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THE 6 BIGGEST MISTAKES FIRST-TIME FOUNDERS MAKE (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM)
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INSIGHTS
3 Critical Things to Go From Seed to Series A
by
Steve August
May 5, 2023
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
The Seed Stage is often anything but smooth. It's a nine to 24 month journey of endurance and resilience.
How to save $150k in runway
by
Steve August
April 27, 2023
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
Maximize your runway by avoiding these common Seed Stage pitfalls.
What I Learned from 26 Seed Stage Founders
by
Steve August
April 25, 2023
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
Last week I had the absolute privilege to facilitate 26 Seed Stage Founders at a 3-day retreat in Portugal. Here's what I learned.
What's between you and your next breakthrough
by
Steve August
January 12, 2023
Bigger Game Mindset
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Learning to get comfortable with the uncomfortable
When the hits keep coming
by
Steve August
December 1, 2022
Bigger Game Mindset
,
Real-Life Leadership
3 things to help you face challenges
Ruthless Simplicity (Your Real Job)
by
Steve August
November 17, 2022
,
Complexity is the enemy.
The Problem with Thought Leadership
by
Steve August
November 3, 2022
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
Scaling
What Thought Leadership gets you...and what it doesn't.
3 Things Keeping You From Growing Sales
by
Steve August
October 20, 2022
Scaling
,
Customer Creation Flywheel
Podcast Episode: How to break through THE most important challenge.
2x Acceleration
by
Steve August
October 13, 2022
Scaling
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Before 10x there's small 2x's.
You Have ONE Job
by
Steve August
October 6, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
They key to unleashing your business.
Sell Your Way to Product-Market Fit
by
Steve August
September 29, 2022
,
How to sell when you haven't hit product market fit yet.
Fixing Your Web Site Won't Fix Your Sales
by
Steve August
September 22, 2022
Scaling
,
Customer Creation Flywheel
The three things you need to rapidly grow your sales.
How To Make Complex Sales Simple
by
Steve August
September 15, 2022
,
Complexity is the enemy in scaling sales
Growing Sales: The 4 Founder Blindspots
by
Steve Augusat
September 8, 2022
Scaling
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
The Silver Bullet for Sales?
Scaling Sales: The Missing Step
by
Steve August
July 21, 2022
,
Without this step, all of your strategies and tactics may go to waste.
Is Your Personal Brand Helping or Hurting Your Business
by
Steve August
July 14, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Real-Life Leadership
How to leverage your personal brand for maximum impact.
3 Reasons Your Star Hire Didn't Work Out
by
Steve August
June 23, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Real-Life Leadership
"But they looked great on paper...."
The Real Action Is Inside Us
by
Steve August
June 9, 2022
Bigger Game Mindset
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
If you feel like your business is stuck, this Podcast episode will give you a surprising path to getting it unstuck in just 6 minutes.
The One Metric That Can Transform Your Business
by
Steve August
June 1, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
There's one metric that makes it simple for everyone in your company to how to focus their thinking and efforts.
The 5 Disciplines of Rocket Ship Founders
by
Steve August
May 26, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Here are 5 disciplines you need to master to be a Rocket Ship Founder.
You Have More Resources Than You Think
by
Steve August
May 23, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
Your businesses resources are often on the other side of hard decisions.
What To Do When You're At The Bottom of the Well
by
Steve August
May 12, 2022
Bigger Game Mindset
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
From Founder to CEO: 3 Key Transformations
by
Steve August
April 14, 2022
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
You get the Founder title by starting something amazing. You also get the CEO title, but the reality is you have to keep re-earning that title until you've made at every stage of the company.
How My Boss Metric Powers My Custom Coach Client Workspaces
by
Steve August
March 17, 2022
Ruthless Simplicity
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
I've re-imagined my Notion-based Client Workspace so we are capturing and compiling every Insight I co-create with my Founder clients.
Founder Type Quiz Results
by
Steve August
March 4, 2022
,
How to Win Even When Your Launch Flops
by
February 17, 2022
,
Your To-Do List is Working Against You
by
Steve August
January 27, 2022
,
There is a productivity tool that you are most likely using… and it is killing your business.
