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Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution
Unicorns—companies that reach a valuation of more than $1 billion—are rare. Uri Levine has built two.
And in Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, he shows you just how he did it.
As the cofounder of Waze—the world’s leading commuting and navigation app with more than 700 million users to date, and which Google acquired in 2013 for $1. 15 billion—Levine is committed to spreading entrepreneurial thinking so that other founders, managers, and employees in the tech space can build their own highly valued companies.
Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on:
� Firing and hiring
� Disrupting “broken� markets
� Raising funding
� Understanding your users
� Reaching product market fit
� Making scale-up decisions
� Going global
� Deciding when to sell
Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution offers mentorship in a book from one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, and empowers you to build a successful business by identifying your consumers� biggest problems and disrupting the inefficient markets that currently serve them.
And in Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, he shows you just how he did it.
As the cofounder of Waze—the world’s leading commuting and navigation app with more than 700 million users to date, and which Google acquired in 2013 for $1. 15 billion—Levine is committed to spreading entrepreneurial thinking so that other founders, managers, and employees in the tech space can build their own highly valued companies.
Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on:
� Firing and hiring
� Disrupting “broken� markets
� Raising funding
� Understanding your users
� Reaching product market fit
� Making scale-up decisions
� Going global
� Deciding when to sell
Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution offers mentorship in a book from one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, and empowers you to build a successful business by identifying your consumers� biggest problems and disrupting the inefficient markets that currently serve them.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 17, 2023
549 people are currently reading
3,111 people want to read
About the author
Uri Levine
4books43followersHi, I am Uri Levine, an entrepreneur, mentor, and teacher.
After building two unicorns - Waze and Moovit --I want to extend my commitment to entrepreneurial thinking by writing this book “Fall In Love with the Problem � Not the Solution, a Handbook for Entrepreneurs�.
Throughout the book, I tell the truth about building a startup -- warts and all -- providing a blueprint for entrepreneurs so they can launch any business right.
After building two unicorns - Waze and Moovit --I want to extend my commitment to entrepreneurial thinking by writing this book “Fall In Love with the Problem � Not the Solution, a Handbook for Entrepreneurs�.
Throughout the book, I tell the truth about building a startup -- warts and all -- providing a blueprint for entrepreneurs so they can launch any business right.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
June 6, 2024
Got 40% in before I had to ditch. I was hoping it would be more philosophical but instead it reads like a handbook on how to #grind to get a unicorn.
Biggest turn off was at the beginning when he’s talking about how if you’re a founder there’s no time for vacations or breaks. 🙃
Biggest turn off was at the beginning when he’s talking about how if you’re a founder there’s no time for vacations or breaks. 🙃
April 26, 2025
A very decent book on start-up entrepreneurship, especially setting up a proper mindset to get any chance to succeed.
To be absolutely frank, you can read all this (in more extended way) in many other books already: Lean Startup, Marty Cagan's series, Elad Gil's HGH or Hoffman's Blitzscaling, BUT there's something quite unique and valuable that you won't find anywhere else ... What is it? Very practical and quite detailed examples from 2 very interesting companies Levine has personally run (& exited): Waze and Moovit. These examples are absolutely top notch because the products are well-known, easy to understand (context is very comprehensible) & even if they appear quite similar, in fact there are fundamental differences between their models, target customer bases, etc.
I generally agree with almost everything I've read here, but I didn't like the book's scope - I think the author went too broad, because the suggestions and recommendations in just one (relatively short) book span over several groups of people and also very different phases of company's life - that makes the book less relevant and engaging, unless you're very passionate about the topic in general. You know, there's lightyears between getting to PMF and exit options ...
In the end, I did enjoy reading "Fall in Love ...". Will it be my no 1 when it comes to recommendations for fledgling startupers? Probably not, but it's in the top league for sure.
To be absolutely frank, you can read all this (in more extended way) in many other books already: Lean Startup, Marty Cagan's series, Elad Gil's HGH or Hoffman's Blitzscaling, BUT there's something quite unique and valuable that you won't find anywhere else ... What is it? Very practical and quite detailed examples from 2 very interesting companies Levine has personally run (& exited): Waze and Moovit. These examples are absolutely top notch because the products are well-known, easy to understand (context is very comprehensible) & even if they appear quite similar, in fact there are fundamental differences between their models, target customer bases, etc.
I generally agree with almost everything I've read here, but I didn't like the book's scope - I think the author went too broad, because the suggestions and recommendations in just one (relatively short) book span over several groups of people and also very different phases of company's life - that makes the book less relevant and engaging, unless you're very passionate about the topic in general. You know, there's lightyears between getting to PMF and exit options ...
In the end, I did enjoy reading "Fall in Love ...". Will it be my no 1 when it comes to recommendations for fledgling startupers? Probably not, but it's in the top league for sure.
April 25, 2023
A must read to anyone involved in building startups or investing into them. Extremely insightful, well structured, no bull-shitting. And a bunch of experience to learn from!
August 21, 2024
Particularly liked the discussion around and measurement of product-market fit, previously mysterious to me - here, Uri makes it actionable and actually useful. The discussion around hiring, emphasising the importance of firing, was useful in that it gave a quite contrarian perspective, also made me think around how that potentially increases the efficiency of the labour market, but of course also places a lot of power in the hands of the 1%.
July 13, 2023
Turbūt labiausiai "no bullshit" verslo knyga kokią esu skaitęs. Parašė Waze įkūrėjęs ir knyga eina apie start-up managementą miksuojant su pavyzdžiais iš Waze istorijos ir kitų start-upų, į kuriuos autorius yra investavęs. Negali patikrinti ar visi patarimai yra teisybė, bet nieko nevyniojama į vatą ir rašoma labai konkrečiai - aptakumo ir atsargumo čia bus mažai. Labai patiko.
July 24, 2024
This book was actually really awesome. The title/cover might seem a bit a clickbait, but don't be fooled by the advertisement. Internally is the story of Uri Levine and the journey of Waze and other startups the author was involved in. It provides an exquisite blend of startups, marketing, finance and culture. Written in a very engaging way.
December 28, 2022
Just recently got my hands on the book for preliminary reading from the writer's team. I am a law student, working in a high-tech company, so I started reading the book from the end (a guilty pleasure of mine, don't tell), and started with the 'EXIT' chapter where Uri Levine, the author, speaks about M&A's, IPO's and selling secondary shares. I felt the information he provides in the book is very practical and the reading is effortless and super interesting. I think it as a must-read for any entrepreneur and people who work in this ecosystem. So far, it is highly recommended!
August 22, 2023
Didn’t meet my expectations. Lots of trivial quotes, followed by few good advices. I like to believe that you can learn from everyone, but I don’t think that I got a “good enough value� from this book. Maybe I’m not a target audience of this book, as it seems that ratings are pretty high for now. What Uri and team is definitely good at is marketing 😊
September 10, 2024
Great book, but worth reading only if you want to build a start-up, and a successful one. I wish I would read it before trying to implement some of the ideas. And probably, one or two will last longer and didn't cost as much as I have invested.
Will definitely reread it once it will be the time! 🤞🏼
Will definitely reread it once it will be the time! 🤞🏼
December 6, 2024
"If the focus is about you, it will be much harder to become relevant. If the story is about your users and the focus is on the problem, it will be much easier to gain relevance."
"People are apprehensive about change. While you may have incubated the idea for a long while in your head ... for others it's brand new. Especially if you're a first-time entrepreneur without name recognition ... people need time to feel comfortable with an idea."
"How do you know when you're ready to launch a startup? When you're willing to sacrifice."
"A market with secrets ... is calling for disruption through the creation of transparency."
"A big problem and a powerful story are very good starting points, but they're always not enough to become successful."
"I never lost a game, I just ran out of time." - Michael Jordan
"A solution focused story starts with: 'My company does ...'. A problem focused story starts with: 'We solve the blank problem.'"
"As individuals, we are a very good sample of exactly one person. Only when you hear a problem described by multiple people from different angles do you know you are addressing a real problem."
"Work life balance doesn't exist for founders, and in particular, the CEO of a startup."
"A startup is a journey of failures."
"If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein
"There are two immediate conclusions ... if you're afraid to fail, in reality, you have already failed ... to increase your likelihood of being succesful, you must fail fast."
"Most of the startups that fail will fail during this desert journey ... You don't want to change directions, otherwise you might end up walking around in circles ... You don't want to run out of fuel."
"In the customer service business ... retention is the only indication of product market fit."
"If you don't speak with the users, you can easily figure out the 'what', but not the 'why'. And in order to get to 'good enough', you need to understand the 'why'."
"By embracing failure, you increase the likelihood of being succesful. What matters most is how fast you recover."
"I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that's why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
"If sometimes you tell yourself: 'I should have done that differently.', right then is the best time to do it differently."
"If the problem disappears, then give up. If the team is not right and you're unable to do anything to change it, then give up and restart."
"Remember, there's only one metric to determine ... product market fit ... retention."
"There are four elements to increase your likelihood of getting to product market fit. 1) Fail fast so that you have more time or runway for your experiments, 2) Listen to your users, 3) Focus on the problem, 4) Make the hard decisions if needed."
"You develop a very different approach when you get to use feedback at an early stage. It's much more effective than building the product to your satisfaction up-front ..."
"The best time to launch your product is when you'll be embarassed by the quality of it."
"The user would never even know that someone was reading the details and manually scheduling a pickup instead of automated software ... Users don't care."
"Gathering input before you commit to coding could cut a full year of development ..."
"The biggest enemy of 'good enough' is 'perfect'. 'Good enough' is usually good enough to win a market."
"An individual will choose the entrepreneurship path if their passion is greater than the combination of fear of failure and the alternative cost."
"Entrepreneurs always hold the conviction that 'This time, it will work.'"
"'What happened, and what can we learn from it?' Asking who is responsible builds into the company's DNA a fear of failure. It sends a signal to everyone around that if you try something new and it fails, you will be held accountable ..."
"The most important thing is that someone decides to try something new."
"Making mistakes fast means that you're faster than the market and faster than the competition."
"Disruptors are always newcomers. They're the ones who have nothing to lose so they'll take more risks."
"To disrupt something, we need to tell ourselves that what we're currently doing is wrong. For individuals that's difficult, so just imagine how difficult it is for organizations."
"'What will make my company irrelevant 5 years down the road?' If you can answer that, then someone else can too, and right now they are building a startup that will, in fact, make you irrelevant."
"Your job is to deliver results ... not to make the investors happy."
"The first thing to decide is what to focus on, which means deciding on the 'MIT', or the most important thing."
"As the company becomes more mature, you also need your investors to believe that the CEO can deliver on the story. It's no longer about the story, it's about making progress."
"It would be a waste of time and talent to hire someone good when they have nothing to do yet. They'll just leave."
"In many cases there will be investors pressuring you to move fast and hire a lot of people. You should hire only those you need, and know exactly what you expect them to deliver in the next 90 days."
"The most dangerous moment for a startup is when you think you've figured out product market fit even though you really haven't."
"The first five or so business deals ... a startup makes will generally be completed by the CEO. Only after those initial sales are in place should you consider building a sales organization to replicate the process."
"Customers ... will tell you if what your company is aiming to accomplish is a problem that's important to them, one they will pay to solve. That will give you the clearest indication of whether a problem is worth solving."
"Simplicity reigns, otherwise no one will use it."
"Frequency of use is powerful ..."
"To gain the strength to perservere, you need to believe that what you're doing is a noble cause."
"One of the key factors with VC decision-making is user perspective. It is very unlikely for the partners ... to invest in something they don't think they would use themselves."
"Imagine that you need 100 dates to find 'the One'. In fundraising, that's exactly the case."
"At the end of the day, an investor is going to invest in a ... first-time entrepreneur only if they like the CEO and they like the story."
"In the story that you're about to tell, you have to start with the strongest point at the beginning."
"I asked investors ... regarding early stage companies, why did you decide to invest in this startup ...? I heard a consistent answer: 'I knew the CEO from a previous startup' or 'I liked the story and I liked the CEO'."
"A good story is about emotional engagement and not the facts ... Make the listener believe he or she is part of the story ... The story needs to be authentic."
"The CEO goes to the first meeting alone."
