Tony E. Kula’s Post

#StartupWisdom #B2B #SaaSAdvice #EntrepreneurJourney Hey everyone! 👋 I’m on a mission to connect with some seasoned startup founders, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, and I’d love to tap into your wealth of experience. If you could rewind the clock to your early startup days, what’s that one golden nugget of advice you wish someone had shared with you? 💡 I'm looking to learn from your journeys—everything from: Navigating the initial challenges: Every startup faces hurdles; knowing how to tackle them head-on can make a world of difference. Building a rockstar team: Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial. What does it take to find those perfect fits? Finding product-market fit: It’s essential to understand your audience’s needs. What strategies worked for you? Dealing with VCs: Securing funding can be daunting. Any tips on how to approach investors? Managing the nitty-gritty: Taxes, company registration, and all that administrative stuff—yawn! But it’s n... What Key Insights Would You Share with New B2B SaaS Founders? Answers:  https://lnkd.in/gUdX8t27 Let's Connect! Have you faced similar challenges? Share your insights and ex...

#StartupWisdom #B2B #SaaSAdvice #EntrepreneurJourney Hey everyone! 👋 I’m on a mission to connect with some seasoned startup founders, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, and I’d love to tap into your wealth of experience. If you could rewind the clock to your early startup days, what’s that one golden nugget of advice you wish someone had shared with you? 💡 I'm looking to learn from your journeys—everything from: Navigating the initial challenges: Every startup faces hurdles; knowing how to tackle them head-on can make a world of difference. Building a rockstar team: Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial. What does it take to find those perfect fits? Finding product-market fit: It’s essential to understand your audience’s needs. What strategies worked for you? Dealing with VCs: Securing funding can be daunting. Any tips on how to approach investors? Managing the nitty-gritty: Taxes, company registration, and all that administrative stuff—yawn! But it’s n... What Key Insights Would You Share with New B2B SaaS Founders? Answers:  https://lnkd.in/g3eZvPKv Let's Connect! Have you faced similar challenges? Share your insights and ex...

#StartupWisdom #B2B #SaaSAdvice #EntrepreneurJourney Hey everyone! 👋 I’m on a mission to connect with some seasoned startup founders, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, and I’d love to tap into your wealth of experience. If you could rewind the clock to your early startup days, what’s that one golden nugget of advice you wish someone had shared with you? 💡 I'm looking to learn from your journeys—everything from: Navigating the initial challenges: Every startup faces hurdles; knowing how to tackle them head-on can make a world of difference. Building a rockstar team: Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial. What does it take to find those perfect fits? Finding product-market fit: It’s essential to understand your audience’s needs. What strategies worked for you? Dealing with VCs: Securing funding can be daunting. Any tips on how to approach investors? Managing the nitty-gritty: Taxes, company registration, and all that administrative stuff—yawn! But it’s n... What Key Insights Would You Share with New B2B SaaS Founders? Answers:  https://lnkd.in/grHD3Nth Let's Connect! Have you faced similar challenges? Share your insights and ex...

#StartupWisdom #B2B #SaaSAdvice #EntrepreneurJourney Hey everyone! 👋 I’m on a mission to connect with some seasoned startup founders, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, and I’d love to tap into your wealth of experience. If you could rewind the clock to your early startup days, what’s that one golden nugget of advice you wish someone had shared with you? 💡 I'm looking to learn from your journeys—everything from: Navigating the initial challenges: Every startup faces hurdles; knowing how to tackle them head-on can make a world of difference. Building a rockstar team: Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial. What does it take to find those perfect fits? Finding product-market fit: It’s essential to understand your audience’s needs. What strategies worked for you? Dealing with VCs: Securing funding can be daunting. Any tips on how to approach investors? Managing the nitty-gritty: Taxes, company registration, and all that administrative stuff—yawn! But it’s n... What Key Insights Would You Share with New B2B SaaS Founders? Answers:  https://lnkd.in/gpqsQE5P Let's Connect! Have you faced similar challenges? Share your insights and ex...

This is what is wrong with product management (see post below) as well. “Jargon and abstractions (e.g., personas, niches, ICPs, etc.) sound cool in an MBA classroom, but in the real world we serve *actual humans.* Focus on them, not abstractions” I have been interviewing for Product Leadership roles lately and 90% have the lingo down, but technically are not building things that increase revenue by 25%+. More to come on this…

