Founderpath’s Post

I have told our story in different ways to many people.. Being frugal is one of the inherent qualities of a start up team. There have been times when we were not sure of making the next paycheck. And for the founding team often we did not get a pay check many times. When we traveled we huddled two or even three to a room at times. We used the cheapest forms of travel staying in small wayside inns and eating at the local deli. We booked flights using algorithms and platforms that gave us maximum benefit and traveked economy with the lowest fares. We never had company cars and still don’t have any perks that other people have like club memberships etc. we never took any dividends in all those years investing every dollar of profit back into the company. Many other things that I can think of. That discipline of using money prudently is fundamental to business and life. And even when you grow big making sure you utilize every dollar for the things that really matter are part of that discipline. Here is the exCEO of Google talking about the start up days on Google. This deeply resonated with me.

Did you know that "Backrub" was Google's first name? They changed their name to "Google" in 1997, marking a turning point in the history of technology. With this modification, a huge worldwide search company was born! 🚀 Their path from Backrub to Google illustrates the force of innovation and development. 💡 It's evidence of the virtually limitless opportunities offered by technology and entrepreneurship. Let's celebrate this remarkable evolution that has altered how we use the internet. #google #backrub

I was talking to a pair of co-founders once and they said “What gets you to $2mil isn’t gonna get you to $5mil and what gets you to $20mil” And I wholeheartedly agree! And one really big thing I think people miss is the quality of the questions you’re asking at every stage. If your questions are googleable then you’re probably not digging deep enough. When you start googling the question and google is having a hard time delivering the right information to you then you’re on to something. This idea is really how nuanced are the questions? Have they been answered a bunch of times by other people? Then it’s probably standard advice. But if you get reaults that don’t seem to give you the answer you’re looking for it means you’re on a path that 1. Most people haven’t gone down (could be innovation; could be a trash idea but you won’t know until you try it) 2. Are asking the questions that people pay money for. Which means it’s what the “experts” don’t want you to know! Either way you should keep going because you’re gonna find something down that path that will probably help you move forward by alot!

🏆One of the Best Memos highlighting the importance of Focused Vision, Ownership & Accountability, and Right Org Structure from an ex-SVP of Yahoo when it was losing ground to Google 🏆 The memo is famously called the "Peanut Butter Manifesto" written by Brad Garlinghouse and highlights the importance of ✴ A cohesive vision - what should Yahoo not do, as it was trying to do everything for everyone. ✴ Ownership and accountability in an organisation that had bloated up and overrun with bureaucracy. ✴ An organisational structure that was designed thoughtfully for the vision. He goes on in to explain great length on what it is to focus the vision, how to restore accountability & ownership, and a radical reorganisation to support the vision. A lot of product & business leaders will deeply resonate with this article as you will be most likely facing these very same issues within your organisation. Especially those of you in startups or scaleups in this macro environment where funding looks bleak and there are pressures to grow/achieve profitability and almost everyone is trying to do everything under the sun. If you feel your organisation is spreading too thin, share this with your manager, share this with your team. You don’t have to repeat the same mistakes. The price paid by everyone who spreads thin is huge. Even if you cannot influence your larger organisation, atleast influence within the scope of your pod / org. If you do well, others may copy you. TLDR - It is not enough to work on good ideas. It is important to work ONLY on you best ideas and create systems and structures that enable this.

Google has officially reached a net worth of $2 trillion. : Motiveflikr Media #Business #Startup #Tech #Technology #AI #Artificialintelligence #Economy #Growth #Strategies #Digital #Globalupdates #news #innovation #success #change #money #wealth https://lnkd.in/dNDZVydv #business #GlobalUpdates

Where fake government offices and toll plaza go unnoticed for years, Google suspends my ONLY Business Profile calling it 'suspicious'. What suspicious I do? I teach students! Rarely you get a funny post that's professional and suitable for LinkedIn! 😆 #google #googlemybusiness #googlemarketing #googlealgorithm #googlebusinessprofile Google Operations Center Google for Startups

