Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member | Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)

Jun 9, 2024

01:22:31

Snipd AI

Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze and startup guru, shares valuable insights on startup success, emphasizing falling in love with the problem, navigating startup phases, importance of firing, Waze's product-market fit journey, storytelling for fundraising, and more. Steve Wozniak hails Uri's book as a 'Bible for entrepreneurs', making this podcast a must-listen for aspiring founders.

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Quick takeaways

Focusing on the problem, not the solution, is vital for startup success.

Achieving product-market fit requires personal passion, testing, and adaptation.

Effective storytelling and perseverance are key in engaging investors during fundraising.

Deep dives

Falling in Love with the Problem

Falling in love with the problem is emphasized as a crucial startup lesson. It is highlighted that the essence of entrepreneurship lies in solving a problem to create value, with simplicity driving this focus. Engaging others to embrace the core problem becomes the compass for a successful journey and compelling story. Starting by identifying a significant problem shared by many, then understanding their perspective before developing a solution, becomes the key to creating value.

Key Slides and Sequencing in a Fundraising Presentation

01:55

Shift Gears and Focus on One Thing at a Time

04:14

Product Market Fit is ultimately about retention

01:20

Hiring and firing

03:16

Intro

3min

Emphasizing the Importance of Falling in Love with the Problem in Entrepreneurship

4min

Evaluating the Significance of a Problem and Creating Value

4min

Importance of Passion and Problem-Solving in Startups

17min

Journey of a Startup and Navigating through Phases

11min

Effective B2B Marketing with LinkedIn Ads and Fundraising Insights

2min

Navigating the Roller Coaster of Fundraising and Decision-Making in Startups

22min

Importance of Understanding Users and Learning from Feedback

20min

Uri Levine is the co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, acquired by Google for over $1 billion. He’s also founded nine other companies, been on the board of 20 companies, and advised more than 50 companies. He’s most recently the author of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, hailed by Steve Wozniak as the “Bible for entrepreneurs.” Uri is dedicated to creating impactful startups that solve real-world problems and has seen everything from failure to moderate success to big success. In our conversation, we dig into:

• Why falling in love with the problem is key to startup success

• The phases of the startup journey and how to navigate them

• Why firing is more important than hiring

• How Waze iterated to achieve product-market fit

• Tactics for telling a compelling story when fundraising

• Much more

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