Origin stories

Podcast

How Daniel Ek built Spotify by engineering shortcuts to trust

Masters of Scale September 19, 2018

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Origin stories 9

Business models 6

Product-market fit 5

• Why Spotify had to be faster than free piracy to win users
• Guaranteeing a year of label revenue to unlock the first licensing deal
• A great free product converts users — frustrating them just drives them away

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SEO

YouTube

How to find and use long-tail keywords for more search traffic

Ahrefs September 19, 2018

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SEO 10

Content marketing 6

• 96.54% of US searches have under 50 monthly queries — most SEOs ignore them
• One page targeting a head term can rank for thousands of long-tail variations
• New sites can hit 1,400+ monthly visits by ranking 20 low-competition topics

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User research

YouTube

Product design fundamentals for non-designer founders

Y Combinator September 19, 2018

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User research 8

MVP & prototyping 7

• Design is how something works, not just how it looks
• Removing one form field can lift signup conversion by 50%
• Customer support is your cheapest source of product intelligence

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Content marketing

YouTube

PR and content marketing for early-stage startups

Y Combinator September 19, 2018

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Content marketing 9

PR & media 9

• Press is not a scalable acquisition channel — content is.
• DIY your PR like BD: build reporter relationships yourself, never outsource early.
• Don't start content or PR until users aren't churning.

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Hiring & recruitment

YouTube

How to find, hire, and interview designers for your startup

Y Combinator September 19, 2018

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Hiring & recruitment 9

Outsourcing & delegation 6

Customer discovery 5

• A lone designer among 20 engineers is a retention risk by design.
• Skip portfolio beauty — communication skill is the real hiring filter.
• Post to 20 freelancers at once, then recruit the standout personally.

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Origin stories

Podcast

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos: competing visions for privatising space

Founders September 17, 2018

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Origin stories 9

Resilience & grit 5

Bootstrapping 5

• Why rivalry — not vision — is the true rocket fuel for both men
• Bezos' grandfather built ARPA; the internet then funded Blue Origin
• SpaceX survived bankruptcy by finding $30 bathroom latches over $1,500 ones

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Case studies

YouTube

YC Female Founders Conference: Talks and advice from six women building companies

Y Combinator September 17, 2018

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Case studies 9

Pitching investors 7

Customer discovery 7

• Why launching before you're ready almost always beats waiting
• How women consistently undersell the dream when fundraising — and how to fix it
• Kabam went from zero users to a billion-dollar exit by pivoting twice

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