Thread by @maxnuss

My hot take of the day:

Most aspiring startup founders who think they should learn to code would be better off learning to write well instead.

Here's why 👇

1. For most founders, learning to code is about being able to quickly iterate and test an MVP.

But you can often test an idea even faster just by writing about it and observing the feedback. Sometimes, the writing process itself even reveals where your assumptions are wrong.

I've had the experience of realizing an idea was bad halfway through fleshing it out in writing.

I've also had the experience of realizing an idea was bad after working on it for four years, raising $3mm, and hiring 20 people.

They both suck, but the latter sucks more!

2. Writing well is a core part of selling.

Whether it's selling your product to customers, selling your company to investors, or selling your vision to the team, you'll be much more successful if you can write well.

The two most useful skills I acquired for being a founder—totally by coincidence!—were improv and creative writing.

(With emphasis on the *creative* part for certain investor pitches, if you know what I mean.)

3. Publishing regularly gets you comfortable with shipping early and often.

"If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." —@reidhoffman

I'm embarrassed about pretty much everything I write. But less embarrassed with each piece.

.@mwil20 has written more about this in his newsletter Getting Shots Up, which he definitely ships early and often enough to be embarrassed by.

gettingshotsup.com/p/writing-as-a…

4. Lastly, learning to write well is probably easier for most people than learning to code.

Good founders are a little bit lazy and always looking for shortcuts. But that's a thread for another day...

(I can code myself, sort of. Learning was hard and I'm still not that good.)

Bonus 5th reason!

Learning to write well will also make you WAY better at Tinder.

Learning to code... will not.