My name is Eric Marcoullier and ObviousStartupAdvice.com was born out of a conversation with one of my coaching colleagues, who said, “these things are so obvious to us, but so difficult for our clients to see.” And he’s right, after 27 years, it should be easier for me to connect the dots than the people I advise. I’m not smarter, I’ve just fallen down more times. You scrape enough knees, you learn how to ride a bike. Each week, I dive deep into one of the many aphorisms that I use in my coaching. It’s often easier to start with a phrase like “the number one killer of startups is solving problems that aren’t yet problems” and go from there, than dive right into a client’s specific issue. Frameworks are a way to empower founders and executives to identify looming problems on their own.
Listen as Rebric CEO Chris Oltyan and CRO Richard Grote walk you step by step through how they pulled out of a COVID nosedive -- testing 17 new markets, talking to hundreds of prospects, building and launching a new product and, ultimately, raising a seed round, all in under five months. Whether you're thinking about pivoting your startup, or just launching one, this is a clinic on effective customer discovery.
The investor hears it and at first they don’t believe you. “Nah,” they say, as they start to argue with you whether that’s the way the world really works. Then, after a beat or two, they go, “wait, you’re right.” And after another moment, they think “fuck, that’s the only way it can be.” This week, I'm talking with Natty Zola (Matchstick Ventures) and David Mandell (Massive.vc) about what makes a startup pitch most immediately interesting to investors. Feel free to give me a shout any time at eric@marcoullier.com or visit my coaching site at www.marcoullier.com.
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