guide for Chief of Staff](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UFB2PS4CujvGKT2qmYAX6xUwVWNx7-A_bIx6N7BnrW0/edit#heading=h.tcv7ugaapi1c) \#chromeExtension Tabs Outliner 1Tab Quick Tabs (search/switch tabs) Hunter: Find email addresses in seconds GSuite Tricks When to make emails like hiring@ideapad.io users instead of groups on GSuite – reason if you want to be able to send an email from hiring and it's a group it's not elegant to do that . Similarly want to be able to send emails from: Support Sales Info It’s not necessary to make <cos@ideapad.io> a user because if the chief of staff changes, you can just setup email forwarding or an auto-responder & be sure to cc <cosarchive@ideapad.io> on anything worth archiving which would forward to [jacob+cosarchive@ideapad.io](mailto:jacob+archival@ideapad.io) Make notifications@ideapad.io a user not a group Preventing read receipts in Superhuman Command + K → Image settings → block all tracking pixels [https://www.insynchq.com](https://www.insynchq.com/error-report?app_ver=3.2.0.40833&os=Mac-x86_64-10.15.5&email=jacob%40ideapad.io&work=AddCloudGDItem&exception=IntegrityError&err_msg=UNIQUE+constraint+failed%3A+fs_items.node_id&path=%2FUsers%2Fjacobjcole%2FLibrary%2FApplication+Support%2FInsync) good tool for syncing/backing up locally personal and work google drive \#tool. Also w/e support chat platform they use is slick Drip campaign tools <https://www.persistiq.com/> <https://vocus.io/> \<\> mike’s friend <https://www.streak.com/> – now fairly expensive Mailchimp +1 ~JM # Tools ## Real Startups’ Toolstacks (see also: <http://toolstacks.jacobcole.net/>) New parts of Shadi’s stack: Monday.com for team task management, Atom teletype for pair programming, Pastel for leaving design feedback on live pages. M’s stack (Seed stage ops): pocket evernote zoom grammarly adblock lastpass docsend vocus (later:) hubspot. Ideaflow (Seed+ stage) Slack, Figma+Sketch, G-Suite, Zoom, namecheap.com (not great UI), name.com (slightly better, but still imperfect UI, more expensive) GetCloudApp.com (gif capture), Screen.so (really good remote collaboration shared mouse), Superhuman for email, Dropbox Paper for some random side tasks (often used big/small, urgent/non-urgent table for task prioritization), 1Password, SimpleNote (for quick plain text knowledge capture/scratchpad synced with phone), InSync for syncing google drive, Otter.ai for incredibly good voice transcription for meeting notes, Speechify - incredibly good text-to-speech for turning articles/books into audio content (can convert from a picture), Voice Record Pro for low-space audio recording, Keyboard Maestro for recording and executing key strokes Magic Virtual Assistant service (used to send NDAs, pay parking tickets and simple tasks. Only somewhat competent, but cheap & mostly but not perfectly reliable on basic things) DocuSign for legal document templates, sending out employment contracts, etc. (Hellosign may have better UI) Gusto (payroll), Zenefits (benefits; fyi Blueshield Platinum Healthcare is good for things like acupuncture). Independent remote accountant (Los Gatos/UKB) , QuickBooks. Silicon Valley Bank (decent interest rate, UX is clunky, recommended First Republic). Brex credit cards (has receipt tracking/good UX), not using Brex cash as of 6/2020 (not great interest rate). WSGR + Gunderson law firm (possibly rec. Gunderson or others over WSGR). GivingTrax for donation matching & tracking Linear.app for Eng task management, Notion for specs. React, Typescript, VSCode/IntelliJ IDE, Logrocket, Firestore + AWS/MySQL, Github. Medium for blog Thistle.co for healthy meal delivery. Mealsquares.com, Owyn (Tumeric “Mylk” - protein/meal shakes). Jarvis standing desk (with FluidStance balance board & Sidekick rolling locking cushioned file cabinet, exercise ball for sitting), Roost portable laptop stand Tile for finding things (laptop, car keys, backpack) Accelerators: StartX (Applied/accepted as non-Stanford founder. Turned down YC) FoundersPledge - supportive community Leadership/Employee Development: Nonviolent Communications/CLG (Conscious Leadership Group) First Round Mentors, StartX Mentors. MIT VMS (Venture Mentoring Services) Mentors Final Internal Comms Slack, GSuite Customer Support Zendesk, Intercom (eventually dropped) Customer/Potential Customer Comms Mailchimp, Twitter Ops Gusto, Metabase Dark Internal Comms Slack, GSuite Ops Gusto, Segment, Heap, Brex Customer Comms Mailchimp, Mailgun, Twitter, Slack ## Tools by Category ### Cap Table Management Carta (also does 409A) – \$6k+ / yr <https://captable.io/> <https://pulley.com/> ### Collaboration [Screen.so](http://screen.so) - Really good remote mouse pairing/double mouse controlling from the screen hero guys Notion.so - For team wiki (some UX complaints, but is useful to have even if you have G-Suite) Standard Stuff: Slack G-Suite - Google drive, gmail, etc for enterprise Figma - For design. Lacks certain drawing features, like magic