"There are so many things to do in a startup. The things you choose to do and don’t do, ultimately determine success or failure. Prioritization is crucial. Unfortunately, not everything on the to do list is fun. Sometimes you have to do “shitty” work."

"successful startups require attention in all areas. You may not have a marketing title but someone has to figure out how to acquire users. If we’re not careful, we prioritize things we like to do over the things we should do. We prioritize our craft because it comforting. It’s what we’re best at. But our craft isn’t what’s needed in the company at all times."

"My beautiful wireframes were a trophy, a tangible reward for the late nights of hard work. Or so I thought. In reality, I wasted a lot of time, often having to adjust my pretty pixels after speaking with engineering and the team."

"The best way to avoid the fake progress trap is to hold yourself accountable. Each morning as you review your morning to-do list, ask yourself why."

"If speed is a startup’s most valuable asset, then prioritization is paramount. Building a successful product and startup is all about knowing what to do and what not to do. And sometimes that means you need to do shitty work."

"More important to me is the vision and a deep conviction in where the world is going."

"We think you can draw a 2×2 matrix for venture capital. …And on one axis you could say, consensus versus non-consensus. And on the other axis you can say, successful or failure. And of course, you make all your money on successful and non-consensus."

"by definition in venture capital, if you are doing it right, you are continuously investing in things that are non-consensus at the time of investment."

"let me translate ‘non-consensus’: in sort of practical terms, it translates to crazy. You are investing in things that look like they are just nuts."

"As more people start a side (or primary) hustle online, there will be a greater need for tools to support all the challenges that go into internet entrepreneurship."

"With Product Hunt, we focused on user acquisition before we had a product. 20 days after its public launch, we had a community of 2,000 users"

"Product Hunt, a daily leaderboard of new products, began as an email list using Linkydink, a tool for creating collaborative daily email digests."

"We weren’t just doing customer development, we were getting them excited and making them feel like part of the product"

"We still weren’t ready to share Product Hunt publicly yet. It was buggy and we wanted to ensure people enjoyed the product before expanding to a larger audience."

"Your first users matter. We knew how important it was to seed Product Hunt with the right people from the start. Initial users form the community’s culture and once established, it is very difficult to change."

"Growth was fantastic, but in reality, user acquisition wasn’t our primary goal. Engagement and retention is most important at this early stage."

"The primary goal was to get early adopters excited and prove to the tech community that Product Hunt isn’t just another one of my ephemeral experiments. We kept beating the drum."

"Once we identified an influencer, Nathan or myself sent a personal email, inviting them to contribute and linking to the PandoDaily or Fast Company articles, to tell our story. A manual process indeed, but an effective way to recruit good contributors and open lines of communication for future feedback."

"As with getting press, asking for referrals was designed to build a stronger, more engaged community, not just acquire additional users."

"successful startups require attention in all areas. You may not have a marketing title but someone has to figure out how to acquire users."

"I should have elicited feedback from engineering to get their input on my product ideas and better understanding of technical limitations or tradeoffs before jumping into design"

"I should have sketched first and used paper prototypes to bring my ideas to life in less time."

"If I prioritized better and done the important things that weren’t as fun, I would have saved myself and the company a lot of time."

"It’s incredibly satisfying to build a product, to see my code instantly translate into something tangible. Each GitHub commit feels like progress."

"The beauty of programming is in its responsiveness. One can write code and immediately see the results of their working product. Despite inevitable bugs and unexpected results, programming is relatively predictable."

"People, on the other hand, are often unpredictable and non-responsive."

"This can reduce one’s motivation to invest in these “non-rewarding” activities, especially if it’s not what they enjoy doing."

"This simple, honest question may have saved me a lot of time and effort."

"“What’s important about startups is the speed.” - Paul Graham"

"Building a successful product and startup is all about knowing what to do and what not to do."

"Your first users matter."

"Initial users form the community’s culture and once established, it is very difficult to change."

"Early contributors appreciated the note, hearing the backstory, and helping make Product Hunt a success."

"More than just share the news, our email included two specific asks:"

"Post a Product:"

"It was important for us to have quality products and a healthy level of activity at launch."

"Share the Article:"

"To maximize exposure, we asked early adopters–many who have a large following and influence–to share the article."

"Growth was fantastic, but in reality, user acquisition wasn’t our primary goal."

"Engagement and retention is most important at this early stage."

"Or worse, founders are fooled into thinking they’re making progress."

"The primary goal was to get early adopters excited and prove to the tech community that Product Hunt isn’t just another one of my ephemeral experiments."

"THE MANUAL, SLOW GROWTH"

"Since public launch, we carefully monitored who was signing up, identifying influencers and those that we knew would make good contributions to the community."

"Once we identified an influencer, Nathan or myself sent a personal email, inviting them to contribute and linking to the PandoDaily or Fast Company articles, to tell our story."

"A manual process indeed, but an effective way to recruit good contributors and open lines of communication for future feedback."

"We also asked for referrals, emailing people using the product to ask if they knew of other product people that would make good contributions."

"We could have automated this but at the cost of delivering a less personal and effective message."