Most Startup Advice Is Not Universally Applicable

You should ignore (some of) this advice.

Especially in startups, the advice is endless.

The issue, of course, is that advice is not universally applicable. Even benchmarks built from real data like ours don't tell you exactly what to do.

Examples:

• Should you start up solo or with a cofounder? Both work.

• Should you split equity equally or unequally? Either works.

• Should you compensate your first few employees super generously with equity or should you be cautious about option pool burn? You choose.

• Is raising a small seed round setting yourself up to fail or does it show admirable restraint? You pick.

• Is building an AI application company doomed to fail as the LLM providers expand or is it the best path to entrepreneurial success this decade? Yes.

The job of the founder (and candidly of the VC as well) is to be a sponge for advice and knowledge and then apply only the right pieces to your situation. Or ignore all of it and do something completely novel!

This slide, "You should selectively ignore some of this advice", kicks off all of our data presentations these days. Consider dropping it into your next deck 🙏