wand, so you still need sketch and/or photoshop on the side Airtable - FYI, good for dashboard for presentation purposes & visual links between shared tags ### Recruiting Post on <http://hiringlist.jacobcole.net/> Post on <http://angel.co/> Small Co Lever.co – not needed if hiring through your network (#ats applicant tracking system) Or Greenhouse.io \#ats Triplebyte – was good a few years ago, may suck now Good for after the first few hires: Up and Coming: Dover <https://www.dover.io/> – Maybe <https://www.turing.com/> #remote? #### Good Retained Recruiting Services Generally don’t recommend retained recruiting services for early stage – really \#doubledown on going through your network ParkerRemick.com (esp. For executive recruiting / later stage but can also do principal engineer. \#expensive. \$100k for 6 mo search for 1 hire. Less for add-on hires) <https://www.bincsearch.com/> – worked well for some people to find principal engineers. Varies depending on quality of your recruiter there. ~\$20k/mo. ### Making Homepages As of Jun 2020, Webflow.com is best for no-code or semi-no-code editing Webpage screen capture \#tool: [Full Page Screen Capture](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/full-page-screen-capture/fdpohaocaechififmbbbbbknoalclacl?hl=en) ### Making Pitch Decks Google Sheets Beautiful.ai ### Design [Looka](https://looka.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkpq_luyo6gIVzsDACh2NxgnKEAAYAiAAEgLvrfD_BwE) - Awesome automatic logo generator with AI Invision App - For sharing moodboards. Google docs also works ok for this Figma - For design. Lacks certain drawing features, like magic wand, so you still need sketch and/or photoshop on the side ### Development Vercel.com (Formerly Zeit) - Allows you to easily make PHP-style webpages with JavaScript and generally fixes a lot of modern issues with frontend development Retool.com - ### Debugging Logrocket - Logs the exact state of the application in a user session Cloud App - Really quickly create and share quick gifs of what’s on your screen and/or screenshots with a link ### Ergonomics Buy 10+ reehut or other yoga blocks for ergonomics (can prop up laptop for video calls, prop up your elbows for using your phone and do many other things) Roost portable laptop stand \#t extended monitor arm with VESA mounts \#t Jacob’s reconfigurable iPad case, airpod keychain case Ergodocs EZ split keyboard on mounted with rubberbands to metal vertical kinesis freestyle keyboard (tent) kit to make it vertical. [Rsiwiki.jacobcole.net](http://rsiwiki.jacobcole.net) ### Other Electronic Hardware Anker charging brick \#t lookup on amazon & donglehub for newer macbook # Tricks and Advice ## Resources/Advice For Startup Beginners At the very least read [How to Start a Startup by Paul Graham](http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html) Do [YC Startup School](https://www.startupschool.org/) in the next cohort, whenever it is, and certainly watch all their videos Actually become a really nice, helpful, warm, and giving person. Even if you’re a little rough, it’s a skill that can be learned with genuine effort! \#management \#teambuilding \#communitybuilding \#culture ## Hiring ## Accounting Most popular options are: - Pilot – haven’t used before but overall heard good review from founders (but most founders haven’t tried others) - Indinero – had to spend time to find the right financial controller at Indinero to work with but had a terrific experience after I found him - Quickbooks/Xero + traditional accountant – haven’t explored Evaluation - It’s more important to have a good bookkeeper than it is have good “tech” for accounting (since the efficiencies accrue to the accounting firm and not for you) - Then it’s about the all in price after including things like R&D tax credits and filing taxes (Federal, State, Local, Franchise, etc) What makes a good bookkeeper / controller (over and above getting the actual accounting right)? - Knows the right questions to ask (doesn’t has irrelevant questions) and only has to ask them once - Responsive to requests - Has the right attitude - Fast at incorporating feedback - Great at solving problems proactively for you without having to ask for input every time - Can handle troubleshooting for you and own the process (doesn’t just refer you to helpdesk) Next steps - Since I’m already familiar with Indinero, I’d likely just ask for a demo with Pilot <!-- --> - Check out features (most likely similar) <!-- --> - What’s onboarding like? - What do you have to do month to month to upkeep? - What do you have to do each year? Especially for taxes <!