This is Travis Kalanick.

He founded Uber and grew it to be worth billions.

But he was forced to resign as CEO by investors days after his mother died.

Here's how he got revenge and built a second $10+ billion startup: In 2009 Kalanick was running an informal founder gathering space out of his apartment.

He called it the JamPad (@JamPadHQ).

He had sold his last startup, Red Swoosh, 2 years earlier for $19 million.

Here's a talk where he shares lessons from those days:

This is Marc Andreessen.

He created the first popular internet browser.

Now he invests billions in startups at his VC firm, a16z.

Here's his 9-step guide on how to build a startup: Why to Not Build a Startup:

Being a founder is not for everyone.

You trade stability for freedom, autonomy, and impact.

But you hear "no" 99% of the time.

Marc says the emotional rollercoaster can leave you feeling "completely ruined."

Be sure you can handle the idea maze.

This is Palmer Luckey.

At 21 he sold Oculus to Facebook for $2 billion.

But 2 years later he was fired for supporting Donald Trump.

Here's how he got redemption and built a second unicorn startup: Palmer founded Oculus when he was only 16.

He built more than 50 prototypes in his parents' garage from 2009 - 2010.

To afford the parts he earned $36,000 by repairing iPhones and working as a groundskeeper.

This is Peter Thiel.

He's worth $7.1 billion after founding and investing in numerous unicorn startups.

I read his book Zero to One to learn what he looks for in founders.

Here are the 7 questions he asks anyone he's considering investing in: The Monopoly Question:

"Will you be able to capture a large share of a small market?"

Thiel says competition is for losers.

Don't spend your limited resources battling competitors.

A minnow in a vast ocean will be eaten. Dominate a small pond first.

The Thiel Fellowship has created 10 startups worth over $1 billion.

The program pays you $100,000 to drop out of college.

It's acceptance rate is 0.1% (40x more exclusive than Harvard).

Here are the 10 members who've built unicorns: Vitalik Buterin (Class of 2014):

Founded Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency with an all-time high market cap over $571 billion.

The network has become so widely used that when its merge took

Jeff Bezos built Amazon into a $1.7 Trillion company.

He said this was the smartest thing he ever did.

How to run memo-based meetings (that help you make better decisions): "Many years ago, we outlawed PowerPoint at Amazon."

Bezos found a better way to run meetings with the goals of:

→ Increasing clarity around objectives
→ Diving deeper into projects that move the needle
→ Maintaining a high standard of communication

Y Combinator has launched startups worth over $600 billion.

Paul Graham founded YC and has written 200+ essays about startups.

Here are his 14 essays that can help you build a unicorn: Do Things That Don't Scale:

Startups don't grow on their own.

Founders are responsible for getting them going.

To learn how to do it, they need to do things that don't scale.

paulgraham.com/ds.html

The world's top companies were built by leaders who were readers.

11 books recommended by famous billionaires (+ lessons from each): "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" by Walter Isaacson

Recommended by: Elon Musk

Never stop learning.

Hard work and curiosity can change the world. Be brave in your choices.

Founders need to be world-class at selling.

But how exactly do they rally investors, partners, customers, and team members to join their cause?

They use the "7 Whats" framework to persuade anyone: 1. What's the desired outcome?

Have a 1-sentence explainer for each of these points:

→ Who it's for
→ What it does
→ Why they should care
→ What result they should expect

Everything else in your conversations will stem from these points.

1 employee leaving costs ~9 months of their annual salary.

Retaining them costs a fraction of that.

I've hired people from Stanford, Uber, Amazon, and WeWork.

Here are 9 tips to retain your top employees: Align before they start:

17% of employees quit in their first month on onboarding.

Why would that happen?

They were sold on something different than they received.

Be candid in interviews and your company handbook.

Don't accept bad fits just because they're talented.

My old job at Uber is now done by a team of 20.

Become 10x more productive with these 11 strategies: Bias to Progress:

80% of a good strategy is better than waiting for the remaining 20% to become clear.

You’ll learn what actually works and what doesn’t much faster.

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”
— George Patton

Y Combinator has launched startups worth over $600 billion.

When Sam Altman was CEO of YC he wrote a playbook for founders.

Here are 22 principles from his startup playbook: Make Something Users Love:

Successful startups make products that people tell their friends about.

This is the best indicator that people love your product.

It's much better to make a product a small number of people love than one a larger number of people like.

Want to build a billion dollar startup?

You need to understand Disruption Theory: Uber disrupted taxis.
Netflix disrupted Blockbuster.
The iPhone disrupted Blackberry.
And now ChatGPT is disrupting Google.

The most iconic products are disruptors.

But disruption has become the most overused word in startups.

20 books every startup founder should read:

1. Zero to One, by Peter Thiel

The only way to create something truly valuable is to attempt something new and unique. 2. Founders at Work, by Jessica Livingston

The co-founder of Y Combinator shares lessons from the experiences of successful founders.

Can you build a $1 billion+ startup with 0 employees?

I spent hours researching the most successful one-person businesses

Here are the 11 most unique solo founders doing millions in revenue: Star Dew Valley:

A mobile game that monetizes via a one-time download fee (that's it!).

Founder - Eric Barone
Annual Revenue - $300 million+
Employees - 0 full time

It blew up so much he got a profile in GQ: gq.com/story/stardew-…

16 movies every startup founder should watch:

1. The Founder

"The only thing that matters is getting it done." 2. Whiplash

"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job.'"

Sequoia Capital is splitting into 3 firms:

- Sequoia (USA)
- HongShan (China)
- Peak XV (India & SE Asia)

Here's a quick breakdown:

https://twitter.com/sequoia/status/1666029996455112704

A Sequoia GP will run each firm, but the firms won't have any formal relation to each other

- Roelof Botha will run Sequoia (focused on the US, Europe, and Israel)
- Neil Shen will run HongShan
- Shailendra Singh will run Peak XV

Sequoia Capital invested $5 million in YouTube

Their stake was worth $214 million when Google acquired YouTube 1 year later

I found and analyzed their internal investment memo about the deal from 2005

Let's break it down: Context:

It only took Sequoia partner Roelof Botha 3 weeks after first meeting the founders to decide to invest.

In the memo, he notes that "several VCs have been cold calling the company" but that he was in "pole position" to land the deal.

Your first idea isn't always your best one

I did a deep dive into the most successful startup pivots of all time

Here are 16 unicorns that started out building something totally different (these are crazy): Shopify

Original name: Snowdevil

Original idea: Online store for snowboarding gear

Why they pivoted: Existing online store infrastructure wasn't customizable enough

My last startup drove tens of thousands in revenue via our newsletter

But most founders don't realize the potential of newsletters for their startup

Here's how to use a niche newsletter as a growth strategy: Building an email list is high leverage for startups.

Unlike social media, an email list means you own the relationship with your potential users — even before they try your product.

And building an email list is the best way to take multiple shots on goal if you need to pivot.

Equity is the most valuable thing startup founders can offer

But most founders don't know how much to give early employees

Use these 8 factors to determine how much to offer: Role Type:

Engineers have different equity expectations than marketing managers.

Roles that are harder to recruit for have the leverage to demand higher grants.

Candidates who make commission sometimes don't expect a grant at all.

Here's an example from Index Ventures: