Thread by @faizansiddiqi

Our univ & startup curriculum are broken. Most treat education like buying vegetables so long as u generally do ok no one will worry about the specifics. Visiting faculty is akin to educational malpractice(see this nugget floating around that got fwded) some one with 3yrs of exp

Teaching others their craft. The odds of that skill existing and then transferring is as low as u getting diabetes from watching some one else eat a cake. Worse is when these visiting clowns teach u entrepreneurship or courses on startups. Given u saw their own intake is corp exp

Here's what they don't teach u in school & after meeting 100s of founders if not more n working with them, I wish they did teach. If you are willing to invest 4 mins of ur time vs 4yrs to give this a quick read u may walk away better informed. No guarantees but it's worth a shot

Since Universities don't operate as investment firms with students as the equitable goods, they don't think in terms of growth, output, leverage and scale. If the universities would use startup capital to decide which students to enroll n teach, life would be very different.

Univ would be incentivized to take on students with delivery capabilities & clear career goals & teach pragmatic, useful skills. Teachers and faculty as LPs. Since most of the people u will engage with, won't get this not because they don't want to but due to lack of exposure

Here's how to start
1. Be the person that gets to know your profs, parent’s friends & any other who can add value to ur growth

2. Reach out to any business leaders that inspire you to let them know you exist and that you love their work.

3. Start building a community early on.

LinkedIn is the single most undervalued tool & IG over valued. Twitter is the easiest tool to get global R&D at the cost of investing your time alone. Stay away from engaging in vanity metrics and focus on distilled engagement with any one willing to share exp that makes time 4U

1. What works for other founders won’t work for all
2. No one knows what you’re capable of Ur self included
3. Luck has more to do with it than any founder likes to admit.
4. Make decisions quick, don’t be afraid to fail.
5.Explore with interest what people tell u to avoid

Execute! Don’t get all excited for startup events and pitching, it usually leads to 0. Build your mvp and iterate on a weekly basis. Don’t get distracted by shiny things , there are too many shiny things out there most are noise. Signals aren't shiny, look for signals.

Over index on being useful vs being clever. Simple trumps complex. Also, make sure you budget 2.5x as much money and 3x as much time as you think.If you have less than a year of cash...go sell stuff and raise money. Lack of cash kills more good ideas than anything else, get a CC.

DEFAULT TO YES when faced with the opportunity to grow. You may not know what to do, or how to deal with it, almost no one does. Things may seem outside the scale or scope of your business, but there are infinite resources to help U, say yes, then figure out how to make it work

Validation is a slow burn.

Block out the doubters.

Set boundaries with friends & family who want to give you advice, but don’t know what they’re talking about.

Replicate, then automate.

Make time 4 Ur early customers/users/partners. Make them extra happy, you’ll be rewarded.

Don’t get fooled or discouraged when you see overnight successes...It's a fools errand to not put in the time and want to make fine wine. Grape juice sitting by it self doesn't develop the characteristics needed to be top of the list it comes with age & skill, build skills.

Hire slow but always fire fast. You can't afford people to slow you down.

Sell it before you build it. Get down payments, deposits and commitments before you invest into something no one wants or needs.

Don't quit unless u need to restart if ur validation hasn't come thru.

•Make friends with accountants & Tax lawyers
•Set up biz bank account
•Bootstrap as much as possible
•Surround yourself with people whose exp/knowledge u admire who hustle more than u do, write off long term friends if they stand in the way of your long term value creation

KNOW that a pivot should be called a long uncertain slow turn in to the abyss more times than not. Also if all you r doing is pivoting, look at an Alt career in excel. Focus on the now, dream about what u can deliver, execute like you are homeless because if u F it up u may be.

No time like the present to start. Biz plans aren't mandatory neither is an office space nor lattes or tweets about every second of ur journey. Focus on the journey today & relive it when successful vs live tweeting. No one cares today & it's upto if they do in the future.

4 min guides sell more than 5 min guides. Always make sure u get the copy, right :) @rebootdude @asemota @SaadGH @Huk06 @raza_matin @fmsheik @owaisz @TheNestiO @FaizaYousuf @jehan_ara @TalhaIzhar @Ash_Kalim @babushka99 @VeqarIslam @YusufJan @MizNaQ