-- --> - Then ask the sales rep why I should choose pilot over Indinero (and ask Indinero why I should choose them over Pilot) ## Fundraising Apply on <http://jcombinator.network/> (esp. if you’re connected to Jacob) – a trusted network for founders and investors Tips: err on the side of saying less in investor emails. – Esp. if the conversation is going well, esp. if you’re the kind of person who talks a lot, and/or doesn’t know what implications saying something seemingly innocuous might have ## Investor Updates [Investor Update \#Template](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TeE011EUq8WWa7FditKHcGQCLsNU1ROrMQn0myGKypI/edit#) ## Interviewing ### Interviewing Assistants/Ops/Chief of Staff Candidates If we had to create a guide to bringing the best out of you what would you give to us? \<\>Write operating manuals... #interviewingAssistants \#interviewing \#hiring \#interviewQuestion How do we bring the best about of you \#good \#interviewingAssistants High trust env \#interviewingAssistants typing speed shortcuts Ever hired an assistant? When you hire someone you are buying a network \#interviewingAssistants Special talents fish in water — research, pushing rounds through People and customers Can talk to - Talking with vps and above \#interviewingAssistants \#interview w Victoria Eval network @jm \#interviewingAssistants anything that really offends you or anything that you won't do? Pivot table \#interviewingAssistants Managing calendar — how do I specify regions of days I have to be In Palo Alto vs sc? Managing pt and schedule @assistants @steph Rec pilates \#tt Book Lori Book Marian Jarvis Wccc Sensei \#interviewingAssistants \#interviewingAssistants stylistic writing / interviewing assistants \#Criterion @steph \#interviewingAssistants Work on the quote graph 409A Having a network like a housemate \#interviewingAssistants #investorCriterion get multiple communities together Tap into these rich and connecting them ### Interviewing If we had to create a guide to bringing the best out of you what would you give to us? \<\>Write operating manuals... #interviewingAssistants \#interviewing \#hiring \#interviewQuestion \#interviewing working in homepage together Why leaving \#interviewing \#conversation with steph Wang shone bat \#chiefofstaff \#PotentialHire \#interviewing dau's \#interviewing LinkedIn call Good school Left job within year don't take the call Do they like their job — good people are optimists Tell me about project you managed or feature you built Reactive ppl are pessimistic People who were tutors or ta's or left phds Look for ppl who left home co or region — or state Any surprises — with product demo or whatever curious smart people are always surprised Be an energy giver \#principle \#value max goodman patreon People you've committed to work with aren't bringing energy in places you're asking to What are you looking for What's your ideal co Si toy want to be early stage founder do everything or specialize What bugs you in a co \#interviewing - People you've committed to work with aren't bringing energy in places you're asking to salary equity requirement What prompted you to leave last What are you looking for What's your ideal co Si toy want to be early stage founder do everything or specialize What bugs you in a co \#interviewing salary equity requirement What prompted you to leave last @wing sure roam YC? Product ux qa Suggestions for improvements around campus Short \#interviewing \#Criterion Something challenging you went thru If you went back to beginning and change how you went through \#interviewing \#StartUpTricksWiki ## Management Tips/Concepts \#Management "The next three days are going to be f—ing hard. We've seen quality in you. That's why you're sitting here. Because we believe you have what it takes" \#BehaviorChange \#tightCommunity SaS <https://youtu.be/l68pkQjXw2Y> \#Management first get meeting going with positive energy Then ask if reviewed coding challenge / did work The skill of being nice Different people start with different aptitudes . But even if you don’t know it you can take to it like a fish to water \#Management Write operating manuals — for you – how people should communicate or work with you \#StartUpTricksWiki \#Management \<\>If we had to create a... #StartUpTricksWiki \#Management trying to not be defensive in anything really Dash always be just listening and incorporating feedback – this was the endorsement of Danny in the trust token video When you receive a piece of negative feedback it’s an opportunity to become more conscious of something is the graceful \#Reframe “Funplace” vs workplace \#goal \#Management? -.- How can I support you in improving this? \#Management Let’s do an emotional checkin \#Interrupt Startup weekly retrospectives \#Management #Management it makes people feel so good and gives them their energy back when you take time to respond to their ideas and appreciate the good ones and good aspects of them and show them how they have the potential to be great relates to Steven Spielberg‘s management style Seeing the potential in people I regret versus I’m sorry \#nonviolentCommunications \#Management \#Pitching \#communication After listening carefully about what people’s circumstances are, tell them what they should do. This is good leader ship \#Management \#Recruiting \#Hiring \#BehaviorChange \#best an opinionated way tell them people a Give Albert an environment where he can try on a new identity, perhaps a summer camp, maybe many people need this \#Management -.