The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten

In today’s episode of the startup chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why you should archive all your emails now. Email is one of the most common ways of communication in the startup world, and a lot of founders receive thousands of messages in their inbox. It goes without saying that managing your email is a crucial part of running a successful business and your life. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why your inbox is not a prison, how responding to all emails can be counterproductive, Hiten’s relationship with email and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:37 Why this topic was chosen. 03:23 Why your inbox is not a prison. 04:48 Why you don’t have to respond to every email. 05:15 How responding to all emails can be counterproductive. 06:16 How there are better ways to manage your life than through email. 06:40 How email is still very commonly used. 07:12 Hiten’s relationship with email. 07:40 Tips to help you manage your email. 08:41 Why email shouldn’t stress you out. 3 Key Points: Your inbox is not a prison.This idea that you have to respond to every email is ridiculous.There are better ways to manage your life than through email. Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Steli Efti: And today on the startup chat, we're going to talk about a piece of advice that I gave to somebody recently, which is, archive all your emails right now, you don't have to respond to a single one of them. So I want to frame this and share the story, and then I'm really curious, Hiten, what your response and comment is going to be on this. Here's the deal, here's the story. Recently, I was talking to somebody and he was super stressed out. He was telling me, "Listen Steli, I just took a vacation, just came back, my inbox is a mess, there's all these emails in my inbox, I have the super important priorities that I need to tackle, and then there's all these other projects, it's just too much right now. I feel my anxiety is on 20 from a scale of 1 to 10. I'm trying to manage this, it's been a week since I've been back and I'm struggling. What should I do?" And there's a lot of nuance in this conversation, a lot of things that I'll put to the side, but one of the pieces of advice that I gave him was, I talked to him a little bit about his inbox. And I asked him, "How many times do you check your inbox right now?" And he was like, "To be honest, every couple of minutes." I'm like, "Do you always respond to an email when you check your inbox?" He was like, "No, right now it's just so bad. I look at my inbox and I feel terrible and I leave again. But then I have to check it again to see if there's something new in there or if I find the focus and the flow and the energy to start tackling some of them." I was like, "All right. How many emails did you get your vacation

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk how self-management is the best management. Managing yourself is one of the most important skills a person can develop, especially if you want to be a successful leader and manage other people. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten what self-management means, the importance of self-management, some principles of good management and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 01:21 Why knowing what you control is super important. 02:25 Why self-managed people are some of the best people to work with. 02:39 What self-management means. 03:38 Why you should start with you. 04:27 Why you should live a truly good life in front of your children. 05:35 How it’s so much easier to tell people what to do. 08:40 The importance of self-management. 09:07 The principles of management. 3 Key Points: A lot of it has to do with knowing what you control.Self-managed people are some of the best people to work with.Self-management is figuring out what to do and not ask other people what you should be doing. Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how self-management is the best management, because I tweeted that and I think Steli liked it. Steli Efti: Yeah. Hiten Shah: And I tweeted it because it just came in my head. I had no rhyme or reason. Steli Efti: How the fuck do you do this? You're just like, you're just walking down the street and you see birds chirping, and you're like, "Ah, wait a second, before I continue watching these birds. Self-management is the best management." How did it just pop up in your head? Hiten Shah: I don't know. I just thought about it. I don't know. I just thought about it. I just thought about something and it just popped in my head, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, this is a good one. Let me go share this today." I strongly believe that. And a lot of it has to do with knowing what you control. And you just control yourself and how you manage yourself. And I think that can extend to many different areas. We can talk about it in many different ways, but at the end of the day, I really truly believe self management is really the best management. And one thing, one way, if you are a manager of any kind that you can kind of resonate with this or maybe have some familiarity with the concept, is when you have somebody who you're managing, you're responsible for, and their ability to manage themselves is just incredible. So, the management you have to do is very light because they're bringing what their needs to the table for you. They're documenting things. They're basically managing themselves, which makes it so that you don't have to manage them. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't manage them. I