"Investors are users as well. If you're an investor and you don't think you're going to use the product an entrepreneur is pitching, you won't invest."
"Only 15% of startups ... ever get to a seed round."
"A VC partner will meet between 100 and 200 companies in a year. Yet the VC partner will invest in only 1 to 2 a year."
"If you speak to 20 people and they all tell you that the problem you are defining is not a problem for them, then your perception of the problem might be wrong ... But if you speak with 20 investors and they all say no, it means nothing."
"75% of all VC-backed startups fail."
"Only the partners in a VC firm can say yes."
"Focus is not about what we do, it's about what we don't do."
"How do you know if an investor is interested in moving forward? ... If they're speaking about the deal, they're interested. If they're asking who else is looking at the deal, they're interested. If they're asking who the previous investors were ... they're interested. If they begin to offer advice on how to change your presentation ... they're interested."
"The more you find yourself invested psychologically and timewise in a negotiation, the less you're willing to walk away from the deal."
"Your objective is to keep the number of board members to a minimum. The more people on the board, the more you will feel you need to provide answers and satisfy everyone."
"Vinod Khosla once said that 70-80% of venture capitalists add negative values."
"VC partner roles are to 1) select startups in which to invest ... 2) to raise capital ... and, only then 3) to help existing companies, and only those who show traction. If you're struggling and expect them to help, be aware that is not their top priority."
"Nowadays, many partners and VC firms are former entrepreneurs. You want that type of investor."
"Once you get in bed with an investor, it's like a Catholic marriage. There's no way to get rid of that investor."
"The main question that you need an answer to is: How the VC behaved when the company was in trouble."
"One of the most important behaviors of a succesful CEO is perserverance."
"Even if you're making significant progress, the terms won't change in your favor ... That all changes when investors believe they are about to lose the deal. Then they will move very fast."
"VCs can and will move fast when they're about to close the deal."
"How much money should you raise? Think about your next fundable milestone. How long will it take for you to get there? Add 6 months for fundraising afterward, and another 6 more months of spare. That's the amount of money you need to raise."
"The most important key to an investment is that the VC likes the CEO and his or her story. Therefore, the CEO goes alone to these meetings and practices the story to perfection."
"Try to get your fundraising to be way oversubscribed ... at this phase, you can tell the new investors that you can only fulfill their desire to buy more if there are secondary shares being part of the deal."
"Compensation should ideally set the company's DNA as one that's generous to employees."
"Consistency creates magic, simply because people can only foresee straight lines. So if you can show consistent growth over the last three years, most people would believe that you can keep on showing the same growth moving forward."
"Plan on taking 6 to 12 months to raise the seed round."
"Time tends to work to the advantage of the investor, not you."
"I recommend you talk to other investors, even if you're officially in a no-shop period."
"Beggars can't be choosers ... If you want to be a chooser, there is one and only one way to do it: multiple term sheets. Keep all, and I mean ALL the investors you've ever been in contact with informed"
"For your two to three graphs pick those that are 1) always growing, 2) higher than industry, 3) show your beauty, and 4) show your progress over time."
"When a member of the board of directors is surprised, he or she feels like an idiot and doesn't like to ... what really irks board members about surprises is the feeling that they are the only ones who are out of the loop, that no one is listening to them, and that no one cares about their point of view."
"If board members push back, use the magic words: What do you suggest?"
"Don't bring up anything that has a low likelihood of happening ... only mention things that have a high likelihood of resulting in a deal between now and the next meeting."
"About 1/3 of all startups will have a down round, or at least a flat round. That's not always a negative ... a way of cleaning up the cap table and weeding out older but irrelevant investors ... it tends to dilute the previous investors the most."
"Moveit CEO ... To each [investor] he'd ask: what objectives should we meet so that you'll invest in the next round?"
"Every time you hire someone, allow yourself 30 days, and then ask the following question: Knowing what I know today, would I hire this person? If the answer is no, fire them the next day."
"We aspire to work with people we like to work with, and vice versa ... because we will be spending most of the hours of the day here"
"If part of your DNA is failing fast, then mistakes and failures are events, and not a person."
"The top performing engineer is creating 3 times higher value than the average, and probably 10 times higher value than the bottom ranked employee."
"If you fire that person, the trust in the organization and its leadership increases."
"More often than not, the top performing candidates will be selected by their peers."
"Questions to ask to figure out which are your key employees and which staff members shouldn't be there: 1) If there is a new team being built, and you get to be on that team, who would you like to join you? Who would you like to lead the team? 2) If there is a team like that being created and you were about to lead it, who would you not pick to join it?"
"Who are the top people that you would be sorry if they leave? Who are those that you wouldn't care that much if they leave?"
"What would you do in your next company? If you know, then do it today."
"The best time to hire is when you know what the new hire is going to do in the next 90 days. Can you define the objectives or deliverables ...?"
"Great leaders hire people they think are better than themselves."
"You don't need people from the industry, you need people who understand the problem and can listen to customers. There are even advantages to not hiring someone with industry experience. If someone has been in the industry for decades, it will be harder for him or her to change their perspective."
"Who is the trusted advisor for the CEO? Very simply, other CEOs."
"When staff leaves, it can have a domino effect."
"If one of the founders is valuable in some areas but is creating damage when at the office, find a non executive position for that founder away from the office."
"How to choose founders? ... Founders that are in love with the same problem ... Complementarity ... egolessness ... clear planning ... alignment of interests, the mission, and commitment."
"Interviewing provides limited insight. References are more important."
"As the creators of the product, we are not first-time users and therefore it's nearly impossible for us to think of the first-time user."
"The average American will check his or her phone every 12 minutes ... 80 times a day."
on users: "1) Innovators will try anything just because it's new ... 2) early adopters ... don't mind [changes]. They are not afraid to try new things and will overcome most of the issues ... as soon as they understand the value for them. 3) The early majority ... are afraid to try new things."
"You have to think about the early majority, otherwise you won't become a market leader ... They will quit faster than you think. Simple equals less ... Watch them and ask them why are they doing this or that"
"early adopters will usually tell you that you're great."
"different use cases than expected"
"always bring in early majority users as soon as possible"
"imagine your first kiss with a loved one. You can only have a first time experience once."
"once you figure out product market fit, you have figured out the value proposition, so your product will not change anymore."
"the only metric is if users are staying ... retention. If they are coming back, then you have figured out product market fit."
"product market fit is not about a gut feeling, it's about numbers."
"if your service requires registration, then the phase of registration becomes a gate or roadblock ... if registration is mandatory ... then you've just lost that particular user."
"it is better to say sorry than to ask for permission. You simply try more and dare more this way. The journey to product market fit is similar. Don't be afraid to piss off your user."
"if someone uses the product three times, they are very likely to remain engaged."
"a critical feature is one that 1) dramatically improves usage, conversion, or retention 2) enables a new total addressable market 3) results in a lot of people complaining if you remove it"
"AB testing. In it, group A gets one model, group B gets a different model, and you monitor the reception of both groups."
"if the hardware COGS is X, should you price it at 2X? No, this is totally the wrong point of view. The price is determined by the market and the willingness of customers to pay."
"if you can choose which story to tell: making money or saving money, always opt for making money. Since the state of mind of saving money is that the floor is the maximum that you can do, but in making money, the sky is the limit."
"the business model journey ends when a few things come together: the story, the value, and the renewal."
"very few things can accelerate sales cycles. Fear, and in particular panic, and competition are among them. Just think about the sales of Pfizer ... during COVID-19"
"If I were to ask 100 people ... 90% are likely to answer, someone told me. That's word of mouth ... Unfortunately, word of mouth is only relevant for apps that are used with high frequency."
"If your product has a high frequency of use, then start with PMF, go to growth, and then only then try to figure out the business model. If not, start with PMF, then figure out the business model, then go to growth."
"think about BD as scoring from half court in a basketball game. If you don't try, you're not going to make it. If you score, you win."
"there are two major alternatives: many deals that bring a few users each, a few deals that bring many users each. Always strive for the second."
"50 different ways to bring users ... You don't fall in love with one method. You fall in love with the journey until you find the one method that works."
"No VC will invest if your market is only Israel ... if your market is small, you have to think global from the first day."
"Startups that were born in a small place figure out their globalization early ... In most cases, when [startups born in large markets] decided to grow globally, it was already too late to become a global market leader."
"Your go to market strategy will depend on your funding: the poor startup formula: go to a significant country where it is easy to win. The rich startup: go to the country that will make the biggest impact and serve as a reference."
"How to go? Boots on the ground and a founder to support them ... a joint venture [with a local partner] is a bad idea"
"Uber's market cap is about 90 billion dollars and Lyft's is about 19 billion dollars ... Uber is global. Lyft is domestic."
"Think of all relevant, significant markets, and pick those that are easy to win and suffers severely from the problem you are trying to address. You want a market where the competition is nonexistent and the customer acquisition costs are low."
"People are apprehensive about change. While you may have incubated the idea for a long while in your head ... for others it's brand new. Especially if you're a first-time entrepreneur without name recognition ... people need time to feel comfortable with an idea."
"How do you know when you're ready to launch a startup? When you're willing to sacrifice."
"A market with secrets ... is calling for disruption through the creation of transparency."
"A big problem and a powerful story are very good starting points, but they're always not enough to become successful."
"I never lost a game, I just ran out of time." - Michael Jordan
"A solution focused story starts with: 'My company does ...'. A problem focused story starts with: 'We solve the blank problem.'"
"As individuals, we are a very good sample of exactly one person. Only when you hear a problem described by multiple people from different angles do you know you are addressing a real problem."
"Work life balance doesn't exist for founders, and in particular, the CEO of a startup."
"A startup is a journey of failures."
"If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein
"There are two immediate conclusions ... if you're afraid to fail, in reality, you have already failed ... to increase your likelihood of being succesful, you must fail fast."
"Most of the startups that fail will fail during this desert journey ... You don't want to change directions, otherwise you might end up walking around in circles ... You don't want to run out of fuel."
"In the customer service business ... retention is the only indication of product market fit."
"If you don't speak with the users, you can easily figure out the 'what', but not the 'why'. And in order to get to 'good enough', you need to understand the 'why'."
"By embracing failure, you increase the likelihood of being succesful. What matters most is how fast you recover."
"I've failed over and over and over again in my life, and that's why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
"If sometimes you tell yourself: 'I should have done that differently.', right then is the best time to do it differently."
"If the problem disappears, then give up. If the team is not right and you're unable to do anything to change it, then give up and restart."
"Remember, there's only one metric to determine ... product market fit ... retention."
"There are four elements to increase your likelihood of getting to product market fit. 1) Fail fast so that you have more time or runway for your experiments, 2) Listen to your users, 3) Focus on the problem, 4) Make the hard decisions if needed."
"You develop a very different approach when you get to use feedback at an early stage. It's much more effective than building the product to your satisfaction up-front ..."
"The best time to launch your product is when you'll be embarassed by the quality of it."
"The user would never even know that someone was reading the details and manually scheduling a pickup instead of automated software ... Users don't care."
"Gathering input before you commit to coding could cut a full year of development ..."
"The biggest enemy of 'good enough' is 'perfect'. 'Good enough' is usually good enough to win a market."
"An individual will choose the entrepreneurship path if their passion is greater than the combination of fear of failure and the alternative cost."
"Entrepreneurs always hold the conviction that 'This time, it will work.'"
"'What happened, and what can we learn from it?' Asking who is responsible builds into the company's DNA a fear of failure. It sends a signal to everyone around that if you try something new and it fails, you will be held accountable ..."
"The most important thing is that someone decides to try something new."
"Making mistakes fast means that you're faster than the market and faster than the competition."
"Disruptors are always newcomers. They're the ones who have nothing to lose so they'll take more risks."
"To disrupt something, we need to tell ourselves that what we're currently doing is wrong. For individuals that's difficult, so just imagine how difficult it is for organizations."
"'What will make my company irrelevant 5 years down the road?' If you can answer that, then someone else can too, and right now they are building a startup that will, in fact, make you irrelevant."
"Your job is to deliver results ... not to make the investors happy."
"The first thing to decide is what to focus on, which means deciding on the 'MIT', or the most important thing."