- Yo if got such a brilliant mind how is it taking you this long \#Management #Management \#StartUpTricksWiki As a side remark, one of the things that I do think Rafael and his teammates really have right is an understanding of team spirit and team culture and human behavior. As his cofounder Stephen Kade said, take a bunch of primates with natural instincts and desires, put them in a room, in a very constrained environment, expected to do a certain mechanical task generally unrelated to those desires, Day in and day out for most of their lives – it’s crazy to think that this works even the slightest bit!! This is Stephen’s philosophy on leadership – seeing each employee as the human animal they are and trying to build an environment that caters to that human animal \<\>@david ~Stephen kade The 15 commitments of conscious leadership \#Book \#Management #Management Let me know when a good time to talk to you mindfully would be \#work \#phrase mindful #Management you are needed #Management \#Meditation @david Please don’t stress about getting things done today, then, but only if it comes naturally Interested to hear what you come up with from for the global to do list as an experienced founder, but again, no need to stress about getting this done today either. In case you find it inspiring: i Was feeling really drained yesterday afternoon myself and went to go heat up some food and in the three minutes it took to start heating up the food I realized when I really needed to do was take a 10 minute qigong break About nine minutes into that I realized what I really needed to do was meditate for an hour About 45 minutes into that I realized the truth of Gandhi‘s quote: “I meditate one hour each day except those days I’m too busy. Those days I meditate two hours.” So I ended up meditating two hours I didn’t want to leave the sanctuary free of painful things and thoughts about the meditation created I realized I didn’t have to And had the most magical evening wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood, meeting my neighbors for the first time. Then my friend I had been planning to catch up with came over and we somehow arrived at a shared desire to turn my room into a meditative sanctuary, and we made the biggest dent on cleaning it I have in a year I woke up with joy bubbling in my belly and extending out to my fingertips, moving fast, and had one of the best business days I’ve had in a long while #Management \#startup \#founder \#ownership could call it heroic responsibility, maybe," Harry Potter said. "Not like the usual sort. It means that whatever happens, no matter what, it's always your fault. Even if you tell Professor McGonagall, she's not responsible for what happens, you are. Following the school rules isn't an excuse, someone else being in charge isn't an excuse, even trying your best isn't an excuse. There just aren't any excuses, you've got to get the job done no matter what." Help people get what they need \#Management \#StartUpTricksWiki Maya Angelou once remarked, that “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”#Quote \#Management \#EQ #Management \#consent \#Massage \#dating do you want me to poke you more or less than I currently am? \#StartUpTrickswiki If you are willing to own it you get to make the call about how it’s built \#Management ## Misc (#Good) “I’m fact I’ll generalize: every great 5/5 hire I’ve ever made has been when I was looking for role x and found someone so amazing we made the role x++ just to accommodate their awesomeness “ \#hiring \#ats \#hiring @startuptrickswiki \[Gem - CRM\](<https://www.gem.com/crm>) \<\> mike’s friend \#write Keeping a blurbs note in Simplenote \#workflow \#t Add Headings (Format \> Paragraph styles) and they will appear in your table of contents. Dropbox Paper for some random side tasks (often used big/small, urgent/non-urgent table for task prioritization). Also use the special chrome create shortcut + open as window trick to transform a specific dropbox paper file, or any webpage, into a desktop app \#t way to turn any website into a standalone electron like app using new chrome feature <https://share.getcloudapp.com/P8ue1qlO> ~davidg I just found and installed a vs code extension in about a minute called “Bookmarks” that lets you mark particular lines and shows them in a sidebar, super useful! ProductBoard - roadmap \#StartUpTricksWiki @mike \#StartUpTricksWiki how to run a drip campaign with the candidate — have a series of events and stuff to invite people to to have a low-key beneficial interactions that aren't as artificial as grabbing lunch where you are trying to convince them to join you A huge part of my value add and ability to get things done especially as a connector is sort of that I have a reputation