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why you should share your work. While a lot of startups conduct their business in secret, some are now beginning to share what they are working on with the public, and like everything in life, sharing your work has it’s pros and cons. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what cross-promoting is, why you shouldn’t feel forced to share your work, what type of things you could share with the public, the benefits of sharing and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 01:37 Why this topic was chosen. 02:58 Why you shouldn’t feel forced into sharing. 04:53 Things to consider before sharing your work. 05:17 What most startups share about their work. 05:58 How not to share your work. 06:34 Why sharing your work in real-time is riskier. 06:54 How sharing your work shows vulnerability. 07:26 How sharing your work sparks curiosity. 07:38 When to share your work. 3 Key Points: Don’t feel forced into sharingThere’s beauty and power in sharing your workMost people don’t share their work Steli Efti: Hey, everybody. This is Steli Efti. Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today, on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about one of my pro tips that I tweeted about recently. It just said, "Pro tip, share your work." Here, we like talking about more than just sales and marketing. Steli Efti: We just want to bullshit and chat about business and life, and hopefully, while we're doing that, provide a lot of value to people. Hiten Shah: The world's best business podcast. Steli Efti: Oh. Hiten Shah: Shit. Steli Efti: Shit, we got it. Hiten Shah: For people trying to get shit done. Steli Efti: Done. Yeah. We don't want to give you feedback that's bullshit. Hiten Shah: We want you to do your best. I think it caught Steli's eye, which I'm not surprised about. What did it spur for you? Steli Efti: Well, first of all, the tweet popped up in my timeline. I have to look it up again. It was not just you, but it was you with a tweet and a reply. You'll know from whom. It was your tweet that said, "Pro tip, share your work." And then below it, it showed the reply of somebody saying, "I love you." Which was- Hiten Shah: Yeah, Julian Shapiro. Steli Efti: Julian Shapiro, who's a badass. [crosstalk 00:00:58]. Hiten Shah: It was great. Steli Efti: And a great follow. I had to laugh, both because I love what you tweeted, but also loved his response, just, "I love you." It's just classic. As always, when your tweets are inspiring or at least slow me down on my tweets, scroll, track. Wait a second. Hiten Shah: Yeah, that's fun, all that. Steli Efti: This seems right. Hold on. I'm always curious, what prompted this? What happened in Hiten's life? What thought, what convers

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about if founders should be doing sales. Sales can be tricky for experienced and new founders, and it’s very common for some founders to want to delegate sales to someone else as they worry that customer will judge them or see their company as a small company and not want to do business with them. However, the opposite is the case most of the time and in practice, people love talking to founders. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how some founders are concerned about doing sales themselves, why it’s better for founders to do sales themselves, how some founders’ let their insecurities get in the way of their success and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:45 Why this topic was chosen. 01:55 How some founders are concerned about doing sales themselves. 02:25 Why it’s better for founders to do sales themselves. 04:06 How Hiten does sales for his own startup. 04:54 How some founders’ let their insecurities get in the way of their success. 05:30 How the customer wants you to solve their problem. 06:07 How the customer matters. 06:35 How people are thrilled to talk to founders. 07:50 How Hiten and his cofounder get on sales calls together 3 Key Points: I think it’s better if the founder sells.Insecurities can stand in the way of success.The customer wants you to solve their problem. Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. Hetin Shah: And this is Hetin Shah. Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat, we're going to talk about, how do we want to frame this, should founders sell themselves, or is that projecting a weird or weak message to the world? So, this is going to be a short rent episode, but I feel like, maybe especially our audience or some people in the audience, will benefit from hearing this. I was on a mentor call recently, and there were a bunch of self-funded founders and self-funded SAS entrepreneurs on that call. And there were a lot of questions around selling. And then one founder asked a question. It's one of those rare ones where I've heard it many times over the years, but I've never addressed it afterwards, in kind of a one piece of content to share that, my opinion about this, with the world. It kind of clicked and I was like, "I can't believe I've never talked about this on the podcast. I've never talked about this on a video or something like that." So I wanted to chat with you about this real quick, the basic premise being... And I'll ask you first, see what you think and what you would have told this founder and then I'll tell everybody what I told them. But here's a founder that has built a SAS product that is in the early days. And he asked me, he said basically, "Listen, I'm a bit concerned that if I'm starting to reach out to people by email and cold calling and all that, and I'm like, '