Rob, your post hits home. A few more points from what I’ve experienced so far on my B2B journey: 1️⃣ Expert Mirage: 💡The ecosystem's full of predators eyeing your limited resources. 💡Many "experts" give advice suited for corporates, not startups. 💡 Guard your time. Focus on improving your users' lives, not pleasing consultants. 2️⃣ User Reality: 💡 Skip excessive planning. Sit with your users. 💡 Solve problems, don't fetishise tech. 💡 Learn to spot genuine interest vs. polite dismissal. 3️⃣ Execution Paradox: 💡 People rush problem understanding but drag on experiments. Reverse this. 💡 Corporate risk-aversion can paralyse you. Push past it. 💡 There's no universal playbook. Experiment fast and cheap. 4️⃣ Founder's Mindset: 💡 Trust your gut when you truly get your users and problem space. Your call to serve customers and use common sense is spot on. I'd add: stay user-obsessed, experiment relentlessly, and filter advice through your unique lens. It's not about ignoring all startup wisdom, but adapting it to your reality. It’s all about businesses solving real problems. That's the path to meaningful success!

Have founders ever considered the staggering 90% failure rate among startups: might be due to a common belief that they can bypass thorough research. Among the 24 companies I’m mentoring pro bono this year, 23 are still going strong. Statistically speaking 50% should have failed by now.   The secret to their resilience? Comprehensive research! This includes market analysis, Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) analyses, competitor analysis, PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) analysis, and  SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis among others. These founders didn't just rely on their gut; they put in the hard work to understand the landscape they were entering. By thoroughly vetting their ideas and understanding their market, they’ve significantly increased their chances of success. It’s not just about having a great idea; it’s about backing it up with solid research and preparation which they use to build a team and a company with actionable profitable strategies and processes to support said idea. It's a lesson that all aspiring entrepreneurs should take to heart. Solid groundwork can make the difference between sinking and swimming in the competitive startup world. ............................................................. "Build it and they will come!" is the ultimate startup fairytale. By the time they realise customers don’t want their idea, they’re either broke or demoralised into oblivion. Here’s the real deal: research what your customer wants, and why your competitors are failing to meet those needs. This gap is your golden ticket, your competitive edge, your USP, your secret sauce—as VCs love to say. Only when you have a solid grasp on what the customer craves should you start building and testing your MVP with them. Skip the research, and you might as well be constructing sandcastles in the desert: impressive for a moment, but quickly forgotten. So, do your homework. Know your customer. Then build. Trust me, it’s the  difference between startup stardom and startup sob stories. Great post, Rob Snyder, gets the mind thinking.

#StartupWisdom #B2B #SaaSAdvice #EntrepreneurJourney Hey everyone! 👋 I’m on a mission to connect with some seasoned startup founders, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, and I’d love to tap into your wealth of experience. If you could rewind the clock to your early startup days, what’s that one golden nugget of advice you wish someone had shared with you? 💡 I'm looking to learn from your journeys—everything from: Navigating the initial challenges: Every startup faces hurdles; knowing how to tackle them head-on can make a world of difference. Building a rockstar team: Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial. What does it take to find those perfect fits? Finding product-market fit: It’s essential to understand your audience’s needs. What strategies worked for you? Dealing with VCs: Securing funding can be daunting. Any tips on how to approach investors? Managing the nitty-gritty: Taxes, company registration, and all that administrative stuff—yawn! But it’s n... What Key Insights Would You Share with New B2B SaaS Founders? Answers:  https://lnkd.in/gXmfw4cG Let's Connect!

Something I keep hearing from B2B founders at $1-10M+ ARR: "Honestly, I probably would have been better off avoiding all startup advice to get here." One founder said it well: "Most advice is *worse* than useless. It prevents you from following common sense and your own intuition." Common sense would tell us: - Avoid running out of money and giving away a huge % of our business, get profitable ASAP - It doesn't matter how we want the world to work, our business will only survive if it helps customers achieve what *they* want to achieve - We can't know everything in advance, so just serve customers and figure out the shape of our business as we serve them. - It's really hard to do multiple things at once, especially if we're cash constrained. Start with one case study & one way to get customers - Focusing on one case study today doesn't prevent us from evolving next year. Running out of money prevents us from evolving next year. - Early on, we can sell something that's a mix of product and service, even if we aspire to sell something that's pure product in the future. Selling a service can help us figure out what the "right" product is - Jargon and abstractions (e.g., personas, niches, ICPs, etc.) sound cool in an MBA classroom, but in the real world we serve *actual humans.* Focus on them, not abstractions - To the extent that pitch competitions, accelerators, events, etc. prevent us from focusing on serving customers, they are a waste of time Other common-sense advice that gets crowded out by nonsense?

Tbh if I would’ve listened to myself instead of “blockchain experts”, I would’ve gotten a lot farther faster. Most advice is a time resource destroyer 💣 What works for the bottom line? Cool, do that. Even in web3 RE tokens and attention; same principle applies. Just find what sticks, whats sells and what people show an interest in(review metrics). Double down on whatever that thing is 🫡