for being helpful and having good judgment on things and therefore a lot of people sort of owe me favors and are willing to help me with other staff and therefore I can make a lot of connections and the difference between like Hiring I think a chief of staff and Hiring like an assistant is it expects or there's lots of differences but one difference is that I expect the chief of staff to sort of have a strong network and leverage their network to do all kinds of stuff including like solve problems and that's where like a lot of my life efficiency comes from inside great to solve problems from scratch on your own but like it's not so much more efficient to have a good network \#StartUpTricksWiki <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ashrust_startups-fundraising-activity-6674411565300744192-1Vl_> \#dilution \#StartUpTricksWiki Make intros Team building Interest in each other as much as product \#StartUpTricksWiki \#StartUpTricksWiki don't share revenue when raising seed or A before launch \#StartUpTricksWiki[ ](https://github.com/jlevy/og-equity-compensation)<https://github.com/jlevy/og-equity-compensation> #startupadvice Volunteering, doing favors for people especially volunteering as a connector is a great way to build your network Good reason to be in touch with someone like sriir \#StartUpTricksWiki Every time someone asks you for a favor that's an opportunity \#Networking \#StartUpTricksWiki \#Phrasing By the way, want to sync this week or early next? We are finalizing our allocations for the round It's a sign of weakness to have trouble hiring — warning \#StartUpTricksWiki Make angel investors prove themselves by referring potential hires \#StartUpTricksWiki \#StartUpTricksWiki why alpha not recurring Intentionally Time boxed so we don’t have to be supporting everyone while doing dev \#StartUpTricksWiki maintaining reputation is key Establish first impression with investors \#StartUpTricksWiki establishing principles early as insurance for tough times in the future. It seems self serving if you make up your principles then Part of the reason certain Valley works is because it’s like a village it’s so incest US and all the people know each other that you never know if you’re going to end up sleeping on someone’s couch or living with someone or working with someone on your next company for having them in Gastonia so there’s incentive for everyone to be civil to each other Like a village It was hilarious – two of people we’ve tried to hire later on became VCs we ended up pitching to \#StartUpWisdom \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki The key thing is getting people to respond, so having a whole mix of things for them for you to ping them about not just the business thing is kind of essential. It’s a holistic relationship that has value separate from the immediate business thing and they don’t want to hurt their relationship by failing to respond on the business point \#StartUpTricksWiki budget but not too early Cofounders as partners for life \#StartUpTricksWiki Doing social activities like going skiing best potentialh Court 10min because even one or two people who 10 really change the dynamic of a team newline doing occasional work related activities like checking out and analyzing how all the different machine learning start up‘s use machine learning for their competitive advantage What’s kind of funny here is that what this all points at is the optimal search strategy for finding Additional court team mates might be going to college with people and having a fun time – there’s two key ingredients it’s a talent pool of people who have the relevant skills and then the social experience of getting to spend time with him in a lot of different challenges in contacts so that you can figure out do you want to spend time with and make real friends with If you had to construct an ideal situation for finding cofounders or dating what would be better than college and how could we really lean into that and make this more overtly the mission of college and more over at least a good way for it to be set up Learn best practices from Lucy’s house and OnDeck Write operating manuals — for you – how people should communicate or work with you \#StartUpTricksWiki \#Management \<\>If we had to create a... A startup should be cool Like being part of a band \#culture \#StartUpTricksWiki People complement each other’s skills and play off of each other You do it for fun, it’s not work- art It’s cool to be in a band If your band is cool people want to join you – it’s a big honor They don’t need to get that large to do great stuff The people are friends All have to be extremely talented – you can’t have mediocre members of a rock band have to all people have to understand the problem intimately and everyone has to do their part because if they don’t do it no one else will \#FutureOfWork #StartUpTricksWiki \#Management trying to not be defensive in anything really Dash always be just listening and incorporating feedback – this was the endorsement of Danny in the trust token video When you receive a piece of negative feedback it’s an opportunity to become more conscious of something is the graceful \#Reframe #StartUpTricksWiki -.