"As the company becomes more mature, you also need your investors to believe that the CEO can deliver on the story. It's no longer about the story, it's about making progress."
"It would be a waste of time and talent to hire someone good when they have nothing to do yet. They'll just leave."
"In many cases there will be investors pressuring you to move fast and hire a lot of people. You should hire only those you need, and know exactly what you expect them to deliver in the next 90 days."
"The most dangerous moment for a startup is when you think you've figured out product market fit even though you really haven't."
"The first five or so business deals ... a startup makes will generally be completed by the CEO. Only after those initial sales are in place should you consider building a sales organization to replicate the process."
"Customers ... will tell you if what your company is aiming to accomplish is a problem that's important to them, one they will pay to solve. That will give you the clearest indication of whether a problem is worth solving."
"Simplicity reigns, otherwise no one will use it."
"Frequency of use is powerful ..."
"To gain the strength to perservere, you need to believe that what you're doing is a noble cause."
"One of the key factors with VC decision-making is user perspective. It is very unlikely for the partners ... to invest in something they don't think they would use themselves."
"Imagine that you need 100 dates to find 'the One'. In fundraising, that's exactly the case."
"At the end of the day, an investor is going to invest in a ... first-time entrepreneur only if they like the CEO and they like the story."
"In the story that you're about to tell, you have to start with the strongest point at the beginning."
"I asked investors ... regarding early stage companies, why did you decide to invest in this startup ...? I heard a consistent answer: 'I knew the CEO from a previous startup' or 'I liked the story and I liked the CEO'."
"A good story is about emotional engagement and not the facts ... Make the listener believe he or she is part of the story ... The story needs to be authentic."
"The CEO goes to the first meeting alone."
"Investors are users as well. If you're an investor and you don't think you're going to use the product an entrepreneur is pitching, you won't invest."
"Only 15% of startups ... ever get to a seed round."
"A VC partner will meet between 100 and 200 companies in a year. Yet the VC partner will invest in only 1 to 2 a year."
"If you speak to 20 people and they all tell you that the problem you are defining is not a problem for them, then your perception of the problem might be wrong ... But if you speak with 20 investors and they all say no, it means nothing."
"75% of all VC-backed startups fail."
"Only the partners in a VC firm can say yes."
"Focus is not about what we do, it's about what we don't do."
"How do you know if an investor is interested in moving forward? ... If they're speaking about the deal, they're interested. If they're asking who else is looking at the deal, they're interested. If they're asking who the previous investors were ... they're interested. If they begin to offer advice on how to change your presentation ... they're interested."
"The more you find yourself invested psychologically and timewise in a negotiation, the less you're willing to walk away from the deal."
"Your objective is to keep the number of board members to a minimum. The more people on the board, the more you will feel you need to provide answers and satisfy everyone."
"Vinod Khosla once said that 70-80% of venture capitalists add negative values."
"VC partner roles are to 1) select startups in which to invest ... 2) to raise capital ... and, only then 3) to help existing companies, and only those who show traction. If you're struggling and expect them to help, be aware that is not their top priority."
"Nowadays, many partners and VC firms are former entrepreneurs. You want that type of investor."
"Once you get in bed with an investor, it's like a Catholic marriage. There's no way to get rid of that investor."
"The main question that you need an answer to is: How the VC behaved when the company was in trouble."
"One of the most important behaviors of a succesful CEO is perserverance."
"Even if you're making significant progress, the terms won't change in your favor ... That all changes when investors believe they are about to lose the deal. Then they will move very fast."
"VCs can and will move fast when they're about to close the deal."
"How much money should you raise? Think about your next fundable milestone. How long will it take for you to get there? Add 6 months for fundraising afterward, and another 6 more months of spare. That's the amount of money you need to raise."
"The most important key to an investment is that the VC likes the CEO and his or her story. Therefore, the CEO goes alone to these meetings and practices the story to perfection."
"Try to get your fundraising to be way oversubscribed ... at this phase, you can tell the new investors that you can only fulfill their desire to buy more if there are secondary shares being part of the deal."
"Compensation should ideally set the company's DNA as one that's generous to employees."
"Consistency creates magic, simply because people can only foresee straight lines. So if you can show consistent growth over the last three years, most people would believe that you can keep on showing the same growth moving forward."
"Plan on taking 6 to 12 months to raise the seed round."
"Time tends to work to the advantage of the investor, not you."
"I recommend you talk to other investors, even if you're officially in a no-shop period."
"Beggars can't be choosers ... If you want to be a chooser, there is one and only one way to do it: multiple term sheets. Keep all, and I mean ALL the investors you've ever been in contact with informed"
"For your two to three graphs pick those that are 1) always growing, 2) higher than industry, 3) show your beauty, and 4) show your progress over time."
"When a member of the board of directors is surprised, he or she feels like an idiot and doesn't like to ... what really irks board members about surprises is the feeling that they are the only ones who are out of the loop, that no one is listening to them, and that no one cares about their point of view."
"If board members push back, use the magic words: What do you suggest?"
"Don't bring up anything that has a low likelihood of happening ... only mention things that have a high likelihood of resulting in a deal between now and the next meeting."
"About 1/3 of all startups will have a down round, or at least a flat round. That's not always a negative ... a way of cleaning up the cap table and weeding out older but irrelevant investors ... it tends to dilute the previous investors the most."
"Moveit CEO ... To each [investor] he'd ask: what objectives should we meet so that you'll invest in the next round?"
"Every time you hire someone, allow yourself 30 days, and then ask the following question: Knowing what I know today, would I hire this person? If the answer is no, fire them the next day."
"We aspire to work with people we like to work with, and vice versa ... because we will be spending most of the hours of the day here"
"If part of your DNA is failing fast, then mistakes and failures are events, and not a person."
"The top performing engineer is creating 3 times higher value than the average, and probably 10 times higher value than the bottom ranked employee."
"If you fire that person, the trust in the organization and its leadership increases."
"More often than not, the top performing candidates will be selected by their peers."
"Questions to ask to figure out which are your key employees and which staff members shouldn't be there: 1) If there is a new team being built, and you get to be on that team, who would you like to join you? Who would you like to lead the team? 2) If there is a team like that being created and you were about to lead it, who would you not pick to join it?"
"Who are the top people that you would be sorry if they leave? Who are those that you wouldn't care that much if they leave?"
"What would you do in your next company? If you know, then do it today."
"The best time to hire is when you know what the new hire is going to do in the next 90 days. Can you define the objectives or deliverables ...?"
"Great leaders hire people they think are better than themselves."
"You don't need people from the industry, you need people who understand the problem and can listen to customers. There are even advantages to not hiring someone with industry experience. If someone has been in the industry for decades, it will be harder for him or her to change their perspective."
"Who is the trusted advisor for the CEO? Very simply, other CEOs."
"When staff leaves, it can have a domino effect."
"If one of the founders is valuable in some areas but is creating damage when at the office, find a non executive position for that founder away from the office."
"How to choose founders? ... Founders that are in love with the same problem ... Complementarity ... egolessness ... clear planning ... alignment of interests, the mission, and commitment."
"Interviewing provides limited insight. References are more important."
"As the creators of the product, we are not first-time users and therefore it's nearly impossible for us to think of the first-time user."
"The average American will check his or her phone every 12 minutes ... 80 times a day."
on users: "1) Innovators will try anything just because it's new ... 2) early adopters ... don't mind [changes]. They are not afraid to try new things and will overcome most of the issues ... as soon as they understand the value for them. 3) The early majority ... are afraid to try new things."
"You have to think about the early majority, otherwise you won't become a market leader ... They will quit faster than you think. Simple equals less ... Watch them and ask them why are they doing this or that"
"early adopters will usually tell you that you're great."
"different use cases than expected"
"always bring in early majority users as soon as possible"
"imagine your first kiss with a loved one. You can only have a first time experience once."
"once you figure out product market fit, you have figured out the value proposition, so your product will not change anymore."
"the only metric is if users are staying ... retention. If they are coming back, then you have figured out product market fit."
"product market fit is not about a gut feeling, it's about numbers."
"if your service requires registration, then the phase of registration becomes a gate or roadblock ... if registration is mandatory ... then you've just lost that particular user."
"it is better to say sorry than to ask for permission. You simply try more and dare more this way. The journey to product market fit is similar. Don't be afraid to piss off your user."
"if someone uses the product three times, they are very likely to remain engaged."
"a critical feature is one that 1) dramatically improves usage, conversion, or retention 2) enables a new total addressable market 3) results in a lot of people complaining if you remove it"
"AB testing. In it, group A gets one model, group B gets a different model, and you monitor the reception of both groups."
"if the hardware COGS is X, should you price it at 2X? No, this is totally the wrong point of view. The price is determined by the market and the willingness of customers to pay."
"if you can choose which story to tell: making money or saving money, always opt for making money. Since the state of mind of saving money is that the floor is the maximum that you can do, but in making money, the sky is the limit."
"the business model journey ends when a few things come together: the story, the value, and the renewal."
"very few things can accelerate sales cycles. Fear, and in particular panic, and competition are among them. Just think about the sales of Pfizer ... during COVID-19"
"If I were to ask 100 people ... 90% are likely to answer, someone told me. That's word of mouth ... Unfortunately, word of mouth is only relevant for apps that are used with high frequency."
"If your product has a high frequency of use, then start with PMF, go to growth, and then only then try to figure out the business model. If not, start with PMF, then figure out the business model, then go to growth."
"think about BD as scoring from half court in a basketball game. If you don't try, you're not going to make it. If you score, you win."
"there are two major alternatives: many deals that bring a few users each, a few deals that bring many users each. Always strive for the second."
"50 different ways to bring users ... You don't fall in love with one method. You fall in love with the journey until you find the one method that works."
"No VC will invest if your market is only Israel ... if your market is small, you have to think global from the first day."
"Startups that were born in a small place figure out their globalization early ... In most cases, when [startups born in large markets] decided to grow globally, it was already too late to become a global market leader."
"Your go to market strategy will depend on your funding: the poor startup formula: go to a significant country where it is easy to win. The rich startup: go to the country that will make the biggest impact and serve as a reference."
"How to go? Boots on the ground and a founder to support them ... a joint venture [with a local partner] is a bad idea"
"Uber's market cap is about 90 billion dollars and Lyft's is about 19 billion dollars ... Uber is global. Lyft is domestic."
"Think of all relevant, significant markets, and pick those that are easy to win and suffers severely from the problem you are trying to address. You want a market where the competition is nonexistent and the customer acquisition costs are low."
April 28, 2025
a mente empreendedora que, por meio de paixão, perseverança e responsabilidade, é capaz de mudar o mundo.
Apaixonar- se pelo problema significa valorizar o consumidor final como o elemento- chave do sucesso, não as próprias ideias e criações.
Steve Jobs costumava citar Michelangelo: “A simplicidade é o mais alto grau da sofisticação�.
só existem decisões certas ou NÃO decisões. Afinal, quando se toma uma decisão, ao se escolher um caminho, não se sabe como as coisas seriam se se tivesse optado por outro.
Ainda que sorte seja um elemento importante, vou defini- la como “Quando a oportunidade encontra a predisposição�.
No final das contas, essa jornada envolve nossa capacidade de causar um impacto maior e ajudar a transformar o mundo em um lugar melhor.
a frustração leva sempre ao entendimento de que há um problema. Então, tento descobrir se é um GRANDE PROBLEMA, alguma coisa que vale a pena resolver. O problema desencadeia tudo, e, se ele for mesmo significativo e houver sucesso em resolvê- lo, o lucro talvez seja muito bom.
Na verdade, a maioria das startups morrerá porque não conseguiu descobrir como adequar o produto ao mercado, o que, em muitos casos, acontece quando o foco é colocado na solução, e não no problema.
as empresas focadas na solução começam a história com “nosso sistema…� ou “nós�. Se o foco é você, será muito mais difícil conquistar relevância. Se a história for sobre usuários e estiver focada no problema, será bem mais fácil.
Todas as empresas bem- sucedidas no campo do consumidor cresceram com base no boca a boca entre amigos.
