Idea to Startup

In part two of our Mailbag series, Brian answers listener questions on how to run lean, inexpensive, fast tests on an idea that seemingly has big up front costs (we launch tests for the pasta startup…

Brian answers emails from listeners on a startup ethos, examples of great marketing - leveraging behavioral economics to remove friction and The Rent Is Too Damn High guy, nootropics (sort of), and t…

Lots of entrepreneurs spend their time trying to figure out if their startup idea is "good." They wonder if they can raise funding and build a team. But so much of our idea evaluation ignores the mos…

Are you finding your startup's hidden lottery tickets? What are the opportunities hiding in plain sight that will drastically amplify your output? We talk through Bumble, vertical farms, poker, and d…

We are BACK.

We talk through how to approach a startup idea in a space you aren't in expert in, how to build momentum and make decisions fast, and the problem mindset. We also talk through how everyon…

Jeff Sheldon is the founder of Ugmonk, a company I have an enormous amount of admiration for. It's a thoughtful, purposeful, highly effective business that creates and curates beautifully designed pr…

The past 15 months kicked our butts. We all picked up some terrible habits, and we get a pass for it. But now it's time to dig ourselves out of the hole.

This episode goes through three questions that…

Inertia is the tendency to not change. Everyone is on a path driven by inertia, which leads just about everyone to always repeat the same things. Which is a problem if you're starting a startup, sinc…

Today we've got Tom Eisenmann on the pod. He's an entrepreneurship teacher at HBS and the author of the white-hot startup book "Why Startups Fail." We had a blast talking through all the mistakes sta…

There’s one decision that early stage founders make that can drastically tip the tables in their favor.  This is a tactical episode, helping you push through the critical question of what customer se…

This week's ITS Classic covers whether your startup idea is any good. We talk through a failed startup Brian ran called Find Your Lobster, present a framework to ensure you choose the startup idea th…

I recently asked a good investor friend of mine what he thought the most underrated but important skill for entrepreneurs in 2021 was. He responded quickly - storytelling. The amount of compelling co…

We revisit an episode from the early days of the podcast on an operating system for founders. Not everything I say here has stuck, and not everything I do I recommend. But the bones of this podcast a…

Predicting a startup will fail is like betting every number on the roulette wheel except that green double zero and then puffing out your chest when one of your numbers hits. It's just not impressive…

We're told the curious entrepreneurs are the most successful. But we're also told we need to be experts for our startups to work. How do you balance being curious and learning with being seen as an e…

You get startup advice constantly. Your ears probably perk up when it comes from an entrepreneur that's been successful. But what should you listen to? What's still relevant? How can you evaluate if …

Today we'll talk about how to pick what you work on - we need to ensure you're spending your time on things that'll actually matter. We'll do it through the lens of the greatest company ever built. 

W…

Last week, we laid out the Problems vs. Opportunities (PVO) framework. This week, we dive deeper into the "vision" part of the framework, helping you identify and follow your North Star.

We use This T…

Today we're talking about problems vs. opportunities. It's easy for entrepreneurs to spend their time putting out fires - they're often the only ones who will. But it's far more important to block of…

Three numbers and a story show the path for startups during a uniquely difficult but opportunity filled time. The goal of today's podcast is grounding and motivation. And pizza dough.

We talk through …