Two important vectors to build momentum in a startup are listening to users & shipping speed. To listen well, you'll need to constantly talk to users & be picky about who to serve. To ship quickly, you have to scope just enough & have good instincts about how to solve the problem
2/ To talk constantly with users, I find befriending your users is the simplest strategy. Once your friends, they won't mind you bugging them for feedback constantly. At some point, you'll text/DM instead of email/schedule video chats which have high activation energy.
3/ Being picky means eliminating users you aspire to serve. A simple strategy is eliminating people who don't have severe pain for the thing you're solving. Once you've whittled them down, you can go further: eliminate users by the features they want that you don't have yet.
4/ To ship product fast, you must scope just enough. That means you'll have to use judgment. I find that most of the time being greedy early on & satisfying the simple use-case is usually correct. Waiting & seeing how badly people want the rest is usually obvious later.
5/ Product is a combination of art & science. Too much data-driven focused product development leaves a product that lacks soul & often delight. So, you'll have to practice building good judgment. If you don't have it, try to get as far as you can validating something w/o code.
6/ You can ship more quickly by maximizing autonomy & building a culture of prioritization by persuasion. Meaning, allow people to choose their work based on their mood, life, & interests. Use persuasion & team dynamics to get certain things done. Often they'll work harder.
