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Twitter family, I wrote a book!
I spent the last 4 years, weekends and evenings, manually collecting 30,000 data points, comparing billion-dollar startups with those that didn't become one. Data dispelled most myths & revealed new insights!
https://www.superfoundersbook.com/
Thread:
I spent the last 4 years, weekends and evenings, manually collecting 30,000 data points, comparing billion-dollar startups with those that didn't become one. Data dispelled most myths & revealed new insights!
https://www.superfoundersbook.com/
Thread:
I compared 65 factors between the two groups, number of competitors, market size, the founder's age, his or her university's ranking, fundraising time, and many, many more. Turns out solo founders aren't statistically less likely to build unicorns, neither are non-technical CEOs.
50%+ of billion-dollar startups had strong competitors on day one; most unicorn founders didn't come from that industry; and there were more PhDs than college dropouts.
Those going after saving customers money or time were more likely than those going after other needs #noVCBias
Those going after saving customers money or time were more likely than those going after other needs #noVCBias
Age is statistically a non-factor;
The Ivy League dropout who launches a company in the dorm room makes up <4% of billion-dollar founders;
Founders didn't need to have personally lived through the problem they're solving; many billion-dollar startup ideas were opportunistic.
The Ivy League dropout who launches a company in the dorm room makes up <4% of billion-dollar founders;
Founders didn't need to have personally lived through the problem they're solving; many billion-dollar startup ideas were opportunistic.
People who kept on building, who worked on side projects and hustles were more likely to start billion-dollar companies. Hustle>>shiny resume. Failed founders were 1.6x and those with even a small exit ($10m) were 3.3x more likely to build a unicorn. It's a marathon, not a sprint
I had a chance to interview some of the top founders, angel investors, and VCs in billion-dollar startups, trying to learn how these companies looked on day one (vs. the rewritten history we typically read years later) and what they did in the early days that made them succeed.
I interviewed founders of Brex, Kite Pharma, Flatiron Health, Instacart, Confluent, Guild Education, Nest, PayPal, Affirm, Oscar Health, Zoom, GitHub, Cloudflare, as well as investors like Elad Gil, Keith Rabois (Founders Fund), Alfred Lin (Sequoia Capital), and Peter Thiel.
Oftentimes, single anecdotes or what the media portrays makes founders and investors believe in certain narratives. In this book I explore what really matters & provide data-backed and actionable insights and advice, rather than talk from gut feeling or personal experiences.
Let's hope for a startup ecosystem with less bias and more building. Help me get the word out. Please share, tag your friends who may find it useful, and tag your favorite podcasters & journalists.
If you like the mission of this book, pre-order today! (you'll be the first to receive & get some content in advance). Available in US, Canada, UK, EU, Asia, Australia & other countries in hardcover, ebook, & audiobook. Full-list of sellers here: https://www.superfoundersbook.com/order
Thanks for the overwhelming support! We've hit #1 new release bestseller in 10+ categories on Amazon. Grateful to everyone who gave their time to this project: @Alfred_Lin @rabois @eladgil @peterthiel @hdubugras @Max @natsturner @RachelRCarlson @tfadell @mojombo @mlevchin @zatlyn
