48 Lessons About Entrepreneurship I Wish I Knew Sooner

Starting my first business was painful.

I felt lost 98% of the time - the ups and downs were gut-wrenching.

If only I had a cheat sheet for my first startup.

So I wrote one.

Here are 48 lessons about entrepreneurship I wish I knew sooner:

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

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

It is not intelligence, creativity or salesmanship, but sheer determination.

Wake up every day and push the ball forward.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

2/ Making decisions is hard; but making a "bad decision" is always better than making no decision at all.

As you learn, you'll eventually start making good decisions.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

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

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

4/ Your customer is king. Focus on them as early as possible and as often as possible.

Teach your entire company to do the same.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

5/ Remember and remind yourself that you chose this path.

Don't feel sorry for yourself and don't EVER expect others to feel bad for you.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

6/ Co-founders you trust and genuinely like are FAR superior to co-founders with complementary skill sets

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

7/ Be cautious when selecting advisors.

Make sure they demonstrate genuine interest in you and your company before granting them shares or compensation.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

8/ Product is hard. It requires depth, iteration, and lots of saying ‘no’

Let me repeat: product is hard. Build this DNA as early as possible.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

9/ Engineering and shipping software is a discipline like practicing medicine.

This means you need real expertise. You can't outsmart, brute force or "hustle" your way through it.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

10/ When your company is growing quickly, expect everything to break down every 6-9 months.

This isn’t really avoidable, but move quickly to fix it.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

11/ Don't be in a big rush to grow and scale - take your time to understand customers, the market, and your own product.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

12/ Competition is usually a sign you picked a good market - but don't obsess over competitors.

At most, they are a source of data about your customers' needs. Obsess over your customer.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

13/ 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.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

14/ If you are constantly using your authority to get your team to do things your way, something is wrong.

Try using data, logic, and persuasion instead.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

15/ Similarly, if you are ALWAYS right, something is wrong or people are lying to you.

Accept when the data is not in your favor and admit when you were mistaken.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

16/ Constantly ask, "What does excellence look like?"

For people, product, processes, and everything else.

Your biggest threat (especially as a first time entrepreneur) is not knowing this, and not being able to identify it.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

17/ Invest in training and development early.

For yourself and your whole team.

Hard skills and soft skills. This is incredibly high leverage and high ROI.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

18/ Retained executive search can be incredibly valuable as they have the ability to bring candidates who you never could bring on your own.

Contingency recruiters are generally a waste of money.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

19/ Your (at least) first 20 hires join because of you and your vision.

Realize what that means as you run the company.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

22/ 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.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

23/ If your goal is to be liked by everyone, you will likely fail at that goal and not be a good founder/leader.

Your job is the success of the company, and ideally to be respected and understood by your team.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

24/ When it comes to business results, be ruthless. But when it comes to individuals, be very compassionate.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

25/ Almost without fail, if at any point you think in your head, "this person is not good, we should let them go," then you are probably right.

Try to do it as soon as possible, but compassionately.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

26/ Have company lore.

Humans have been passing on stories verbally for ages.

This adds to the fun of company building, and binds people together more closely.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

27/ Emotional ups and downs don't really go away, even as you grow and see some success.

The great things aren't as great as they seem, and the bad things are usually not as bad.

Keep calm and move forward.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

28/ Intuition and your "gut" are more data (or experience) driven than most people admit.

You are unlikely to have intuition on day 1, but after thousands of hours you will "feel" the answer faster.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

29/ Feedback is a gift.

Don't just give it frequently but seek it all the time, in multiple different ways.

Create a culture where feedback is viewed as a gift and given frequently.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

30/ 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.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

31/ You will make lots of mistakes. Lots.

Forgive yourself and keep on chugging.

Try not to make the same mistake twice and you'll be fine.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

32/ Leading and managing people well is NOT an innate talent.

Get a coach + mentor and learn as much as you can.

You will improve continually over time.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

33/ A great lawyer is worth it.

A great lawyer (and any great advisor for that matter) has an opinion and can explain it well enough to convince you.

Bad lawyers/advisors either ask you to take their word for it or, worse, do whatever you ask and then send you the bill.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

34/ Find a great accounting person as soon as possible.

Review all cash out and all cash in, regularly.

Understand basic accounting (3 statements), and cash flow management.

Know what working capital is.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

35/ Accountability is your job, and it must be done consistently and constantly.

No part of the company (as a founder/CEO) can be 'handed over' to someone else.

Your lack of understanding is not an excuse to be inconsistent, and not constantly keeping the bar high.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

36/ Be authentic and genuine. Share bad news as much as you share good news.

Your team, your customers, and your investors will always appreciate the truth.

Always.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

37/ A great executive has an immeasurable positive impact on your company; unfortunately, a bad exec has a similarly negative impact.

Even worse: knowing which is which in an interview process is extremely hard.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

38/ Bring on an "HR" person earlier than you think you should.

Let's face it - most folks want to complain/vent to someone. Without an HR person, you are that person.

As a founder, you take this complaining too personally and too seriously.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

39/ Talk with other entrepreneurs/CEOs regularly.

You may think that your company's problems are unique to you and that you are the only company with these problems.

In reality, most things you face are much more common than you realize.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

40/ 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.

Take decisive action when you first see it.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

41/ Revenue cures all known business problems.

Prioritize it at the right time yourself, and have the right people prioritize it continually.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

42/ Entrepreneurship and startups are more about action than intelligence.

Act first, think later.

Bias to action always wins.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

43/ You improve what you measure.

Measure what you want to improve.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

44/ Individual success is a function of company success.

If someone puts themselves ahead of the company, they do not belong.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

45/ The only way to make money is to sell something or help someone else sell something.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

46/ Have narrow focus in the beginning, expand later.

Amazon sold books only for its first 3 years

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

47/ If you don’t dare to ask for what you want, you won’t get it.

Entrepreneurship usually favors the bold.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

48/ Don't be afraid to borrow from those that came before you.

Obsess over your industry's history and current players.

Know it better than anyone.

That’s how you win.

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

If you enjoyed this thread, you'll love my newsletter:

"The 3-1-4"

It comes up every other week with 3 links, 1 thought, and 4 tweets.

Subscribe here:https://t.co/HS1x9jtiYE

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023

Follow me @jspujji to learn more about entrepreneurship, bootstrapping, DTC, Growth Mktg and more!

— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) June 8, 2023