Finding a great name for a startup is HARD.

We finally found a name relevant to our mission: a five letter word starting w 'A' & we own the .com domain.

This wasn't luck. We ran a process through which we generated 300+ names over 2 months.

An actionable process 🧵 Great names are hard because today, almost every great name is taken.

At one point, I was actually reading a dictionary to bed. No joke. I read all the words till alphabet "G" in the Oxford dictionary searching for inspiration.

Finally, we decided to crowdsource inspiration.

It constantly surprises me how many ppl idolise roles in “strategy” and “product management” while looking down on “sales”.

So here’s my take: If you want to be successful in almost anything, the one skill you must absolutely master is selling.

Here's why 👇 Want to be a CEO? You’re always selling a vision - to the stock market, to your employees, to your customers.

Case in point: Steve Jobs had many skills, but I’d argue he was a master in selling.

The one thing I’ve learnt is that everyone says they want direct, honest feedback.

and….. few people can really take it.

Giving honest feedback is hard. No one likes to tell someone else they aren’t doing well.

Make it easier for people to give you feedback.

Here’s how:

https://twitter.com/jasonlk/status/1459372100603441156

1/ Invite feedback: end every conversation w “do you have any feedback for me?”

This makes it a little easier for people to give you feedback by creating an opening.

For once I disagree with @bennstancil. Guess I should join the fight before the next friday?

I don't think it's fair to tie success only to the speed at which an analyst can drive a decision: some data problems and questions are inherently more complex than others.

Thread 👇

https://twitter.com/bennstancil/status/1456668275216199681

Answering a (relatively) simple operational question about why there's a drop in ARR numbers is far easier than answering a complex strategic question like where to expand a company's operations. It’s in these scenarios where I believe the proposed metric fails.

Interviewers: Start every interview by personally introducing yourself and telling the person on the other side your story. Spend atleast 5 mins on it.

Here’s why 👇 Interviews have tilted power balances. The interviewer almost always has more power.

Starting an interview by telling the interviewee to pitch themselves reinforces that power dynamic,

8 simple productivity hacks (and tools) that will change your life. 🧵👇 1/ Practice zero inbox when it comes to email.

Archive / Snooze/ Reminders = the 3 best things you can do with your email.

Too lazy to set up Zero inbox? Use @Superhuman

Talked 3 founders out of fundraising this week! (I hope…)

All pre product, pre user discovery, pre customer discovery, thinking through: should I raise money given the market is so hot or focus on building?

🧵👇 1/ Capital can solve a ton of problems when you’re scaling. But the one problem it won’t solve: it won’t help you get to product market fit any faster.

Modern #data platforms are emerging as the answer to the holy grail: creating a truly data-driven organization. With this, “how” we use data has changed.

Many vendors today brand themselves as the be-all and end-all... but this isn’t true. 🙅 It’s impossible to work today with a single modern data platform from one vendor! A modern #data platform is a collection of tools and processes. 🧰

In this thread, I’ll break down what a modern data platform means in practice today. 2/n

Incredibly candid chat with @gauravmunjal in @_surgeahead about THE most important thing: How to grow yourself 10x-100x as a Founder.

Some learnings that are applicable to every single ambitious person out there👇 #1 Move the needle: Do something "needle moving" everyday. Relook at your task list everyday, every week and measure if you've only been occupied with 'base tasks or have done something needle moving

1/ It has been over 18 months since we started building @AtlanHQ in stealth – going back to day zero, iterating and finding Product Market Fit.

Last quarter, our usage graph started going 📈🚀!

Here are our learnings from 2019 on the road to PMF 👇 2/ A great framework to break PMF journey is into 3 stages:
1⃣Problem- Value Fit: Are the problems you're solving important?
2⃣Problem - Solution Fit: Can your envisaged solution solve the problem?
3⃣ Product - Market Fit: Find a set of similar buyers - "beach-head" market

My co-founder and I were 21 when we founded our first #startup! A journey filled with passion, adrenaline, highs, and lows. We achieved some insane wins as a team, but also made loads of mistakes along the way. 👇 Some stuff I wish we had known how to do back then:

1⃣How to run a customer discovery process that shapes your product

2⃣ How to choose the right beachhead market using the right amount of data & intuition

So excited to share the launch of @atlanHQ today after 18 months of working under the hood. #HumansofData, Welcome Home!

https://twitter.com/atlanhq/status/1145859448608624640

@AtlanHQ 2/ Also excited to announce our pre-series A fundraise of INR 18 crores and welcome @WaterbridgeVentures! They've been working with us in our stealth journey for the past 15 months and been great partners! cc @mkheterpal

livemint.com/companies/star…

1/ Recently been speaking to some early stage founders and realised that most folks go through same hiring & talent challenges. Here are some reflections and learnings: 2/ Before we started hiring at SocialCops, every book we read said "hire people better than you" - and we took it at face value. So we called all the smart ppl we know and convinced them to join us. ALL of them said NO!

My reflections and learnings from 2017: Surround yourself with people smarter than you- I only really understood the meaning of this in 2017. Reach out to people whom you respect, and have a list of questions for them. It will give you perspectives you never dreamt of. (1/n) Don't undervalue the time you need to think, learn and grow - it is probably the most imp time you'll spend. As a founder/leader - it is easy to book your day in meetings and feel “busy” - frankly, if someone else can handle that important meeting, let them! (2/n)