- live remote from team Unlike r This way you can have your own day while people are working without disrupting Don’t reveal to people that you are totally controlling your schedule to go see them \#StartUpTricksWiki Brother is neurosurgeon Oh hey by The way my dad is a neuro guy and starting a sleep company \#segue \#StartUpTricksWiki In certain environments like parties people need to be on their best behavior and most welcoming on their most welcoming behavior so is long as you don’t get too intense they are a good gentle ask \#StartUpTricksWiki At parties everyone is friends The communities the groups that party together are in some ways it’s a little cabals that run the world \#LatentVariable You gotta imply that you have either access to investors or access to people you can hire \#momentum \#StartUpTricksWiki -.- Email trick from startx #StartUpTricksWiki People don’t want to feel like they’ve been disingenuously set up host a party where are you incidentally invite the \#PotentialHire and invite and see them hit it off independent of the narrowness of the potential work possibility \#MontyHall Make self a good guy to know but nonthreatening \#StartUpTricksWiki Welcome to the camp of the dragon reborn \#Attitude \#good \#attitude \#Quote \#StartUpTricksWiki Lead can waive pro rata for everybody else. At least the majority preferred \#investorAdvisor And decrease to proportionally for everyone. Everyone should get a proportion \#StartUpTricksWiki Investors willing to do a preemptive round #StartUpTricksWiki[ ](https://pilot.com/)<https://pilot.com/> #Accounting \#Bookkeeping #StartUpTricksWiki Also, it’s better to get investor intros from non-investors when possible, because otherwise the investors are beholden to whoever connected them to us #StartUpTricksWiki What I realized, now reflecting on the meeting with Naval,is that if you have an investor who is truly close to you, someone who you really care about, someone who has your own best interest at heart, giving them a larger allocation is actually not a problem at all Because it’s like you’re giving it to someone you care about directly, and someone who will support you, perhaps even against other investors So I think I’m going to be happy to give him as much allocation as he wants. Also, if you think your investor is someone like that, I’m also happy to give him more allocation Street cred \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki if you give equity to people you have a good relationship with it’s not like you’re giving up any at all Increasing options pool \#StartUpTricksWiki i want valuation to be higher Invest in employees The sense that I have way more than enough right now. How to get that, how to cultivate that in everyone? \#StartUpTricksWiki I need to switch back in the mode of not taking actions out of fear. Even meditating \#framework \#best \#Epiphany The lethani does not set its roots in fear I have \$1.5M!! Thats a ton! Get in touch w feeling of abundance ! When will be enough \#engrain \#postqigong I saw the notification out of the corner of my eye but I haven’t read it. Reading it’s not going to make anything better \<\>#Best remain in one place... #Management \#StartUpTricksWiki As a side remark, one of the things that I do think Rafael and his teammates really have right is an understanding of team spirit and team culture and human behavior. As his cofounder Stephen Kade said, take a bunch of primates with natural instincts and desires, put them in a room, in a very constrained environment, expected to do a certain mechanical task generally unrelated to those desires, Day in and day out for most of their lives – it’s crazy to think that this works even the slightest bit!! This is Stephen’s philosophy on leadership – seeing each employee as the human animal they are and trying to build an environment that caters to that human animal \<\>@david ~Stephen kade #StartUpTricksWiki artful magnetic business card (more relevant to, for instance, a chiropractors office) People don’t leave jobs they leave managers \#Wisdom \#StartUpTricksWiki Instead of just jumping in and pitching build up a bunch of potential such that when the pit strikes it’s really hard, both directly and in a Monty Hall problem cents. Friend since, if Mark and Jason has just described the ideal world and then it when you pop up your thing it is an example of this it’s much more compelling than if we did the other way around and beat the reason is his expectation will match with our reality versus if he first him if we first give a demo and then he just got his expectation at I might differ in someway be disappointing \#Pitching \#StartUpTricksWiki People who rejected you from jobs can become mentors In