Ruthless Simplicity
by
Steve August
January 26, 2022
,
You need to make sure your calendar and the problem you’re trying to solve is ruthlessly simple to identify.
It All Comes Down to Your Calendar
by
Steve August
January 25, 2022
,
If you are a Founder, your calendar is one of the most important things you need to take control of.
Client Win! Slope raises $20M Series A with NEA
by
Steve August
October 6, 2021
Scaling
,
Scaling
Shout out to clients Rust Felix & Michael Felix who have brought Slope from an idea to closing their $20M Series A with one of the world's leading VC's. Two amazing Co-Founders and people. Honored to to be supporting them in their journey!
Celebrating a Client Win: Orbiit Raises $2.7M Seed Round!
by
Steve August
June 29, 2021
,
Congrats to Co-Founder Clients Bilyana Frye and Luuk Derksen on their new Seed Round!
What I Didn't Know I Didn't Know
by
June 22, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Lately, a lot of Founders I talk to mention they are worried about what they don’t know they don’t know.
Where Founder Stress Really Comes From
by
Steve August
May 12, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
While there are lots of sources of Founder stress, they break down into four buckets, each with an underlying trigger.
The Missing Piece for Visionary Founders
by
Steve August
April 27, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
What Visionary Founders can do to stay in their happy place and start mastering operational excellence - even when they aren’t wired for it.
How Visionary Founders Get Tripped Up
by
Steve August
April 21, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
Visionary Founders often overlook the essential work that will unlock scale.
Breaking Through The Invisible Wall
by
Steve August
April 14, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
If you are feeling stuck, you may have just hit an Invisible Wall.
The Four Steps to Learning at Speed
by
Steve August
April 6, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
People are familiar with the MVP’s concept. Here’s how to apply that principal to learn at speed.
What Phase Are You In?
by
Steve August
March 30, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
What Stage is your company in? Maybe the better question is: “What Phase is your company in?”
Leveling Up
by
Steve August
March 23, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
Facing hard situations with grace and humanity and doing what needs to be done is where Founders level up.
How Fast Can You Learn?
by
Steve August
March 16, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
When you understand that learning speed determines your pace of growth, you’ll start looking at your business in a whole new way.
Your Impact is Your Anchor
by
Steve August
March 2, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
How anchoring to your impact can beat the overwhelm.
Help for Managing Stress and Burnout
by
Steve August
February 24, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
Managing stress and burnout has been the most identified challenge in my Founder Type Quiz. Here’s some help.
Who Do You Really Need?
by
Steve August
February 16, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
Scaling your business is a lot easier when you know who you really need.
Revisiting the 80/20 Rule
by
Steve August
February 10, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
What happens when you take the 80/20 rule to the next level.
What's Your Founder Type?
by
Steve August
February 2, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
I’ve been studying Founders for the past couple decades. I’ve identified four distinct Founder Types.
What To Focus On
by
Steve August
January 26, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Ruthless Simplicity
The most successful Founders share one trait. They figure out what handful of things will move them forward the fastest and then ruthlessly block everything else out.
When The Worst Actually Happens
by
Steve August
January 19, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
Losing a Co-Founder or a trusted key team member can be one of the more traumatic events to navigate as a Founder. Here’s what to do.
The Single Biggest Business Planning Challenge
by
Steve August
January 12, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
The single biggest challenge in business planning is that there is NO SINGLE biggest business planning challenge.
5 Reasons You Aren’t Going to Have the Year You Planned
by
Steve August
January 5, 2021
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Scaling
With the new year comes fresh enthusiasm, a clean slate, and ambitions for the new year. Here are 5 Reasons why you won’t have the year you want.
The Single Biggest Lesson I Learned in 2020
by
Steve August
December 30, 2020
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
I was originally thinking of writing a big ‘year that was’ recap and review. But in the name of Ruthless Simplicity, I’ve just decided to share the Single Biggest Lesson I learned in 2020.
Gratitude for 2020
by
Steve August
December 22, 2020
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Bigger Game Mindset
As we enter the final weeks of 2020, I’d like to express gratitude for this year. I’m sure this sounds crazy.