Os problemas podem ser medidos pela frequência de uso, a magnitude da frustração, o custo alternativo ou o tempo economizado. Seja qual for o modelo, pode- se alterar a solução várias vezes durante a jornada, com o objetivo de adequar o produto ao mercado, ou seja, descobrir como criar valor para os usuários.
FairFly� lida com o maior segredo da indústria de viagens: o que acontece com as passagens aéreas após se ter reservado um voo. Ninguém sabe, porque ninguém compara preços depois. As tarifas aéreas mudam o tempo todo� antes de se reservar um voo e também depois; portanto, se o preço cair, será possível remarcar o mesmo voo por um valor mais em conta.
Refundit� lida com reembolso de impostos sobre as compras feitas em uma viagem. Quando se viaja e faz compras na Europa, tem- se o direito de receber reembolso de impostos sobre as compras, e o valor não é insignificante: pode alcançar em média mais de 20% do preço de compra. Mas, ao tentar recuperá- lo, simplesmente não se consegue: longas filas na alfândega, ou ausência dos formulários corretos, ou dificuldade de localizar, por exemplo, em que terminal o reembolso acontece. O resultado é frustrante. Em 90% dos casos, as pessoas não conseguem recuperar o próprio dinheiro.
não há nada mais importante para entender a frustração de um usuário do que observar o desenrolar desse sentimento. E ainda mais quando se trata de um novo usuário tentando passar por todo esse processo pela primeira vez.
Kahun converte texto em dados e cria um sistema de IA para diagnósticos, pré- triagem de pacientes e auxílio para a equipe médica se preparar melhor.
A paixão por promover uma mudança deve ser maior que o medo do fracasso e do custo alternativo. A isso chamo “zona de empreendedorismo�, porque nem toda pessoa com uma grande ideia tem perfil para criar uma startup.
A forma mais intensa de paixão não está em métodos de ganhar mais dinheiro, mas em transformar o mundo em um lugar melhor.
Para maximizar sua probabilidade de sucesso, fracasse rápido!
O feedback do usuário é a única coisa que permite a você se movimentar mais rápido, a única coisa que importa.
dispositivos e aplicativos que usamos diariamente surgiram há apenas uma ou duas décadas.
Roadmap significa uma lista de experimentos até que se encontre a única coisa que de fato funciona.
quanto mais recursos se acrescentam, mais complexidade se cria.
A característica mais relevante de um empreendedor é bem simples: “Vamos tentar e ver se a coisa funciona�.
um indivíduo vai escolher o caminho do empreendedorismo se a paixão for mais intensa do que a combinação entre medo do fracasso e custo alternativo.
faça certo e nunca se esqueça: sem julgamento.
Preparar- se para o fracasso� e que ele venha logo� é o conceito mais importante a ser internalizado enquanto se cria um negócio
Lembre- se das palavras de Albert Einstein (adoro repetir esta citação porque é muito importante): “Quem nunca errou nunca experimentou nada novo�. O outro lado: se você tentar coisas novas, irá falhar. E está tudo bem!
Fracasso é um acontecimento, não uma pessoa. Esse é o único jeito de uma organização aceitar o fracasso e incentivar uma recuperação rápida para o experimento seguinte.
A jornada do produto disruptor é sempre a mesma: no início riem dele, depois o ignoram, e então ele vence.
O mais importante sobre o assunto é que a disrupção não tem a ver com tecnologia, mas com mudança de comportamento e, dessa forma, mudança do equilíbrio do mercado.
disrupção tem pouco a ver com tecnologia; tem a ver com mudar o comportamento e o equilíbrio do mercado� ou seja, a maneira como fazemos negócios.
Disruptores são sempre novatos e, por essa razão, os únicos que, sem terem nada a perder, aceitam correr mais riscos. Os já estabelecidos e, em particular, os líderes de mercado não promovem disrupção, na medida em que têm muito a perder.
Visibilidade, talvez mais do que qualquer outra coisa, cria disrupção. A informação está disponível para todos.
empoderar pessoas é muito mais gratificante do que economizar tempo!
Gratuidade é a maior disrupção de todas.
você trilha uma jornada de fracassos e validará as suposições subjacentes mais tarde.
Para uma startup ser bem- sucedida, ela precisa fazer uma e apenas uma única coisa certa e, a fim de maximizar a probabilidade de fazê- lo, precisa dizer não a todo o resto. O foco se refere não apenas ao que estamos fazendo, mas também ao que não estamos fazendo! Essas são decisões complicadas de nos posicionarmos com um não. A principal coisa é manter a principal coisa como a coisa principal.
A estratégia de uma startup sempre começa com a adequação do produto ao mercado, e vou reafirmar uma coisa: se você a descobrir, vai seguir em frente; caso contrário, vai desaparecer.
Faça iteração após iteração de seu produto antes de contratar um único vendedor.
Atingir a adequação do produto ao mercado gera valor.
Se a principal métrica para os negócios B2C [business- to- consumer] é a retenção, para o B2B é a volta do cliente para comprar pela segunda vez. Tal comportamento indica mais engajamento; por exemplo, comprar após um teste ou renovar o contrato por mais um período. Renovações de engajamento sinalizam a descoberta da adequação do produto ao mercado e equivalem à retenção.
O maior desafio para um CEO é ter a certeza de que a organização esteja mudando junto com as fases. Dessa forma, ele atua como um maestro de orquestra, ou seja, cada participante da orquestra inicial� vendas, marketing, desenvolvimento de produtos� tem uma importância peculiar, realizando o que lhe cabe no momento certo.
Se criar uma startup é deslizar pelos altos e baixos de uma montanha- russa, captar recursos equivale a deslizar por uma montanha- russa no escuro� nem sequer se sabe o que está por vir.
se você contar fatos, levará seu público a pensar; se contar histórias, o levará a imaginar e sentir. Se quer que invistam, é necessário que imaginem, que se envolvam emocionalmente com a história.
Se você tem uma boa história e é um empreendedor de espírito agradável, só precisa de um sim em cem nãos.
Para conseguir o acordo que deseja, diga NÃO àquele que não deseja.
Evite que os poderes de veto sejam colocados nas mãos de uma única entidade.
Se o negócio não for o que você deseja, vá embora. Investimento se assemelha a um casamento católico: não tem jeito de se livrar do seu parceiro.
A melhor maneira de gerenciar os investidores existentes é informá- los sempre.
Diante de três opções, as pessoas tendem a escolher a do meio.
A principal razão de informar cada membro do conselho individualmente antes da reunião está no fato de só ser possível administrar um ego de cada vez, de um jeito pessoal. Ninguém pode (ou deve) fazer isso em público.
Tomar decisões fáceis é fácil; tomar decisões difíceis é difícil, e a maioria das pessoas não gosta das mais complicadas.
Toda vez que contratar alguém, espere trinta dias e se faça a seguinte pergunta: “Sabendo o que sei hoje, eu contrataria esse sujeito?�. Se a resposta for não, demita- o no dia seguinte. Cada dia que ele permanecer a bordo causará mais prejuízos à equipe. Por outro lado, se a resposta for sim, dê a ele um pequeno aumento (em salário, opções ou qualquer outra coisa). Assim, estabelecerá um comprometimento incrível. Agora, se você disser “Ainda não sei�, então está mentindo. Mas, se precisar de mais trinta dias, aproveite esse tempo e pense bastante.
Não existe certo ou errado, mas cabe somente a você definir isso com antecedência, nunca quando o conflito aflora.
demitir acaba, de longe, sendo muito mais importante do que contratar, ainda que dispensar colaboradores seja difícil por alguns motivos.
De modo geral, em uma distribuição normal, 2% dos funcionários serão incríveis, 15% excelentes, 33% bons, e 33% menos do que bons. O último grupo nem deveria aparecer lá.
O feedback dos colegas constitui a ferramenta mais poderosa em todo arsenal de contratação, afinal, são os que conhecem melhor; no entanto, não se esqueça: caso pergunte o ponto de vista deles, leve em consideração o que dizem.
A diferença entre uma organização fantástica e uma mediana é que a primeira atinge seu objetivo livrando- se daqueles que não deveriam estar nela. E isso faz toda a diferença.
O melhor momento para contratar é quando já se sabe o que o novo contratado fará nos próximos noventa dias.
Se a pessoa tiver profundidade de conhecimento, é um verdadeiro profissional.
quanto mais desafiadora for a entrevista, mais o candidato terá a impressão de que aquele local de trabalho contrata apenas gente fantástica!
Grandes líderes contratam pessoas que consideram superiores a eles. Líderes medianos, não; temem contratar alguém mais inteligente ou melhor, e o resultado é a criação de equipes medianas ou até inferiores, o que acaba se tornando o DNA da empresa.
A entrevista fornece insights limitados. Referências são mais importantes. Converse com pessoas que costumavam trabalhar com um funcionário em potencial.
você é uma amostra incrível de UMA pessoa.
em termos de não uso, todos os usuários são iguais; no entanto, em termos de como usamos nossos aplicativos, há grandes diferenças.
Os alemães são significativamente menos ativos em relação a relatar pontos policiais escondidos em comparação ao Brasil.
A primeira regra de complexidade é menos = mais.
Se você deseja um aplicativo simples, o back- end precisa ser complexo, o que demanda muito trabalho nos bastidores para manter simples o que se refere ao usuário.
A “diferença de tempo� entre hoje e amanhã abarca cerca de dois a três anos, e entre hoje e futuro, de quatro a cinco anos.
Ninguém lê nada, nem manuais, nem resumos de aplicativos, nem mensagens.
geração de leads é um processo para identificar clientes em potencial para uma empresa.
Se você criar valor, terá sucesso; se criar grande valor para muitas pessoas, terá muito sucesso; se não criar valor, morrerá.
Menos recursos significam melhor usabilidade.
A maioria dos aplicativos de consumo tem o que se conhece como a regra dos “três usos�: se alguém usa o produto três vezes, é muito provável que continue engajado, então a conversão acontece no intervalo de três usos.
Regra geral: usuários só se convertem no terceiro uso.
Gerir é fazer as coisas direito; liderar é fazer as coisas certas.
Construir um modelo de negócios significa descobrir como ganhar dinheiro.
Um plano de negócios refere- se a quanto desse modelo se vai vender e quando.
Um mercado com margens muito altas atrai a concorrência, que reduzirá o preço a um patamar que você talvez não consiga manter.
síntese: se tiver dinheiro, subsidiar o dispositivo para uma assinatura mais longa é um modelo bem melhor. Em termos de geração de valor para uma empresa, receitas recorrentes são sempre muito melhores.
A proposta de valor de economia de dinheiro é mais fácil de vender e de demonstrar, e você consegue com facilidade ajustar o modelo de negócios para se adequar a ela. E talvez conquiste ainda uma parcela relativamente maior da economia, mas limitada pelo total gasto.
“Em B2B, para ter sucesso, você pode ser apenas duas coisas: traficante de armas ou narcotraficante�. Ele então explicou que o traficante de armas as vende para você e seu inimigo, portanto, você precisará comprar mais. O narcotraficante, de maneira similar, vende produtos que viciam tanto os clientes que eles não conseguem parar de comprar.
Os motoristas não se importam com a distância; querem saber quanto tempo esse “desvio de rota� demandará.
a função de visar ao sucesso do cliente é ainda mais importante do que conquistar novos deles.
Ao escolher um modelo de negócio, escolha aquele com receitas recorrentes.
O mercado, e não a empresa, determina o preço. No entanto, o custo é definido pela empresa, e o mercado não se importa com isso.
O crescimento depende não de um único acontecimento, mas sim da consistência nos resultados e da capacidade de demonstrá- los ao longo do tempo.
Mesmo quando alguma coisa funciona, não se pode ter certeza de que vai funcionar de novo ou da mesma maneira em outro lugar.
Crescimento orgânico é simples: não se faz nada e os usuários vêm, o que, obviamente, constitui o Santo Graal do marketing e costuma ser atribuído ao boca a boca. Em essência, o crescimento orgânico é tudo quando não se tem ideia de onde os usuários estão vindo.
ninguém se apaixona por um método; apaixona- se pela jornada até encontrar o método que funciona.
A valiosa fórmula inicial: vá a um país que causará o maior impacto e servirá como uma referência estelar.
