The Tim Ferriss Show

#397: Two Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Answer

Nov 25, 2019

Mike Maples, Jr. is a seasoned investor known for backing early-stage companies like Twitter and Lyft, while Andy Rachleff is the co-founder of Wealthfront and the mastermind behind 'product-market fit.' They dive into the critical questions every entrepreneur must answer to ensure success. The duo discusses how to identify product-market fit, the importance of customer feedback, and learnings from industry giants. With an emphasis on adaptability and innovation, they reveal strategies for navigating the challenging startup landscape.

56:08

Episode guests

Andy Rachleff

Mike Maples Jr.

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Product-market fit is crucial for success in startups.

Insight development is essential before customer development.

Being non-consensus and right is key to achieving greatness in startups.

Deep dives

Insight Development and Non-Consensus Ideas

Being non-consensus and right affords the startup the time to survive, adapt, and succeed after trial and error without fatal consequences. Various insights help a startup get an unfair advantage when they have very few other advantages. Insight development involves asking different types of questions that go beyond basic analysis and involve uncovering unique secrets and convictions.

Non-Consensus and Desperation

01:36

Intro

4min

Exploring Product-Market Fit for Entrepreneurs

3min

Mastering Product Market Fit

20min

Navigating Entrepreneurial Pivots

23min

Exploring Unique Insights and the Timing of Innovation

2min

Exciting Offers and Personal Favorites

5min

"If the customer doesn't scream, you don't have product-market fit." — Andy Rachleff

Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. This time, we have a slightly different episode—a takeover by Mike Maples, Jr.

Mike Maples, Jr. (@m2jr) and his firm, Floodgate, have invested in and supported many of the startups you might recognize — including Twitter, Twitch, Lyft, Chegg, and Okta, among others — long before they were household names. He's been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade, but he's much more than a successful investor. Mike has also succeeded as both a founder and operating executive.

He's also simply a great guy and the first person who really taught me how to angel invest. For more on that background, listen to my interview with Mike at tim.blog/mikemaples.

In this episode, however, Mike speaks with Andy Rachleff (@arachleff), co-founder of Wealthfront and Benchmark Capital, about two of the biggest questions that should be on every start-up founder's mind: How do you reach "product-market fit" (a term that Andy coined), and how do they know when you've achieved it?

Andy has known many of the start-up world's giants and synthesized their lessons, so you will also hear what Andy learned from Don Valentine of Sequoia, Scott Cook of Intuit, Reed Hastings of Netflix, Geoffrey Moore, Clay Christensen, Eric Ries, and Steve Blank.

The audio from this conversation is from the premiere episode of Mike's brand-new podcast, Starting Greatness, which I encourage you check out. There are some incredible guests coming.

So, if you like this conversation between Mike and Andy, be sure to subscribe to Starting Greatness on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the website at greatness.floodgate.com, and on Twitter you can follow Mike at @m2jr and Andy at @arachleff.

Please enjoy!

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