You Only Need 3 Objectives for 2021 (Part II)
by
Steve August
December 8, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
This is the time of year where next year’s success starts. Getting your Mission/Vision/Impact and Organizational Goals defined is key to nailing 2021.
You Only Need 3 Objectives for 2021
by
Steve August
November 30, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
This is the time of year where next year’s success starts. If you are going to nail 2021, then you need to go into the New Year already knowing what success looks like and what your plan is to get there.
Who Gets To Work With You?
by
Steve August
November 23, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
There’s one mindset shift that can change the trajectory of your business.
The Real Secret to Time Management
by
Steve August
November 16, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
The real challenge in time management is actually figuring out what’s most important.
Getting to the Root of Scarcity Thinking
by
Steve August
November 9, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
It seems that no matter what kind of abundance shows up, I can always find my way to a feeling of scarcity.
Are You Solving the Right Problem?
by
Steve August
November 2, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
In our rush to fix things, we often end up solving the wrong problem. Here’s how to be sure you are working the right problem.
Co-Founder Issues
by
Steve August
October 19, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Over the last 10 days, I've had 4-5 conversations with folks working through Co-Founder issues. Here are three things that will help.
How Accountability Actually Happens Part II
by
Steve August
October 12, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Accountability conversations can be uncomfortable for Founders, managers end employees - but they don’t have to be.
How Accountability Actually Happens Part I
by
Steve August
October 5, 2020
Real-Life Leadership
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Nobody teaches founders how accountability actually works.
Meaning Vs. Mission
by
Steve August
September 28, 2020
Scaling
,
Customer Creation Flywheel
Too many businesses know their mission, but don't know their meaning. And that makes all the difference.
Are You Actually Built To Grow?
by
Steve August
September 21, 2020
Scaling
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
In order to be the company that grows 2-3x, you have to start behaving like the company that has already grown 2-3x.
Why You Shouldn't Hire a Sales Person (Yet)
by
Steve August
September 14, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
Scaling
B2B companies are making some key mistakes when it comes to sales and sales people.
Vaguely Dissatisfied With Your Marketing?
by
Steve August
August 18, 2020
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
,
Customer Creation Flywheel
People aren't totally happy with their marketing. But they don't know exactly why.
When You Don't Want The Business You Have
by
Steve August
August 10, 2020
Ruthless Simplicity
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
What to do when the business you have isn't the one you want.
Why Your Rebrand Didn't Work
by
Steve August
August 3, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Too often rebrands don't translate into meaningful sales lift. Here's how to fix that.
Hubspot Disillusion
by
Steve August
July 27, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
You invested time and money in marketing automation - where are the results?
Stop Asking If They Want to Learn More
by
Steve August
July 20, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Do you feel like you spend a ton of time and effort to create great content, only to just get a pat on the back?
Why Your Marketing & Sales Tactics Stopped Working
by
Steve August
July 13, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
When it comes to scaling revenue, simplicity is the gateway to reliability
One Metric To Rule Them All
by
Steve August
July 6, 2020
Ruthless Simplicity
,
Clockwork Execution
What's your BOSS Metric? (Hint: It's Not Revenue!)
How To F@&!K Up and Thrive
by
June 26, 2020
Bigger Game Mindset
,
Customer Creation Flywheel
Sometimes stuff goes very wrong. Here's how to turn a service fail into a win.
Please Stop Creating Content (Do this instead)
by
June 19, 2020
Customer Creation Flywheel
,
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Stop thinking about creating content and start focusing on creating journeys.
How To Be In The Top 1% of Companies
by
June 12, 2020
Scaling
,
Clockwork Execution is one of the keys to high performance. Here's how to make it happen.
How To Change Gravity
by
May 29, 2020
Scaling
,
Unleash the incredible power of asking better questions.
The Five Rules For Rocket Ships
by
May 26, 2020
Scaling
,
Every Rocket Ship company follows these five rules.