Priorize uma combinação de muitas coisas: seu bem- estar, ego, alter ego, sua reputação, os próximos X anos, seu futuro. Imagine esse cenário todo e pergunte- se: “Isso é bom para mim?�. Agora considere as alternativas e os riscos associados a elas. Sua família. O que isso significa para eles?
Recompensa é quantificável; reconhecimento, não.
Caso queira discutir um negócio, comece provocando um� e então tudo vai se tornar realidade.
A única maneira de alterar significativamente os termos do negócio é por meio de uma oferta competitiva. Se o comprador ficar com medo de perder o negócio, o preço poderá subir drasticamente. Perder um acordo não significa o mesmo que “sem acordo�, mas sim que outra pessoa vai aceitá- lo.
Sempre há espaço para negociação, mas, em sua essência, ela é uma transferência de poder por meio do diálogo. Se não existirem alternativas, esse poder fica limitado.
Apaixonar- se pelo problema significa valorizar o consumidor final como o elemento- chave do sucesso, não as próprias ideias e criações.
Steve Jobs costumava citar Michelangelo: “A simplicidade é o mais alto grau da sofisticação�.
só existem decisões certas ou NÃO decisões. Afinal, quando se toma uma decisão, ao se escolher um caminho, não se sabe como as coisas seriam se se tivesse optado por outro.
Ainda que sorte seja um elemento importante, vou defini- la como “Quando a oportunidade encontra a predisposição�.
No final das contas, essa jornada envolve nossa capacidade de causar um impacto maior e ajudar a transformar o mundo em um lugar melhor.
a frustração leva sempre ao entendimento de que há um problema. Então, tento descobrir se é um GRANDE PROBLEMA, alguma coisa que vale a pena resolver. O problema desencadeia tudo, e, se ele for mesmo significativo e houver sucesso em resolvê- lo, o lucro talvez seja muito bom.
Na verdade, a maioria das startups morrerá porque não conseguiu descobrir como adequar o produto ao mercado, o que, em muitos casos, acontece quando o foco é colocado na solução, e não no problema.
as empresas focadas na solução começam a história com “nosso sistema…� ou “nós�. Se o foco é você, será muito mais difícil conquistar relevância. Se a história for sobre usuários e estiver focada no problema, será bem mais fácil.
Todas as empresas bem- sucedidas no campo do consumidor cresceram com base no boca a boca entre amigos.
Os problemas podem ser medidos pela frequência de uso, a magnitude da frustração, o custo alternativo ou o tempo economizado. Seja qual for o modelo, pode- se alterar a solução várias vezes durante a jornada, com o objetivo de adequar o produto ao mercado, ou seja, descobrir como criar valor para os usuários.
FairFly� lida com o maior segredo da indústria de viagens: o que acontece com as passagens aéreas após se ter reservado um voo. Ninguém sabe, porque ninguém compara preços depois. As tarifas aéreas mudam o tempo todo� antes de se reservar um voo e também depois; portanto, se o preço cair, será possível remarcar o mesmo voo por um valor mais em conta.
Refundit� lida com reembolso de impostos sobre as compras feitas em uma viagem. Quando se viaja e faz compras na Europa, tem- se o direito de receber reembolso de impostos sobre as compras, e o valor não é insignificante: pode alcançar em média mais de 20% do preço de compra. Mas, ao tentar recuperá- lo, simplesmente não se consegue: longas filas na alfândega, ou ausência dos formulários corretos, ou dificuldade de localizar, por exemplo, em que terminal o reembolso acontece. O resultado é frustrante. Em 90% dos casos, as pessoas não conseguem recuperar o próprio dinheiro.
não há nada mais importante para entender a frustração de um usuário do que observar o desenrolar desse sentimento. E ainda mais quando se trata de um novo usuário tentando passar por todo esse processo pela primeira vez.
Kahun converte texto em dados e cria um sistema de IA para diagnósticos, pré- triagem de pacientes e auxílio para a equipe médica se preparar melhor.
A paixão por promover uma mudança deve ser maior que o medo do fracasso e do custo alternativo. A isso chamo “zona de empreendedorismo�, porque nem toda pessoa com uma grande ideia tem perfil para criar uma startup.
A forma mais intensa de paixão não está em métodos de ganhar mais dinheiro, mas em transformar o mundo em um lugar melhor.
Para maximizar sua probabilidade de sucesso, fracasse rápido!
O feedback do usuário é a única coisa que permite a você se movimentar mais rápido, a única coisa que importa.
dispositivos e aplicativos que usamos diariamente surgiram há apenas uma ou duas décadas.
Roadmap significa uma lista de experimentos até que se encontre a única coisa que de fato funciona.
quanto mais recursos se acrescentam, mais complexidade se cria.
A característica mais relevante de um empreendedor é bem simples: “Vamos tentar e ver se a coisa funciona�.
um indivíduo vai escolher o caminho do empreendedorismo se a paixão for mais intensa do que a combinação entre medo do fracasso e custo alternativo.
faça certo e nunca se esqueça: sem julgamento.
Preparar- se para o fracasso� e que ele venha logo� é o conceito mais importante a ser internalizado enquanto se cria um negócio
Lembre- se das palavras de Albert Einstein (adoro repetir esta citação porque é muito importante): “Quem nunca errou nunca experimentou nada novo�. O outro lado: se você tentar coisas novas, irá falhar. E está tudo bem!
Fracasso é um acontecimento, não uma pessoa. Esse é o único jeito de uma organização aceitar o fracasso e incentivar uma recuperação rápida para o experimento seguinte.
A jornada do produto disruptor é sempre a mesma: no início riem dele, depois o ignoram, e então ele vence.
O mais importante sobre o assunto é que a disrupção não tem a ver com tecnologia, mas com mudança de comportamento e, dessa forma, mudança do equilíbrio do mercado.
disrupção tem pouco a ver com tecnologia; tem a ver com mudar o comportamento e o equilíbrio do mercado� ou seja, a maneira como fazemos negócios.
Disruptores são sempre novatos e, por essa razão, os únicos que, sem terem nada a perder, aceitam correr mais riscos. Os já estabelecidos e, em particular, os líderes de mercado não promovem disrupção, na medida em que têm muito a perder.
Visibilidade, talvez mais do que qualquer outra coisa, cria disrupção. A informação está disponível para todos.
empoderar pessoas é muito mais gratificante do que economizar tempo!
Gratuidade é a maior disrupção de todas.
você trilha uma jornada de fracassos e validará as suposições subjacentes mais tarde.
Para uma startup ser bem- sucedida, ela precisa fazer uma e apenas uma única coisa certa e, a fim de maximizar a probabilidade de fazê- lo, precisa dizer não a todo o resto. O foco se refere não apenas ao que estamos fazendo, mas também ao que não estamos fazendo! Essas são decisões complicadas de nos posicionarmos com um não. A principal coisa é manter a principal coisa como a coisa principal.
A estratégia de uma startup sempre começa com a adequação do produto ao mercado, e vou reafirmar uma coisa: se você a descobrir, vai seguir em frente; caso contrário, vai desaparecer.
Faça iteração após iteração de seu produto antes de contratar um único vendedor.
Atingir a adequação do produto ao mercado gera valor.
Se a principal métrica para os negócios B2C [business- to- consumer] é a retenção, para o B2B é a volta do cliente para comprar pela segunda vez. Tal comportamento indica mais engajamento; por exemplo, comprar após um teste ou renovar o contrato por mais um período. Renovações de engajamento sinalizam a descoberta da adequação do produto ao mercado e equivalem à retenção.
O maior desafio para um CEO é ter a certeza de que a organização esteja mudando junto com as fases. Dessa forma, ele atua como um maestro de orquestra, ou seja, cada participante da orquestra inicial� vendas, marketing, desenvolvimento de produtos� tem uma importância peculiar, realizando o que lhe cabe no momento certo.
Se criar uma startup é deslizar pelos altos e baixos de uma montanha- russa, captar recursos equivale a deslizar por uma montanha- russa no escuro� nem sequer se sabe o que está por vir.
se você contar fatos, levará seu público a pensar; se contar histórias, o levará a imaginar e sentir. Se quer que invistam, é necessário que imaginem, que se envolvam emocionalmente com a história.
Se você tem uma boa história e é um empreendedor de espírito agradável, só precisa de um sim em cem nãos.
Para conseguir o acordo que deseja, diga NÃO àquele que não deseja.
Evite que os poderes de veto sejam colocados nas mãos de uma única entidade.
Se o negócio não for o que você deseja, vá embora. Investimento se assemelha a um casamento católico: não tem jeito de se livrar do seu parceiro.
A melhor maneira de gerenciar os investidores existentes é informá- los sempre.
Diante de três opções, as pessoas tendem a escolher a do meio.
A principal razão de informar cada membro do conselho individualmente antes da reunião está no fato de só ser possível administrar um ego de cada vez, de um jeito pessoal. Ninguém pode (ou deve) fazer isso em público.
Tomar decisões fáceis é fácil; tomar decisões difíceis é difícil, e a maioria das pessoas não gosta das mais complicadas.
Toda vez que contratar alguém, espere trinta dias e se faça a seguinte pergunta: “Sabendo o que sei hoje, eu contrataria esse sujeito?�. Se a resposta for não, demita- o no dia seguinte. Cada dia que ele permanecer a bordo causará mais prejuízos à equipe. Por outro lado, se a resposta for sim, dê a ele um pequeno aumento (em salário, opções ou qualquer outra coisa). Assim, estabelecerá um comprometimento incrível. Agora, se você disser “Ainda não sei�, então está mentindo. Mas, se precisar de mais trinta dias, aproveite esse tempo e pense bastante.
Não existe certo ou errado, mas cabe somente a você definir isso com antecedência, nunca quando o conflito aflora.
demitir acaba, de longe, sendo muito mais importante do que contratar, ainda que dispensar colaboradores seja difícil por alguns motivos.
De modo geral, em uma distribuição normal, 2% dos funcionários serão incríveis, 15% excelentes, 33% bons, e 33% menos do que bons. O último grupo nem deveria aparecer lá.
O feedback dos colegas constitui a ferramenta mais poderosa em todo arsenal de contratação, afinal, são os que conhecem melhor; no entanto, não se esqueça: caso pergunte o ponto de vista deles, leve em consideração o que dizem.
A diferença entre uma organização fantástica e uma mediana é que a primeira atinge seu objetivo livrando- se daqueles que não deveriam estar nela. E isso faz toda a diferença.
O melhor momento para contratar é quando já se sabe o que o novo contratado fará nos próximos noventa dias.
Se a pessoa tiver profundidade de conhecimento, é um verdadeiro profissional.
quanto mais desafiadora for a entrevista, mais o candidato terá a impressão de que aquele local de trabalho contrata apenas gente fantástica!
Grandes líderes contratam pessoas que consideram superiores a eles. Líderes medianos, não; temem contratar alguém mais inteligente ou melhor, e o resultado é a criação de equipes medianas ou até inferiores, o que acaba se tornando o DNA da empresa.
A entrevista fornece insights limitados. Referências são mais importantes. Converse com pessoas que costumavam trabalhar com um funcionário em potencial.
você é uma amostra incrível de UMA pessoa.
em termos de não uso, todos os usuários são iguais; no entanto, em termos de como usamos nossos aplicativos, há grandes diferenças.
Os alemães são significativamente menos ativos em relação a relatar pontos policiais escondidos em comparação ao Brasil.
A primeira regra de complexidade é menos = mais.
Se você deseja um aplicativo simples, o back- end precisa ser complexo, o que demanda muito trabalho nos bastidores para manter simples o que se refere ao usuário.
A “diferença de tempo� entre hoje e amanhã abarca cerca de dois a três anos, e entre hoje e futuro, de quatro a cinco anos.
Ninguém lê nada, nem manuais, nem resumos de aplicativos, nem mensagens.
geração de leads é um processo para identificar clientes em potencial para uma empresa.
Se você criar valor, terá sucesso; se criar grande valor para muitas pessoas, terá muito sucesso; se não criar valor, morrerá.
Menos recursos significam melhor usabilidade.
A maioria dos aplicativos de consumo tem o que se conhece como a regra dos “três usos�: se alguém usa o produto três vezes, é muito provável que continue engajado, então a conversão acontece no intervalo de três usos.