In today’s episode of the startup chat, Steli and Hiten talk about if there’s too much SaaS. In the startup world, there are a lot of SaaS solutions for different industries and niches. One of the reasons is that it’s become so easy to build a SaaS product and founders are doing just that. Unfortunately, this leads to oversaturation and standing out is a challenge. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how people are building a lot of software right now, bottlenecks that affect selling a SaaS product today, advice for founders looking to start a saas company and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 01:15 Why this topic was chosen. 01:37 How people are building a lot of software right now. 02:04 How bottlenecks affect selling SaaS today. 03:07 The current state of the SaaS industry. 04:16 How it’s easier than ever to build a SaaS product. 05:31 What customers think about the current state of SaaS. 05:59 How the market might go in the coming years. 07:36 If founders should be worried about competition. 08:01 Advice for founders looking to start a saas company. 3 Key Points: People are building a lot of software right now.I think there are all kinds of bottleneck today in selling SaaSIt’s easier than ever to build a SaaS product. Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to answer the question, isn't it too much SaaS? So this is another infamous episode that's based on a tweet that you made, and that tweet was based on a ton of work and exposure that you've had in this area, I assume. But you recently tweeted something that stood out to me and it kind of stirred the pot a little bit, a lot of people that, a lot of friends, a lot of people that are respected, the SaaS space responded to it in one way or another. So I felt like that's the perfect material to unpack for our listeners. So let me ask you, maybe you tell people a little bit about that tweet and what proceeded there. What made you write about that? And then let's just unpack this question of there's too much SaaS and what does that mean for founders out there that are currently building their first SaaS product or running a small SaaS product? Hiten Shah: Yeah, I mean, there is a lot of SaaS, so what I tweeted was this idea that nobody you don't talk to people and they're all like, "Hey, I want more software." You know? Steli Efti: Yeah. Hiten Shah: And the reason I tweeted that is because people are building a lot of software right now. There are new sort of products coming into the market all the time in almost every category and there's people making very good living building the software too. So the comment was more like, I see a lot of software that's being built and then whether it's no code or things that people

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about a founders guide to feeling feelings. Running a business is difficult and comes witha lot of stress that if not managed properly can lead to a lot of problems for a founder. Problems that could affect your personally or worse, the health of your business. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten what it means to suppress your emotions, why doing so might not be a good thing, how to get in control of your emotions and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 01:38 How Steli deals with his emotions. 03:25 One factor that determines how you deal with your feelings. 05:02 Another factor that determines how you deal with your feelings. 06:16 One way to get in control of your emotions. 08:35 The importance of recognizing your emotions. 09:05 A real-world example of dealing with emotions. 10:34 How Steli reacted to an emergency situation. 11:41 Why you can pay a big price if you suppress your emotions. 3 Key Points: I can’t quite fully trust my emotions.Think things through before you act.Personality has a lot to do with how you express yourself to the outside world. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat, we're going to figure out if founders know how to feel their feelings or they're just thinking them. So, here's why I wanted to quickly talk to you about this. Anybody that's been listening to the Startup Chat for a long time knows we have talked a lot about the inner game of being a founder. We've talked a lot about it, we have a good amount of episodes around managing your emotions, managing your states, managing other people's emotions, because it's an emotional game. And if you don't control your feelings, they might lead you astray and into problematic situations. One thing that I recently discovered about myself, and I wanted to quickly unpack with you for founders, because I thought this might be useful to people that listened to us, is this realization that I had about myself that I think at some point at a young age, I started realizing that I can't quite fully trust my feelings, and if I just act on my emotions, I wreak havoc, and I create all kinds of problems. So, I started focusing more on controlling my feelings through my mind, and through thinking things through, and not acting immediately, and slowing it down, and de-intensifying my feelings, analyzing them first. Over a long period of time, very subconsciously over decades, I think that I mastered... I overdid this to the point where over the last many, many years, I think I thought most of my feelings, especially the negative ones, right? So, I could tell you here's a situation that I think I was hesitant in and p