I spoke with a Swedish founder who built a product that grew to > 10,000 users in less than 6 months through a Facebook group. Here’s how they did it: - They were passionate about electric vehicles and climate change. They wanted to make it easier for existing and new electric vehicles owners to charge their vehicles. - They hypothesized that connecting people peer to peer to access their private chargers in their homes would be more cost effective and faster than commercial chargers (eg Tesla). - To test the concept and gauge interest without developing a product, they created a Facebook group that focused on those who can "charge electric vehicles at each other's places" and recommended it to people. - The group grew, and people started making charging transactions through it. Members expressed interest in an app that could facilitate the discovery for those stations and, over time, manage payments. -As the Facebook group grew, the number of peer-to-peer charging transactions increased-so much so that they have been able to bootstrap 10,000 users. They’re using this initial traction to expand globally and raise financing to help their growth. Most Silicon Valley founders are great technical people but struggle with user acquisition. This founder took a page from Greg Isenberg’s playbook: start with the community and build a business around it. If you’re interested in starting a company start with a community of potential users and customers first. They can set your product roadmap. They can be your first set of customers. You can do this without spending much money. Thinking through ways I can do this myself too. If you’ve built online communities before DM me. May have some interesting projects we can work on.

Markets have a tendency to follow narratives, and one quite prominent these days is the foresight of many tech entrepreneurs: the most famous (which is indeed true!) is 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 turning down a $1 billion offer from 𝗬𝗮𝗵𝗼𝗼! in 2006 and today it’s worth $1.2 trillion. But it didn’t always go that well: - 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗼𝗻 declined a $6 billion offer from 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 in 2010: since then, its valuation has dropped to less than $400 million - 𝗬𝗮𝗵𝗼𝗼! turned down a $45 billion offer from 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 in 2008, it was later sold to 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻 for just $4.8 billion in 2017 after years of declining ad revenue and strategic missteps - 𝗪𝗶𝘀𝗵 refused a $10 billion offer from 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 in 2015 and was just sold off for $173 million There are dozens other examples (Path, Digg, Qwiki, Viddy, …: many refused a buyout from Google, wonder why) Hindsight is always 20/20 (and the future is never certain), but we need more stories of the silent losers, not just the unicorns

🌟 The ONE friend you really want, to grow your business? 🚀 When it comes to scaling up your business, let's cut through the clutter. Imagine if you had to choose just ONE online ally—your business BFF. Who would it be? Google Google Search  Drives global commerce forward, generating an astounding $10 billion in revenue for businesses daily. Imagine the potential it holds for your growth! Source: BrightEdge Research YouTube (a Google company) Top creators like Mr Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) are not just making videos; they're earning a mind-blowing $20 million daily. It's a testament to the platform's massive reach and impact. Source: CNBC Gmail It's the backbone of communication for 90% of startups and 60% of mid-market companies in the US alone Source: Statista Google Your one BFF #businessgrowth #digitalmarketing #Google

Twenty-five years ago, Google was born in a garage, and today, it's worth $1.5 trillion 🚀 But did you know they almost sold very early on? In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google's co-founders, approached Excite CEO George Bell with an offer to sell their search engine for just $1 million. Bell countered with $750,000, thinking he was getting a bargain. But Page and Brin stood firm at $1 million. The deal fell through. Fast forward to 2024, and that $1 million investment would have been worth hundreds of billions! But it doesn't end there. Even after Google started gaining traction, they faced skepticism: • In 2002, Yahoo declined to purchase Google for $3 billion • In 2006, Yahoo tried again, offering $1 billion, but Google now wanted $5 billion These pivotal moments in Google's history remind us that even the biggest players can overlook groundbreaking opportunities. Remember this story when facing rejection or doubt. Today's "crazy idea" might be tomorrow's trillion-dollar company. Innovation often looks like madness... until it doesn't. #startup #vc #google #venturecapital