Regra geral: usuários só se convertem no terceiro uso.
Gerir é fazer as coisas direito; liderar é fazer as coisas certas.
Construir um modelo de negócios significa descobrir como ganhar dinheiro.
Um plano de negócios refere- se a quanto desse modelo se vai vender e quando.
Um mercado com margens muito altas atrai a concorrência, que reduzirá o preço a um patamar que você talvez não consiga manter.
síntese: se tiver dinheiro, subsidiar o dispositivo para uma assinatura mais longa é um modelo bem melhor. Em termos de geração de valor para uma empresa, receitas recorrentes são sempre muito melhores.
A proposta de valor de economia de dinheiro é mais fácil de vender e de demonstrar, e você consegue com facilidade ajustar o modelo de negócios para se adequar a ela. E talvez conquiste ainda uma parcela relativamente maior da economia, mas limitada pelo total gasto.
“Em B2B, para ter sucesso, você pode ser apenas duas coisas: traficante de armas ou narcotraficante�. Ele então explicou que o traficante de armas as vende para você e seu inimigo, portanto, você precisará comprar mais. O narcotraficante, de maneira similar, vende produtos que viciam tanto os clientes que eles não conseguem parar de comprar.
Os motoristas não se importam com a distância; querem saber quanto tempo esse “desvio de rota� demandará.
a função de visar ao sucesso do cliente é ainda mais importante do que conquistar novos deles.
Ao escolher um modelo de negócio, escolha aquele com receitas recorrentes.
O mercado, e não a empresa, determina o preço. No entanto, o custo é definido pela empresa, e o mercado não se importa com isso.
O crescimento depende não de um único acontecimento, mas sim da consistência nos resultados e da capacidade de demonstrá- los ao longo do tempo.
Mesmo quando alguma coisa funciona, não se pode ter certeza de que vai funcionar de novo ou da mesma maneira em outro lugar.
Crescimento orgânico é simples: não se faz nada e os usuários vêm, o que, obviamente, constitui o Santo Graal do marketing e costuma ser atribuído ao boca a boca. Em essência, o crescimento orgânico é tudo quando não se tem ideia de onde os usuários estão vindo.
ninguém se apaixona por um método; apaixona- se pela jornada até encontrar o método que funciona.
A valiosa fórmula inicial: vá a um país que causará o maior impacto e servirá como uma referência estelar.
Priorize uma combinação de muitas coisas: seu bem- estar, ego, alter ego, sua reputação, os próximos X anos, seu futuro. Imagine esse cenário todo e pergunte- se: “Isso é bom para mim?�. Agora considere as alternativas e os riscos associados a elas. Sua família. O que isso significa para eles?
Recompensa é quantificável; reconhecimento, não.
Caso queira discutir um negócio, comece provocando um� e então tudo vai se tornar realidade.
A única maneira de alterar significativamente os termos do negócio é por meio de uma oferta competitiva. Se o comprador ficar com medo de perder o negócio, o preço poderá subir drasticamente. Perder um acordo não significa o mesmo que “sem acordo�, mas sim que outra pessoa vai aceitá- lo.
Sempre há espaço para negociação, mas, em sua essência, ela é uma transferência de poder por meio do diálogo. Se não existirem alternativas, esse poder fica limitado.
March 23, 2023
Should be required reading
Great read with lots of great firsthand startup experiences. Appreciate the variety of startup experiences Uri could draw insights from.
Great read with lots of great firsthand startup experiences. Appreciate the variety of startup experiences Uri could draw insights from.
March 5, 2023
The book is written by a serial entrepreneur, who is known for building the first unicorn in Israel� he shares his experience of building startups� and I can say from my own journey that he manages to capture a reasonably accurate perspective of the roller coaster journey - the various phases, real challenges, shifting priorities, constant uncertainty� and the surprising reality that the only thing that prevails is unwavering belief, perseverance against all odds and the desire to make an impact�
The book is structured well, is easy to read and is a useful guide to someone who is starting the journey, or anyone else who wants a glimpse of the reality behind the scenes of those glamourous exits�
I would not say that I found new insights� but it was more an affirmation of what I have learnt from own experiences, a reminder to focus on the value being generated, and the encouragement to continue on the journey despite it being hard, long and lonely.
The book is structured well, is easy to read and is a useful guide to someone who is starting the journey, or anyone else who wants a glimpse of the reality behind the scenes of those glamourous exits�
I would not say that I found new insights� but it was more an affirmation of what I have learnt from own experiences, a reminder to focus on the value being generated, and the encouragement to continue on the journey despite it being hard, long and lonely.
May 27, 2023
A well rounded overview of the different parts of building a startup - from ideation, pivoting and getting to your first MVP, to expansion, growth, raising capital and everything in between.
I was kinda annoyed by the author talking in absolute terms about certain topics ("it's either 200% or nothing") and felt that as with any kind of black or white perspective - this is namely anecdotal and not set in stone.
I also liked the fact that it serves as somewhat of a historic record about the Israeli IT industry which I don't often find in books of that sort as they aren't written by an author who is Israeli.
7/10
I was kinda annoyed by the author talking in absolute terms about certain topics ("it's either 200% or nothing") and felt that as with any kind of black or white perspective - this is namely anecdotal and not set in stone.
I also liked the fact that it serves as somewhat of a historic record about the Israeli IT industry which I don't often find in books of that sort as they aren't written by an author who is Israeli.
7/10
March 30, 2024
Es un libro clave para emprendedores en el área de software (apps)
El autor presenta de una manera amena su viaje como emprendedor y con ejemplos muy prácticos.... e sun libro super recomendado para emprendedores.
El autor presenta de una manera amena su viaje como emprendedor y con ejemplos muy prácticos.... e sun libro super recomendado para emprendedores.
September 16, 2024
The best thing about this book is that it offers a practical overview of the successes and mistakes made at Waze (acquired by Google for over a billion USD). The lessons are easy to remember, as Waze is a company many are familiar with and can relate to.
If you're not passionate enough or in love with your work, you won’t have the internal energy to push through the hard parts. When you're in love with what you're doing, it's all you think about.
What about starting a business as a side project? No. Entrepreneurship is a roller-coaster of challenges, demanding 200% of your energy, leaving nothing for anything else.
Celebrate even the big bad stuff. Celebrate when you get sued—it means you’ve been noticed. Celebrate when your servers are overloaded because it means you have users.
The heart of product-market fit (PMF) is retention.
White lies are common when seeking funding.
Investors want to hear a story, and it’s not about facts but emotions. Don’t present someone else's use case—make the VCs feel the problem directly. The founder must be the focal point, in the center of the story.
Landing an investor is like shooting a basketball from the other side of the court—it’s nearly impossible unless you shoot 100, 200, or more times. Trying just 10 times almost guarantees failure.
Your title screen will be visible for most of your presentation, so use it to deliver something powerful. Your final slide will be visible even longer, so make it even more impactful.
Delay asking users to register for your app. Let them experience it first, and only later ask for a signup.
You should aim for an 80% renewal rate before building a full sales organization.
When someone offers to buy your company for $50 million, they might just be gauging your size. Respond that you are not likely to sell at that price. If you want a higher offer, don’t negotiate—just say no. If they come back with more, great. If not, they would not have negotiated anyway.
The author suggests delivering great exit news personally. Call each person one by one and tell them the news about stock options and exits rather than sending a memo to everyone at once.
Those who can sell should sell, and those who can’t should focus on marketing.
Don’t believe everything VCs say—they often bluff. Only talk to partners, as they are the ones who make decisions. If they reject you, it’s usually because they didn’t like you or your story, not for the reasons they claim.
Wow, Waze was just one month away from bankruptcy, and Google announced they would make their own maps. That’s what pushed Microsoft to invest.
At 4 hours and 40 minutes into the talk, the author explains term sheet terms in great detail, and does it well.
80% of investors won’t help when you're struggling. In the end, you’ll either love or hate your VC—there’s no middle ground. Choose wisely.
Only talk to entrepreneurs who worked with a particular VC before exiting and are no longer involved with them.
VCs will overlook any valuation concerns if they fear losing the deal—they’ll offer better terms, and fast.
Send updates even to VCs who turned you down, but keep it short—just two or three paragraphs. At 5 hours and 25 minutes, the author discusses the style for monthly updates.
Present your board members with three options, where the middle option is the best. Always let them feel they are making the choice.
Board members don’t like being kept in the dark—they take it personally and presume everyone else knew the information. Send information a week in advance and follow up with calls to make sure they feel informed and included.
Within 30 days, you should either fire someone or give them a raise. Ask yourself: "Would I hire this person knowing what I know now?"
Firing is more important than hiring.
You can ask employees: If a team is being formed, who would you want on it, and who would you want to lead? This gives you insight into who should be promoted, who should be fired, and who your team values.
You can also ask: If someone were to leave, who would you be sorry to see go, and who not so much?
If someone is mediocre, they won’t get replaced unless they’re fired. So do the firing and create space for better people to join.
If you're not passionate enough or in love with your work, you won’t have the internal energy to push through the hard parts. When you're in love with what you're doing, it's all you think about.
What about starting a business as a side project? No. Entrepreneurship is a roller-coaster of challenges, demanding 200% of your energy, leaving nothing for anything else.
Celebrate even the big bad stuff. Celebrate when you get sued—it means you’ve been noticed. Celebrate when your servers are overloaded because it means you have users.
The heart of product-market fit (PMF) is retention.
White lies are common when seeking funding.
Investors want to hear a story, and it’s not about facts but emotions. Don’t present someone else's use case—make the VCs feel the problem directly. The founder must be the focal point, in the center of the story.
Landing an investor is like shooting a basketball from the other side of the court—it’s nearly impossible unless you shoot 100, 200, or more times. Trying just 10 times almost guarantees failure.
Your title screen will be visible for most of your presentation, so use it to deliver something powerful. Your final slide will be visible even longer, so make it even more impactful.
Delay asking users to register for your app. Let them experience it first, and only later ask for a signup.
You should aim for an 80% renewal rate before building a full sales organization.
When someone offers to buy your company for $50 million, they might just be gauging your size. Respond that you are not likely to sell at that price. If you want a higher offer, don’t negotiate—just say no. If they come back with more, great. If not, they would not have negotiated anyway.
The author suggests delivering great exit news personally. Call each person one by one and tell them the news about stock options and exits rather than sending a memo to everyone at once.
Those who can sell should sell, and those who can’t should focus on marketing.
Don’t believe everything VCs say—they often bluff. Only talk to partners, as they are the ones who make decisions. If they reject you, it’s usually because they didn’t like you or your story, not for the reasons they claim.
Wow, Waze was just one month away from bankruptcy, and Google announced they would make their own maps. That’s what pushed Microsoft to invest.
At 4 hours and 40 minutes into the talk, the author explains term sheet terms in great detail, and does it well.
80% of investors won’t help when you're struggling. In the end, you’ll either love or hate your VC—there’s no middle ground. Choose wisely.
Only talk to entrepreneurs who worked with a particular VC before exiting and are no longer involved with them.
VCs will overlook any valuation concerns if they fear losing the deal—they’ll offer better terms, and fast.
Send updates even to VCs who turned you down, but keep it short—just two or three paragraphs. At 5 hours and 25 minutes, the author discusses the style for monthly updates.
Present your board members with three options, where the middle option is the best. Always let them feel they are making the choice.
Board members don’t like being kept in the dark—they take it personally and presume everyone else knew the information. Send information a week in advance and follow up with calls to make sure they feel informed and included.
Within 30 days, you should either fire someone or give them a raise. Ask yourself: "Would I hire this person knowing what I know now?"
Firing is more important than hiring.
You can ask employees: If a team is being formed, who would you want on it, and who would you want to lead? This gives you insight into who should be promoted, who should be fired, and who your team values.
You can also ask: If someone were to leave, who would you be sorry to see go, and who not so much?
If someone is mediocre, they won’t get replaced unless they’re fired. So do the firing and create space for better people to join.
August 5, 2024
In general, the book is unbearable. The author brags on every page about own cleverness in the form of "I said, he said—look how smart I am". He can't manage himself not to brag about being in the same room with famous people. There is literally the whole chapter that feels like it was written to brag about that one event.
