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Back to Startup Lessons from Serial Entrepreneur Justin Kan, with Justin Kan.

What Would Justin Kan Tell a Founder Who Is Just Starting?

On the a16z podcast, Justin Kan is asked what he would tell himself at 22 or 23. The joke is that he should have joined Facebook. The real list is personal. Work on self-improvement. Stop eating pizza at the office. Remember that things take time. It is not a one-year sprint that ends with a billionaire. He points at Amazon's value, a curve stretched over many years, and says a founder who quit at year fifteen thinking they had arrived would have left a different company. Silicon Valley always asks what the new thing is. Kan says he has to keep reminding himself to stay.

Transcript

Startup Lessons from Serial Entrepreneur Justin Kan ·

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More from this episode

  1. How Did Justin Kan Rise to FameJustin has been an Internet entrepreneur since 2005.
  2. Why Would You Leave a Cushy Job as a Partner at Y Combinator and Start Another CompanyAfter a few years as an investor and advisor to Y Combinator companies, Justin realized he was not learning and growing anymore, and the best vehicle for…
  3. What Is the Difference Between Market Risk vs Execution RiskWhen you are a young founder, fresh out of college, chances are you don't know a lot and you are not actually very good at many things.
  4. Should I Start a Consumer Startup or a Business-to-business StartupConsumer startups are a lottery ticket. Take Twitch.tv vs Atrium for example.
  5. Should You Raise a Lot of Money or Bootstrap to ProfitabilityWhen you have a ton of money, you spend a ton of money, so that's not always the right choice for your company.
  6. How Do You Deal With Stress as a Startup FounderYoung Justin though of stress was something that you couldn't change, but a manure Justin learned that you can manage and improve stress, much like you learn…
  7. What Influences Justin Kan's Social Media StreamJustin believes that if you want something to be part of your identity, you should talk about it, and if you want to learn something, you should teach it.
  8. Why Is Justin Kan Removing Attachments Form His LifeFounders tend to intertwine their identity and the success of their company.
  9. What Is the Best Way to Find a Mentor for My StartupBest part about Silicon Valley is all the people who have done it before and are willing to help you.
  10. What Is the Meaning of Culture Eat StrategyVery often companies in Silicon Valley tend to focus on the next milestone, and sometimes it's the only way because otherwise your company would go out of…
  11. What Is the Central Ethos to How Justin Kan Builds Companies(1) Iterate quickly. Justin has been doing this since Y Combinator and never stopped. Speed of iteration is very important.
  12. How Do You Manage Expectations Once You've Succeeded as EntrepreneurEvery entrepreneur has high expectations and it's always a battle against yourself. You win that battle by realizing that whatever happens you will be fine.
  13. What Is Justin Kan Reading Right NowThe Untethered Soul - Very important book that helped Justin recognize why detaching happiness from the company success was so important.

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