Being an entrepreneur for the first time is painful.

You feel lost 98% of the time - the ups and downs are gut-wrenching.

I wish I had a cheat sheet for when I started my first company.

So I wrote one.

In honor of 2021, here are the 21 Lessons I wish I knew sooner πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ Bias to action always WINS.

Any analysis ahead of action is purely speculation.

You really do not understand something until you've done it.

Analysis post-action can be driven by real data.

So when you are stuck, TAKE ACTION vs keep thinking.

2/ Never be the bottleneck for someone to get work done.

This is one simple principle which requires you to be organized, effective at communication, and good at delegation.
3/ Effective delegation is neither easy nor natural.

But it is a skill you can build and improve over time with practice.

4/ Get really good at email so you can respond quickly and efficiently. The volume you receive will only go up over time.

Inbox Zero is the ultimate founder hack.

5/ Tenacity is the most important trait for building a company.

It is not intelligence, creativity or salesmanship, but sheer determination.
6/ So, Don't give up. No matter where you are in your journey...

7/ There is no RIGHT way to start and build a company, stop looking for one.

8/ Making decisions is hard; but a 'bad decision' outweighs NO decision every time.
9/ Don't be in a huge rush to grow and scale - take your time to understand customers, the market, and your own product. This is vital later.
10/ Services businesses are great ways to generate Cash Flow to start other ideas!

Don't obsess over the right "business model" - Just start!

11/ Competition is usually a sign you picked a good market; don't obsess over competitors.

As @JeffBezos says, Obsess over your customers.
12/ When it comes to business results, be ruthless.

But when it comes to people, be very compassionate.

The best leaders do not either/or this, they integrate it, every day.
13/ There is no such thing as a momentary lapse of integrity.

If someone is dishonest, it is likely not the first time and definitely not the last time.

When you first see it, take decisive action.
14/ Have everyone "assume positive intent." Assume people want to do a good job, want the company to succeed, and want to grow in their career.

Even if these aren't all true, it makes one more open minded and less petty.

If your team does this, 99% of conflicts go away.
15/ People are people. They are all different from each other; they all have good days and bad days, and everyone enjoys being recognized and praised.

People need to be motivated, guided and empowered.
17/ Don't be afraid to borrow from those that came before you.

In fact, obsess over your industry's history and current players. Know it better than anyone.

That's how the biggest companies in the world came to be.

18/ As a founder/owner/manager, you are not the same as your team.

Even if you sit next to them, joke around and hang out.

Your ability to impact someone's career (and therefore their life) makes you different.

The sooner you realize this, the better you will be at your job.
19/ If you constantly find yourself unsatisfied and unhappy, consider its time to do the inner work.

Meditate, find a coach and start to explore what really drives you.

20/ Fear as a motivator is a non-renewable resource that leaves a negative residue on you and those around you.
21/ When in conflict, I'd take curiosity & enthusiasm over intelligence & organization.

People who love learning win.
22/ If you enjoyed this thread, follow me @jspujji

I tweet advice and stories about entrepreneurship and leadership like this every week.

And don't forget to retweet this thread to share the lessons with everyone!
23/ Also, subscribe to my newsletter 3-1-4. It comes up every other week with 3 links, 1 thought and 4 opportunities.
getrevue.co/profile/jspujji

β€’ β€’ β€’

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
γ€€

Keep Current with Jesse Pujji

Jesse Pujji Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jspujji

10 Dec
She broke every rule and turned $70K into a $30 BILLION company

One my favorite Bootstrapped GIANTS of all time πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ Judith Faulkner was born in Moorestown NJ. Her father was a pharmacist and her mother was director of Oregon Physicians for Social responsibility.

They inspired her to do something in healthcare, but Judith followed her love of math first...
2/ Getting her degree in it from Dickinson College, she saw computers were the future went on to get her MS in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin.

She knew she had the skills and passion to build something BIG in healthcare and help a lot of people, but what?
Read 21 tweets
10 Dec
The FIFTH issue of my newsletter just dropped...

3 links, 1 thought and 4 opportunities.

The goal is to give you the most value for the least time every week!

ICYMI - the full content πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
#1 - Do Things That Don’t Scale from @paulg

Some of the most important yet counterintuitive advice in starting something BIG.

We take this to the extreme at GX, selling a DTC subscription over the phone before building a website.

Read (or reread) πŸ‘‡πŸ½
paulgraham.com/ds.html
#2 - Great Retention Makes You Smile

A robust explanation of the philosophy and math of retention.

My favorite part?

The β€œSmile” retention curve, when you lose some customers but those that stay ended up buying more from you.

Check it out πŸ‘‡πŸ½
articles.sequoiacap.com/retention
Read 14 tweets
8 Dec
I attribute a lot of my success to being really really good at email.

Here's my playbook for how you can handle 50K+ emails/year without breaking a sweat πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ First, a reframe: WHY do I do it?

I view my inbox as opportunity: a deal to close, an amazing candidate to hire or a chance to give a team-member guidance or feedback.

I promised myself I'd never be the CEO/Founder who bottlenecks my team.

And so I needed to master email.
2/ What I learned is top 1% email skills come down to 3 things:

1) Keyboard shortcuts + the right settings
2) Using the GTD System to "process" each email
3) Writing fewer and shorter emails

Let's start with how to cut down email time from hours to minutes...
Read 16 tweets
2 Dec
There are so many incredible women to follow on Twitter.

And yesterday, I made a mistake.

I published a list of my favorite follows and in my haste I included no women.

Beyond being an unacceptable mistake, it's not true!

Here are my 9 favorite female followsπŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ @wes_kao

β€’ One of the best educators on the internet
β€’ Cofounded Maven and AltMBA
β€’ Marketing + Education + Entrepreneurship

My favorite tweet:
2/ @Codie_Sanchez

β€’ Super cool person and investor
β€’ Practices what she preaches
β€’ Runs over dozens of businesses

My favorite tweet:
Read 15 tweets
1 Dec
Twitter is the greatest university in the world.

The best part is real time access to a diverse set of experts

Here are my favorite 23 accounts to follow.

They delight, inspire, and teach daily πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ @businessbarista

β€’ Bootstrapped a $75MM+ business
β€’ Practices what he preaches
β€’ Fantastic Writer

My favorite tweet:
2/ @BrentBeshore

β€’ Understands how markets operate
β€’ Mental Models
β€’ Investing Advice

My favorite tweet:
Read 29 tweets
26 Nov
The LARGEST BOOTSTRAPPED COMPANY ON THE PLANET grew from 0->$500+ Billion by breaking all the rules...

You know the brand, but you don't know their story πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½πŸ‘‡πŸ½
1/ Sam returned from the war in 1945 after 3 years in intelligence.

Taking a loan from his father-in-law, he bought his first store, a Ben Franklin 5 and dime in Newport Arkansas.

He didn't know it at the time, but he had one of the worst leases in retail history...
2/ His rent was 5% of sales.

No renewal clause. He had barely even read the contract.

His father-in-law was stunned by his mistake.

Most expected Sam to close shop within the first couple years. Instead, he started doing things his way...
Read 28 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(