In the first half, the book collects many cliches and "captain obvious" advice that author isn't an originator of nor is able to provide proper use cases. He just doesn't have interesting and good use cases in his experience. Every example from his own experience looks lackluster. Also, for some reason the author uses very cringe dating parallels to illustrate building a startup and a product. So, even cliches feel like very poorly written advice.
In the second half of the book the author slides into extremely boring irrelevant, not illustrative, and completely not useful for a reader minutiae of Waze product decisions. So, after about 40% of the book that was unbearable the rest feels like just time waste.
Another very distinctive feature is that everything in the book is very Israel-centric. Many ideas feel like plain wrong from the get go since they all target very small and local Israel market with a very particular user mentality about many everyday things. The author doesn't see forest for the trees. He just can't think big from the start. It results in many ideas being a feature but not a product at best.
Properly speaking, Waze was never a product but just a useful feature without proper monetization. Instead of developing a proper platform and becoming bigger than even Uber eventually—should the team think big—the author and the team were inflexible to understand what the market wants and buried themselves doubling down on one feature that never was transformed into a product. They never built Waze into a proper sustainable business. Hence, despite having hundreds of millions of users they were bought rather cheaply. For Google, it was a strategic acquisition to siphon data and not allow Microsoft have it for own maps. The acquisition wasn't Waze's achievement. It was Google's clearing the way.
It feels like the book is written for the author to persuade himself that his decisions were right. But based on what he wrote, it's obvious that there were a lot of wrong decisions that the author tries to portray as noble.
BTW, the author really doesn't understand what PMF (Product-Market Fit) is but enthusiastically describes what it is and how it is measured. The whole chapter is one big facepalm.
There is so much glaringly bad advice that I wouldn't recommend reading the book for those who are trying to build a startup.
In the first half, the book collects many cliches and "captain obvious" advice that author isn't an originator of nor is able to provide proper use cases. He just doesn't have interesting and good use cases in his experience. Every example from his own experience looks lackluster. Also, for some reason the author uses very cringe dating parallels to illustrate building a startup and a product. So, even cliches feel like very poorly written advice.
In the second half of the book the author slides into extremely boring irrelevant, not illustrative, and completely not useful for a reader minutiae of Waze product decisions. So, after about 40% of the book that was unbearable the rest feels like just time waste.
Another very distinctive feature is that everything in the book is very Israel-centric. Many ideas feel like plain wrong from the get go since they all target very small and local Israel market with a very particular user mentality about many everyday things. The author doesn't see forest for the trees. He just can't think big from the start. It results in many ideas being a feature but not a product at best.
Properly speaking, Waze was never a product but just a useful feature without proper monetization. Instead of developing a proper platform and becoming bigger than even Uber eventually—should the team think big—the author and the team were inflexible to understand what the market wants and buried themselves doubling down on one feature that never was transformed into a product. They never built Waze into a proper sustainable business. Hence, despite having hundreds of millions of users they were bought rather cheaply. For Google, it was a strategic acquisition to siphon data and not allow Microsoft have it for own maps. The acquisition wasn't Waze's achievement. It was Google's clearing the way.
It feels like the book is written for the author to persuade himself that his decisions were right. But based on what he wrote, it's obvious that there were a lot of wrong decisions that the author tries to portray as noble.
BTW, the author really doesn't understand what PMF (Product-Market Fit) is but enthusiastically describes what it is and how it is measured. The whole chapter is one big facepalm.
There is so much glaringly bad advice that I wouldn't recommend reading the book for those who are trying to build a startup.
September 8, 2024
## Summary - A Must Read for Entrepreneurs
**It's a bit ironic to fall in love with a book that provides a solution to falling in love with the problem.**
Uri, best known for founding Waze, drops bombs of experience and knowledge every
5 minutes. Though the second half is a bit slower, **THE FIRST HALF IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ**
for anyone who even has a small strand of entrepreneurship in their genes.
It's clear that Uri poured his heart and soul into this book. It is the coalition
of decades of experience, with tons of blood, sweat and tears poured in between the lines.
He see-saws from ideology to concrete experience keeping the book engaging at all times.
I listened to the audiobook at 0.75x speed during my morning workout, leaving voice
notes every time I heard something interesting. Suffice it to say, there was a moment
when I had to stop my timed burpees just to jot something down.
## Uri's Entrepreneurship Journey - Not very sexy but realistic
I've read about enough enterpenruship journeys to learn that that everyone forges
their own unique path. Some paths, such as the 20 year old dropout from Harvard,
are glorified by the media more than others. Uri's is a lot more humble, realistic,
and arguably why it is not talked about as much.
Uri spend over a decade working "the corporate life" before venturing into startups.
In doing so, he created one of the world's most recognizable brands (Waze), a product
that benefits many (hundreds?) millions of people every day, had a successful unicorn
level exit, **yet only earned ~$30M from a $1.15B exit at the age of 48**. In his words:
> But then you pay taxes, you get divorced, and you end up with much less.
He is obviously not complaining, but I have personally met many people who have done
much less and earned much more.
It was also refreshing to hear discuss how most people thoughts his ideas were unlikely
to succeed until he's had a couple of successes under his belt. I have to admit that I
am also guilty of being biased by an individual's wealth when listening to their ideas...
He had a great quote to capture this sentiment:
> When you create something completely new, at first people will laugh at you.
> Then they’ll ignore you until finally you win (or they lose, depending on the perspective).
## The Apple Connection - Wozniak's Prologue
Read more here:
**It's a bit ironic to fall in love with a book that provides a solution to falling in love with the problem.**
Uri, best known for founding Waze, drops bombs of experience and knowledge every
5 minutes. Though the second half is a bit slower, **THE FIRST HALF IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ**
for anyone who even has a small strand of entrepreneurship in their genes.
It's clear that Uri poured his heart and soul into this book. It is the coalition
of decades of experience, with tons of blood, sweat and tears poured in between the lines.
He see-saws from ideology to concrete experience keeping the book engaging at all times.
I listened to the audiobook at 0.75x speed during my morning workout, leaving voice
notes every time I heard something interesting. Suffice it to say, there was a moment
when I had to stop my timed burpees just to jot something down.
## Uri's Entrepreneurship Journey - Not very sexy but realistic
I've read about enough enterpenruship journeys to learn that that everyone forges
their own unique path. Some paths, such as the 20 year old dropout from Harvard,
are glorified by the media more than others. Uri's is a lot more humble, realistic,
and arguably why it is not talked about as much.
Uri spend over a decade working "the corporate life" before venturing into startups.
In doing so, he created one of the world's most recognizable brands (Waze), a product
that benefits many (hundreds?) millions of people every day, had a successful unicorn
level exit, **yet only earned ~$30M from a $1.15B exit at the age of 48**. In his words:
> But then you pay taxes, you get divorced, and you end up with much less.
He is obviously not complaining, but I have personally met many people who have done
much less and earned much more.
It was also refreshing to hear discuss how most people thoughts his ideas were unlikely
to succeed until he's had a couple of successes under his belt. I have to admit that I
am also guilty of being biased by an individual's wealth when listening to their ideas...
He had a great quote to capture this sentiment:
> When you create something completely new, at first people will laugh at you.
> Then they’ll ignore you until finally you win (or they lose, depending on the perspective).
## The Apple Connection - Wozniak's Prologue
Read more here:
January 6, 2023
I recently read "Fall in Love with the Problem, not the solution �
by Uri Levine and was extremely impressed. As the co-founder of Waze, Levine brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to the table and shares valuable insights in this book on how to embrace the challenges and problems that inevitably arise in business.
One of the things that stood out to me about this book was Levine's emphasis on the importance of customer experience. He argues that by falling in love with the problem and working tirelessly to solve it, businesses can not only improve the customer experience, but also drive innovation and growth. Levine provides numerous examples from his own experiences at Waze and other companies to illustrate his points.
One thing I particularly appreciated about the book was Levine's emphasis on the role of empathy in entrepreneurship. He argues that understanding the needs and wants of customers is key to identifying and solving problems effectively. This requires putting oneself in the customer's shoes and considering their perspective, something that is not always easy to do.
Overall, "Fall in Love with the Problem" is a thought-provoking and practical guide for entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to drive innovation and growth by embracing the challenges and problems that inevitably arise. Whether you're just starting out in business or have been running a company for years, there is something to be gained from Levine's insights and experiences. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to take their business to the next level.
by Uri Levine and was extremely impressed. As the co-founder of Waze, Levine brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to the table and shares valuable insights in this book on how to embrace the challenges and problems that inevitably arise in business.
One of the things that stood out to me about this book was Levine's emphasis on the importance of customer experience. He argues that by falling in love with the problem and working tirelessly to solve it, businesses can not only improve the customer experience, but also drive innovation and growth. Levine provides numerous examples from his own experiences at Waze and other companies to illustrate his points.
One thing I particularly appreciated about the book was Levine's emphasis on the role of empathy in entrepreneurship. He argues that understanding the needs and wants of customers is key to identifying and solving problems effectively. This requires putting oneself in the customer's shoes and considering their perspective, something that is not always easy to do.
Overall, "Fall in Love with the Problem" is a thought-provoking and practical guide for entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to drive innovation and growth by embracing the challenges and problems that inevitably arise. Whether you're just starting out in business or have been running a company for years, there is something to be gained from Levine's insights and experiences. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to take their business to the next level.
Read
January 22, 2023Uri Levine is a passionate serial entrepreneur with a big passion for disrupting "broken" markets. Among the startups he founded, or was involved in, are a few famous unicorns, such as Waze, the world’s largest community-based driving traffic and navigation app, acquired by Google in 2013 for $1.15B and Moovit, the “Waze of public transportation�, acquired by Intel in 2020 for $1B, and others, that are not that famous, yet.
Uri Levine brings a vast entrepreneurial experience to the table. Thus, When Uri Levine gives you an advice, you want to read it. He shares valuable insights in this book on how to embrace the challenges and problems during the way of building a successful business.
The book is easy to read and describes all aspects of building a product, or service, from how to define the problem that worth solving, fundraising, hiring and firing, startup rollercoaster journey, product market fit (PMF) and to growth and to the end of a startup (the exit).
The book make you re-think of your decisions and actions as an entrepreneur or a business leader. It helps you clearly define the problem that worth fall in love with, it encourages you to keep going to that goal, and gives you the tools to do so.
This book is the bible for the entrepreneur. It is a must read for every CEO, every for-profit and not-for-profit organization leaders, or people who dream of building a startup, for everyone who wants to build a successful product or service, and for every person who wants to understand what to expect when building a startup.
Uri Levine brings a vast entrepreneurial experience to the table. Thus, When Uri Levine gives you an advice, you want to read it. He shares valuable insights in this book on how to embrace the challenges and problems during the way of building a successful business.
The book is easy to read and describes all aspects of building a product, or service, from how to define the problem that worth solving, fundraising, hiring and firing, startup rollercoaster journey, product market fit (PMF) and to growth and to the end of a startup (the exit).
The book make you re-think of your decisions and actions as an entrepreneur or a business leader. It helps you clearly define the problem that worth fall in love with, it encourages you to keep going to that goal, and gives you the tools to do so.
This book is the bible for the entrepreneur. It is a must read for every CEO, every for-profit and not-for-profit organization leaders, or people who dream of building a startup, for everyone who wants to build a successful product or service, and for every person who wants to understand what to expect when building a startup.
February 7, 2024
This book is brilliant! Every entrepreneur and startup founder needs to read it!
Steve Wozniak wasn't exaggerating in his Foreword: "this book will change your life and become your “bible� if you are an entrepreneur."
There is so much wisdom and practical strategies where this two-time unicorn builder brings you through the entire lifecycle of a startup in 13 chapters:
1 Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: trigger for building a start-up - a problem worth solving.
2 A Start-up Is a Journey of Failures: baseline of building a start-up - the journey of failures and failing fast
3 Embrace Disruption: market perspective about successful start-ups - total disruption
4 Operate in Phases: underlying method of “operating in phases,� the focus on the “main thing� of each one of the phases and, in particular, switching between phases.