One Simple Question That Cuts Through Uncertainty
by
Steve August
April 17, 2020
Mindset
,
In times of crisis, challenge and uncertainty, there’s an exercise I like to work through that starts with one simple question: “What’s True?”
Measuring In
by
Steve August
October 30, 2019
Mindset
,
Mindset
“Janice, I’m freaking out.” It was fall of 2009 and I was on my phone pacing around the parking lot outside Revelation’s office in Southeast Portland. A competitor company that had launched right around the same time as Revelation had announced that they had raised...
Meditations for Entrepreneurs #6: Persistent Challenges And Questions Asked The Wrong Way
by
Steve August
October 29, 2019
Meditations for Entrepreneurs
,
Scaling
Continuing my series of Meditations for Entrepreneurs with this quote that speaks to persistent challenges and questions asked the wrong way.
Recent Posts
3 Critical Things to Go From Seed to Series A
How to save $150k in runway
What I Learned from 26 Seed Stage Founders
What's between you and your next breakthrough
When the hits keep coming
Ruthless Simplicity (Your Real Job)
The Problem with Thought Leadership
3 Things Keeping You From Growing Sales
2x Acceleration
You Have ONE Job
Sell Your Way to Product-Market Fit
Fixing Your Web Site Won't Fix Your Sales
How To Make Complex Sales Simple
Growing Sales: The 4 Founder Blindspots
Scaling Sales: The Missing Step
Is Your Personal Brand Helping or Hurting Your Business
3 Reasons Your Star Hire Didn't Work Out
The Real Action Is Inside Us
The One Metric That Can Transform Your Business
The 5 Disciplines of Rocket Ship Founders
You Have More Resources Than You Think
What To Do When You're At The Bottom of the Well
From Founder to CEO: 3 Key Transformations
How My Boss Metric Powers My Custom Coach Client Workspaces
Founder Type Quiz Results
How to Win Even When Your Launch Flops
Your To-Do List is Working Against You
Ruthless Simplicity
It All Comes Down to Your Calendar
Client Win! Slope raises $20M Series A with NEA
Celebrating a Client Win: Orbiit Raises $2.7M Seed Round!
What I Didn't Know I Didn't Know
Where Founder Stress Really Comes From
The Missing Piece for Visionary Founders
How Visionary Founders Get Tripped Up
Breaking Through The Invisible Wall
The Four Steps to Learning at Speed
What Phase Are You In?
Leveling Up
How Fast Can You Learn?
Your Impact is Your Anchor
Help for Managing Stress and Burnout
Who Do You Really Need?
Revisiting the 80/20 Rule
What's Your Founder Type?
What To Focus On
When The Worst Actually Happens
The Single Biggest Business Planning Challenge
5 Reasons You Aren’t Going to Have the Year You Planned
The Single Biggest Lesson I Learned in 2020
Gratitude for 2020
You Only Need 3 Objectives for 2021 (Part II)
You Only Need 3 Objectives for 2021
Who Gets To Work With You?
The Real Secret to Time Management
Getting to the Root of Scarcity Thinking
Are You Solving the Right Problem?
Co-Founder Issues
How Accountability Actually Happens Part II
How Accountability Actually Happens Part I
Meaning Vs. Mission
Are You Actually Built To Grow?
Why You Shouldn't Hire a Sales Person (Yet)
Vaguely Dissatisfied With Your Marketing?
When You Don't Want The Business You Have
Why Your Rebrand Didn't Work
Hubspot Disillusion
Stop Asking If They Want to Learn More
Why Your Marketing & Sales Tactics Stopped Working
One Metric To Rule Them All
How To F@&!K Up and Thrive
Please Stop Creating Content (Do this instead)
How To Be In The Top 1% of Companies
How To Change Gravity
The Five Rules For Rocket Ships
One Simple Question That Cuts Through Uncertainty
Measuring In
Meditations for Entrepreneurs #6: Persistent Challenges And Questions Asked The Wrong Way
Categories
Meditations for Entrepreneurs
5 Rules for Rocket Ships
Bigger Game Mindset
Clockwork Execution
Customer Creation Flywheel
Mindset
Real-Life Leadership
Ruthless Simplicity
Scaling
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