a. Industry where so many. Relationships are transactional it’s a powerful this to make real friendships \#StartUpTricksWiki Chain if yes \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki gsa auction site aeron chairs Stanford surplus [Captable.io](http://captable.io) [Startuprunway.io](http://startuprunway.io) \#StartUpTricksWiki <https://ltse.com/tools> #StartUpTricksWiki get all the datasets you can get your hands on They are goldf I’d love to understand where our communication broke down or where there was a gap in our shared understanding I My or your understanding \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki if you’re managing it’s good to make Sunday night a work night #StartUpTricksWiki vistage Ken Ross mit investor club — Ross systems \#EnterpriseSoftware \#PotentialAdvisor Something challenging you went thru If you went back to beginning and change how you went through \#interviewing \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki get potential contact phone numbers at parties/events They reply way better than emails Establish personal relationships in person interactions. Business follow up questions can be handled over messaging \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTricksWiki I wasn’t actually necessarily thinking of you as an investor but if you know anyone who would be a great investor for us that would be helpful. \<\>If you want advice ask for... What are your aspirations? \#hiring \#StartUpTricksWiki Help people get what they need \#Management \#StartUpTricksWiki #StartUpTrickswiki people who type really fast Good writer Strong network “Good people” Trust hiring chief of staff - unknown unknowns Needs a role — nobody hires a scumbag The latent capital of strong relationships – getting people to work with you comes from long friendships with competent people \#write \#StartUpTrickswiki maybe this is something that An investor could evaluate? #StartUpTrickswiki hiring ux people: look for people who can write essays well ~aaron iba #Management \#consent \#Massage \#dating do you want me to poke you more or less than I currently am? \#StartUpTrickswiki #StartUpTrickswiki \#hiring hire people you can love Hire people you would invite to an intellectual salon #StartUpTrickswiki \<\>#startupadvice A lot of the art of business, hiring, gaining investment, etc. is getting people to respond to you. The key is to Be helpful enough that they can’t just ignore you[[housinglist| ]]<http://housinglist.jacobcole.net/> #StartUpTrickswiki \<\>Building a relationship... If you want advice ask for money if you want money ask for advice \#StartUpTrickswiki \<\>#StartUpTricksWiki I wasn’t... --------------- Thank you for the wonderful info Mike, and lovely to meet you, Qing! It's so cool that it seems you are using your expertise and talents to the fullest scale possible to help people! As someone who has a penchant for being systematic, let me know if I can do anything to support your endeavors, from the hiring lists I maintain, or investor-founder matching I do with a project called <http://jcombinator.network/>. For context, on this introduction, if you are available to help, or know someone who might be a good match to do so, I'm currently trying to help my very long time friend's dad, Ashok Kumar, who has a really wonderful opportunity in front of him. The biotech startup where he was Director of Biology fell upon some economically challenging times and laid off their entire research staff, in the interest of focusing on the single drug they already had on the market. They had many other promising drugs in the pipeline, but without the research team, they don't have the expertise to commercialize them. The CEO verbally offered Ashok an opportunity to independently commercialize one of these drugs, which has already made it to phase 2 clinical trials. Now the ball is in Ashok’s court, and he has to get back to his former CEO with a licensing proposal. He would really benefit from the opportunity to speak with someone who is able to advise him as to what terms / deal structure to propose. Ashok is an incredibly kind person and, most of all, cares deeply that this compound, which may have tremendous potential to help people with a range of inflammatory diseases, not be lost in orphan drug purgatory. Do you think that this is something you might be able to provide some advice on? Many thanks! Jacob He also may be looking for a co-founder who could help with the commercialization at some point, but this is a ways down the road Ashok now needs to get h I currently run a startup building a notebook that augments users' intelligence full time. I'm so inspired to see people in medical community facing this way acting on your convictions and insights that enable you to help people --- *Source: <http://startuptrickswiki.jacobcole.net/>* *Google Doc: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b4_T8Jlv1McWQ5GU_4WCyGDMmX-rubQq2EvM4lOYKtM>* *Scraped: 2026-01-30*