5a Ride the Fundraising Roller Coaster: fundraising for the first time.
5b Manage Your Investors: continuous journey of fundraising.
6 Firing and Hiring: DNA creation, people, and in particular firing and hiring .
7 Understand the User - You Are Only a Sample of One: before figuring out PMF.
8 Figure Out Product-Market Fit or Die.
9 Making Money: business models, business plans, and how to figure out the right ones.
10 How to Get to a Billion Users: marketing and growth.
11 Go Global: becoming a market leader on the world stage.
12 The Exit: endgame of a startup.
Every chapter ends with Startips, which summarizes the lessons.
Steve Wozniak wasn't exaggerating in his Foreword: "this book will change your life and become your “bible� if you are an entrepreneur."
There is so much wisdom and practical strategies where this two-time unicorn builder brings you through the entire lifecycle of a startup in 13 chapters:
1 Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: trigger for building a start-up - a problem worth solving.
2 A Start-up Is a Journey of Failures: baseline of building a start-up - the journey of failures and failing fast
3 Embrace Disruption: market perspective about successful start-ups - total disruption
4 Operate in Phases: underlying method of “operating in phases,� the focus on the “main thing� of each one of the phases and, in particular, switching between phases.
5a Ride the Fundraising Roller Coaster: fundraising for the first time.
5b Manage Your Investors: continuous journey of fundraising.
6 Firing and Hiring: DNA creation, people, and in particular firing and hiring .
7 Understand the User - You Are Only a Sample of One: before figuring out PMF.
8 Figure Out Product-Market Fit or Die.
9 Making Money: business models, business plans, and how to figure out the right ones.
10 How to Get to a Billion Users: marketing and growth.
11 Go Global: becoming a market leader on the world stage.
12 The Exit: endgame of a startup.
Every chapter ends with Startips, which summarizes the lessons.
January 14, 2025
#Frankómetro: 92%
Pudo haberse llamado: Que onda, waze?
Lo recomienda: Al-Juarismi
Leélo si te gustó: It's never gonna work
**
Hace 4 meses dejé la seguridad de un trabajo y un sueldo para iniciar un camino de emprendimiento; es decir, un camino de aprendizaje constante... y de constante búsqueda de respuestas y soluciones. En estos meses he tenido mi buena ración de libros sobre emprendimientos, negocios, planes y sistemas. Pero no todos han sido creado iguales.
Hay un mundo de distancia entre un libro academico de management; uno escrito por asesores y otro escrito por fundadores. Si bien, todos tiene algo valioso que aprovechar, son estos últimos -y por mucho- los más divertidos e interesantes. Este libro en particular, de Uri Levine, fundador de Waze y otra veintena de startups y unicornios, es uno de los mejores que ha caído en mis manos, y no puedo dejar de recomendártelo si estás empezando, vas a empezar o tienes una empresa o negocio.
Hay pocos libros que haya subrayado y rayado tanto, circulado tanto y que me hayan empujado a tomar tantos apuntes y tantas ideas. Lleno de momentos eureka e ideas inesperadas, tiene el valor añadido de estar muy bien escrito, contar muchas historias y ser muy divertido.
¿De qué va? En esencia, de los pasos que hay que ir tomando para crear y crecer un nuevo negocio o empresa; centrándose en el problema central del que nace la inspiración y, por tanto, la razón de existir del negocio mismo.
En lo que a mí respecta, el mejor (del tema) en lo va de este año. Muy recomendable 👍
Pudo haberse llamado: Que onda, waze?
Lo recomienda: Al-Juarismi
Leélo si te gustó: It's never gonna work
**
Hace 4 meses dejé la seguridad de un trabajo y un sueldo para iniciar un camino de emprendimiento; es decir, un camino de aprendizaje constante... y de constante búsqueda de respuestas y soluciones. En estos meses he tenido mi buena ración de libros sobre emprendimientos, negocios, planes y sistemas. Pero no todos han sido creado iguales.
Hay un mundo de distancia entre un libro academico de management; uno escrito por asesores y otro escrito por fundadores. Si bien, todos tiene algo valioso que aprovechar, son estos últimos -y por mucho- los más divertidos e interesantes. Este libro en particular, de Uri Levine, fundador de Waze y otra veintena de startups y unicornios, es uno de los mejores que ha caído en mis manos, y no puedo dejar de recomendártelo si estás empezando, vas a empezar o tienes una empresa o negocio.
Hay pocos libros que haya subrayado y rayado tanto, circulado tanto y que me hayan empujado a tomar tantos apuntes y tantas ideas. Lleno de momentos eureka e ideas inesperadas, tiene el valor añadido de estar muy bien escrito, contar muchas historias y ser muy divertido.
¿De qué va? En esencia, de los pasos que hay que ir tomando para crear y crecer un nuevo negocio o empresa; centrándose en el problema central del que nace la inspiración y, por tanto, la razón de existir del negocio mismo.
En lo que a mí respecta, el mejor (del tema) en lo va de este año. Muy recomendable 👍
January 8, 2023
As the CEO of a startup, I am always looking for ways to improve and grow my business. That's why I was excited to pick up this book.
From the very first chapter, I was hooked. Levine's writing style is engaging and easy to follow, and I found myself highlighting and taking notes on almost every page. His insights and advice are based on his own extensive experience as a successful entrepreneur, and it was clear that he truly cares about helping others achieve the same level of success.
One of the key takeaways from the book was the importance of focusing on the problem that your product or service is trying to solve, rather than getting too attached to a specific solution. Levine stresses the importance of constantly gathering feedback and data from your customers, and using it to pivot and adjust your approach as needed. This approach helps to ensure that you are meeting the needs of your customers and disrupting inefficient markets.
Overall, I highly recommend "Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution" to any entrepreneur looking to build a successful business. It is full of practical advice and real-world examples, and I believe it has the potential to be a game-changer for anyone who puts its principles into action.
From the very first chapter, I was hooked. Levine's writing style is engaging and easy to follow, and I found myself highlighting and taking notes on almost every page. His insights and advice are based on his own extensive experience as a successful entrepreneur, and it was clear that he truly cares about helping others achieve the same level of success.
One of the key takeaways from the book was the importance of focusing on the problem that your product or service is trying to solve, rather than getting too attached to a specific solution. Levine stresses the importance of constantly gathering feedback and data from your customers, and using it to pivot and adjust your approach as needed. This approach helps to ensure that you are meeting the needs of your customers and disrupting inefficient markets.
Overall, I highly recommend "Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution" to any entrepreneur looking to build a successful business. It is full of practical advice and real-world examples, and I believe it has the potential to be a game-changer for anyone who puts its principles into action.
May 17, 2024
This book was easy to read and well written with lots of examples throughout to help the reader understand the topics. It was inspirational in someways and very frustrating in others. It was clearly written by someone who experienced the intersection of luck and opportunity, which the author acknowledged. I would have loved a little more exposure to how the author found and worked with his co-founders at all his companies, not his generic advice for finding co-founders. And while he thoughtfully structured the book, it seemed to repeat the key themes over and over.
Start ups are hard - have a goal in mind, fail fast, keep pivoting until you find an idea/market that works, keep trying until you find the solution to your current problem.
I also didn’t love that this whole book is focused on companies that are funded externally. It would have been nice to hear about companies that can fund themselves through growth, though I understand that this wasn’t necessarily Uri’s experience.
Start ups are hard - have a goal in mind, fail fast, keep pivoting until you find an idea/market that works, keep trying until you find the solution to your current problem.
I also didn’t love that this whole book is focused on companies that are funded externally. It would have been nice to hear about companies that can fund themselves through growth, though I understand that this wasn’t necessarily Uri’s experience.
April 11, 2023
When I worked on my MBA in 2003, entrepreneurship was one of our required courses. During that course, I often remarked to my professor, "entrepreneurship is just not for me". Fast forward to now & this amazing book by Uri Levine, I have a totally different outlook on this topic. This book is jammed packed with information for entrepreneurs. As the founder of Waze, Levine covers the success of his business ventures as well as failures. Levine turns things around instead by simply focusing on "the problem you're trying to solve". This book is very relatable. While your first attempt may not be successful, Levine offers tips to help individuals push forward.
If you are thinking about starting a business venture, I encourage you to read this one!!1 You won't be disappointment.
Thanks in advance to NetGalley, the publisher & author for this advance copy.
If you are thinking about starting a business venture, I encourage you to read this one!!1 You won't be disappointment.
Thanks in advance to NetGalley, the publisher & author for this advance copy.
October 5, 2024
Enfoque en el cliente: El libro resalta la importancia de comprender profundamente el problema del cliente antes de diseñar una solución. Levine promueve el pensamiento centrado en el cliente como la clave para el éxito empresarial.
Experiencia práctica: Uri Levine es cofundador de Waze, lo que le da credibilidad. Comparte ejemplos reales y estrategias que él mismo utilizó, lo que aporta valor práctico a los emprendedores.
Lecciones útiles para startups: El libro incluye lecciones sobre cómo manejar el fracaso, iterar productos y obtener retroalimentación, lo que resulta útil para emprendedores en etapa inicial.
Simplicidad y claridad: Escrito de manera clara y directa, hace que conceptos complejos como la identificación de problemas de mercado y la creación de soluciones innovadoras sean accesibles para una amplia audiencia.
Experiencia práctica: Uri Levine es cofundador de Waze, lo que le da credibilidad. Comparte ejemplos reales y estrategias que él mismo utilizó, lo que aporta valor práctico a los emprendedores.
Lecciones útiles para startups: El libro incluye lecciones sobre cómo manejar el fracaso, iterar productos y obtener retroalimentación, lo que resulta útil para emprendedores en etapa inicial.
Simplicidad y claridad: Escrito de manera clara y directa, hace que conceptos complejos como la identificación de problemas de mercado y la creación de soluciones innovadoras sean accesibles para una amplia audiencia.
September 2, 2023
Finally able to finish the book. In summary, the author trying to convince you that building company don't need PMF on day 0 and always think to fundraising to increase your success likelihood by iterating your product to achieve the PMF.
I disagree with this idea since to build a business, you can be sustainable and reaching PMF without big fundraising.
In the end, the author just trying yo share his experience building unicorn which actually require a lot of money. If you're aspiring entrepreneur that want to build next FAANG, then this is the right book. The author trying to explain step by step building company from scratch until the exit (either via IPO, M&A, or sold to another company).
Many time the author using Waze (his company) as the example
I disagree with this idea since to build a business, you can be sustainable and reaching PMF without big fundraising.
In the end, the author just trying yo share his experience building unicorn which actually require a lot of money. If you're aspiring entrepreneur that want to build next FAANG, then this is the right book. The author trying to explain step by step building company from scratch until the exit (either via IPO, M&A, or sold to another company).
Many time the author using Waze (his company) as the example
August 26, 2024
I've started to read this book as I'm very fond of the fall in love with the problem concept, and how challenging is this when you work or sell technology. Uri concept is key to succeed not only when you're creating your startup, but in business and even in your personal life. The book goes towards guiding entrepreneurs on how to succeed the creation and following on with their startups. Although there are several books on this topic, Uri does a great job on compiling all aspects and phases of creating an startup. The fall in love with the problem is a very small part at the beginning of the book, and my expectation was too see more discussions about this topic. Just be aware of that before start reading.
January 3, 2023
If you are an experienced entrepreneur, you will find this reading a succint how-to and how-not-to guide for all the phases of venture building. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, read this book, it will show what to expect and how to face what you are getting into. Uri has a special gift of synthesizing complex models into easy to understand language, separating the wheat from the chaff and delivering the bottom line on a silver platter. His personal experience clearly emerges through the examples in the various topics covered. Not everyday you get access to such clever and genuine material -- dont miss it!
February 6, 2023
A brilliant insider-perspective on starting a company and riding all the waves (good and bad) that come in your direction as you navigate the path towards something tangible. I particularly like the way Mr Levine weaves in his personal stories and experiences. His advice is practical and I received it from a person with a great many experiences to share. When I read the celebrity endorsements I thought it was a bit of a hyperbole.... but after reading the book and applying it to circumstances I've been in professionally with other founders, I can definitely say it is highly recommended reading if you're in the business of business.
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