29 July 2019
This week's additions focus on strategy, product, and finance, with new digests from Founders, Masters of Scale, and Bill Gallagher. Highlights include Edison's ego cost him an industry he invented and dominated first Working with regulators (not around them) creates lasting competitive advantage
Showing 9 digests for 29 July 2019.
Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse: the war of electric currents
Founders
August 4, 2019
Case studies
8
Competitive analysis
7
Edison's ego cost him an industry he invented and dominated first
Tesla gave up $17.5 million in royalties to keep AC alive
Westinghouse survived bankruptcy by refusing to cede control to bankers
Founder interviews
Podcast
Anne Wojcicki on embracing gatekeepers, not fighting them
Masters of Scale
August 1, 2019
Founder interviews
9
Pivoting
7
Compliance & regulation
6
Working with regulators (not around them) creates lasting competitive advantage
Ancestry became the bridge from weird genetics concept to mainstream adoption
FDA collaboration built trust and opened pathways for the entire industry
Scaling Up Insights: Pay, Profit, Leadership and Growth Lessons
Bill Gallagher
August 1, 2019
Management
8
Cash flow management
7
Business operating systems
6
Delayed employee pay is worker-funded capital — fix it to boost retention.
Apple's $451k profit per employee proves pricing beats revenue scale.
Women outperform on trust and returns yet hold under 14% of senior roles.
MVP & prototyping
YouTube
How to build and launch an MVP as a pre-launch startup
Y Combinator
August 1, 2019
MVP & prototyping
10
Customer discovery
6
Pivoting
5
Launch something bad quickly — speed beats perfection every time
Airbnb, Twitch, and Stripe all started with embarrassingly broken products
Hold the problem tightly; iterate the solution, never pivot away from the user
Product-market fit
YouTube
Analytics setup for early-stage startups and MVP validation
Y Combinator
August 1, 2019
Product-market fit
9
Data & analytics
7
MVP & prototyping
6
Retention cohorts below 20-30% at week four signal no product-market fit.
A TV dashboard reviewed daily is what separates data-driven teams from blind ones.
A 43-minute personalised founder email generates more feedback than any other channel.
Long-term planning
YouTube
How to set KPIs and goals for early-stage startups
Y Combinator
August 1, 2019
Long-term planning
9
Product-market fit
7
Unit economics
5
Why email signups and MAU are traps that mislead founders
Revenue almost always beats active users as your primary metric
5–10% week-over-week growth separates real startups from the rest
Common link building mistakes and how to fix them
Ahrefs
July 31, 2019
SEO
9
Content marketing
6
Copying templates is why your outreach emails get ignored
Reciprocity beats asking: give value before expecting a link
Real campaigns show 10–13% conversion rates when done right
Replacing retirement with intentional living and a legacy map
Bill Gallagher
July 31, 2019
Goal setting
9
Identity & self-belief
8
Vision & mission
7
Why full-time leisure drains energy instead of enhancing life
A six-priority legacy map turns end-of-life goals into daily motivation
You have peak wealth, wisdom, and connections at 60 — don't quit
Conflict resolution
YouTube
Conflict avoidance creates more conflict, not less
StoryBrand With Donald Miller
July 29, 2019
Avoiding conflict doesn't remove it — it makes it grow
Conflict is a healthy, inevitable byproduct of collaboration
Engaging conflict respectfully protects your career and relationships