210: Noah Kagan - How To Start A Business

Jun 18, 2017

Join Noah Kagan, a savvy entrepreneur and chief at Sumo.com, for a lively conversation filled with insights on starting a business. Kagan shares his journey from being an early Facebook employee to founding success-driven startups. He discusses how to effectively validate business ideas quickly, the importance of hiring the right people, and building a customer-focused narrative. With practical strategies like prioritizing singular goals and engaging in candid self-reflection, he inspires listeners to take charge of their entrepreneurial journey.

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ADVICE

Edit Ruthlessly And Build A Narrative

Edit ruthlessly and remove the excess; most shows have too much filler and only a small nugget is compelling.
Build a clear narrative with signposts: hook, story, and a close to keep listeners engaged.

ADVICE

Set Expectations, Coach, Then Give Autonomy

Set clear expectations and give autonomy while coaching people toward the goal you set.
Prioritize people: happy team members create better products and happier customers.

INSIGHT

Focus On Strengths, Then Empower Others

Play to your strengths: double down on what you're great at and hire others for the rest.
Leaving people alone with a clear goal often outperforms micromanagement.

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Episode 210: Noah Kagan - How To Start A Business

Noah Kagan was the #30 employee at Facebook (started there in 2005), and the #4 employee at Mint.com. He came up with the idea of real-time updates and executed with one engineer (Mark Slee) at Facebook. He is now the Chief Sumo at Sumo.com (A domain in which he paid $1.5m to own. We discussed why on this episode).

This episode is different than most in that it was more conversational, and less interview. There was real-time coaching, and off the cuff conversation about how I should progress The Learning Leader. If you are uncomfortable with creative use of the English Language (re: use of curse words), then skip this episode. If not, I think you'll really like it.

"You shouldn't get a job... You should get a career."

Show Notes:

Sustained Excellence = Getting feedback from professionals
- Noah hired pros from NPR to review his interview transcripts.
- "Most of the time we have too much. Need to edit it down."
How to create a narrative -- The NPA producer changed his life
Employees -- "They are not my people. They are people I work with. I don't like the word employee."
How do you hold others accountable? -- Autonomy, coaching, help when needed. Hire correctly.
"What I'm great at is starting..."
How the quest to India changed Noah's life
"You'll almost always push hard on the last lap."
The impact Mark Zuckerberg had on him when he worked for him at Facebook
"When I was at Facebook, there was a singular focus: Growth."
"You shouldn't get a job, get a career." -- "I was a cubicle monkey at Intel"
Using a journal to plan your day/week/month
"Here is a story I've never shared before..."
Why you should always ask yourself..."What's exciting for me?"
Why you should go on walks with your spouse/significant other
Instead of building something in a month, why not build it by Monday? -- Do it quicker than you think possible
- You need to constantly try and test it out... Don't overthink it. Will people pay me for this? Keep evolving
Keys to building your audience
"Art of The Deal" is a helpful book
Noah's salary? Low 6 figures
"Good people don't work for cheap rates"
The two ways to scale a business
- Technology
- People
What Noah learned about vision --
- Initially didn't believe in it... But he has matured and fully believes in it. "As I've gotten older..."
- "It's much easier to get what you want when you know what you want."
The impact of Noah's Dad dying had on him
- "I'm much more protective of my time"

"Good people don't ask for cheap rates."

Social Media:

Follow Noah on Twitter: @noahkagan
Go to: Sumo.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Join our Facebook Group: The Learning Leader Community
To Follow Me on Twitter: @RyanHawk12

More Learning:

Episode 078: Kat Cole – From Hooters Waitress To President of Cinnabon

Episode 071: NateBoyer - Green Beret, Texas Football, The NFL

Episode 179: How To Sustain Excellence - The Best Answers From 178 Questions

Episode 107: Simon Sinek – Leadership: It Starts With Why

Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell

The Learning Leader Show is supported by Rhone. Use the code "Hawk" for 15% off. Rhone... premium activewear engineered with principle, performance and progress for the modern man. Rhone builds clothing around 3 main tenants: Cutting-edge Performance, Premium Comfort, and Simplistic Style.