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to acquire and cross-promo saas apps. Acquiring and cross-promo saas apps is a common strategy stirrups use to grow. However, it can get very messy when not done right. There specific questions that need to be answered before you commit to making a purtcahse so that you avoin problems or regret. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what cross-promoting is, how companies use it to grow, why it isn’t as simple as people think and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 02:45 Why cross-promoting isn’t as simple as people think. 03:29 Why you should be conservative with your expectations. 04:05 Things to consider before using this strategy. 05:22 How to introduce the new app to customers. 06:37 Why you should be clear about buying an app. 07:38 Why you should be cautious about buying an app. 07:41 Questions to ask before buying an app. 10:03 About Basecamp’s marketing strategy. 3 Key Points: Cross-promoting typically failsBe conservative with your expectations.Over time, most companies rebrand. [0:00:01] Steli: Hello everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli: And today on this [hollow chat 00:00:05], we're going to talk about buying and cross-promoting apps in SAS, or products in SAS. So here's the deal. As the world of SAS products has matured and grown and scaled and exploded, and there is a ton of different SAS products out there. There's SAS extensions, mobile apps, web apps, whatever, desktop apps. Now we're getting to the stage where we don't just see kind of one type of company or startup that is building a SAS product, to be kind of a venture funded Silicon Valley based company or something like that. But you have single founders, you have people that build these SAS apps as side projects. Some of them are big. Some of them are small. And so now we're starting to see kind of this trend of more acquisition happening in the space where companies buy smaller products to promote them, or to use them as lead gen for their main product. And I thought it'd be fun to unpack this a little bit for somebody that's already a founder running a startup, or a SAS product, is it a viable strategy to buy other apps that have maybe similar customer base and cross promote? You've done this a good amount, you're probably one of the more experienced people in SAS in buying apps or launching different products and doing the cross promotion. And so I wanted to unpack the strategy and kind of maybe highlight some of the unintuitive truths to this. Here's the shit that everybody thinks would work easily, but it doesn't. Or here's the stuff that you think would be profitable, but most people don't do X, Y, and Z when they do the math.

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about creating opportunities in a time of crisis. During these difficult times, a lot of business are going to struggling to stay alive, and even more, are going to fail. It’s tempting for some founders to give in to the challenging times which ultimately results in the collapse of their businesses. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be so, with a little creativity and some innovation, founders can adapt and still keep their businesses afloat in these times. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about reinvention versus destruction, how this pandemic is negatively affecting some businesses, examples of example of entrepreneurs taking advantage of the current situation and examples of business that are innovating in this crisis much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:37 Why this topic was chosen. 02:17 An example of an entrepreneur taking advantage of the current situation. 06:19 How some restaurants are really innovating right now. 07:53 Another way some restaurants are innovating. 09:19 One other way some restaurants are innovating in this crisis. 12:02 How a startup in the fitness industry is innovating. 06:01 How being successful in a time of crisis is all about getting creative. 3 Key Points: Tailors are very risk-averse.Don’t let things that get in the way of others get in your way.I’ve been most impressed by the number of restaurants that are really iterating right now [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And I think in true Steli and, I guess, Hiten form, Steli and me form, we're going to talk about something positive today and something that Steli came up with. I don't know when he came up with it, but I heard about it right now. And what it is is, I think, something much needed right now, which is a discussion about what we're seeing that's actually working in business right now, considering shelter in place, COVID out of control, I think somebody called this Armageddon or something like that to me five minutes ago, before I got on this. [0:00:40] Steli Efti: Oh, really? [0:00:41] Hiten Shah: Yeah. They called it Armageddon. They're like, "Yeah, how are you doing with the current Armageddon, blah, blah, blah?" I'm like, "I'm doing as fine as I can. And definitely better than a lot of people." So I can't can't really complain about anything. And so, yeah, let's talk about it. I think the big thing was, what approaches are working right now for people that we can kind of talk about, right? [0:01:03] Steli Efti: Yeah. I felt that it would be a good idea to just share some examples in our network, or within our friends, or anywhere that we've observed, that we've seen, over the last couple of months that we thought, "Wow, this

in today’s episode of the startup chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to improve cash flow during a crisis. One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is that a lot of businesses are going to have problems with their cash flow. This could be as a result of customer cancellations or non-payments, and how you manage your cashflow in this crisis could make or break your business. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what cash flow management is, some things you could do to improve your cash flow, how to manage your cash flow during the crisis and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:31 Why this topic was chosen. 01:35 Some things you could do to improve your cashflow. 03:54 Why you should talk to a finance expert if you want to learn how to read your P&L statement. 04:17 Why you should look at your P&L statement on regularly. 05:38 Why it’s important to know how much money your company is burning and how much is in the bank. 07:00 The number one thing to understand about cash flow. 07:50 How to manage your cash flow during the crisis. 09:26 How prepayments can help you with your cash flow. 12:08 How cash flow management is a never-ending process. 3 Key Points: Learn how to read a profit and loss statement.Talk to a finance person.Understanding how to read a profit and loss statement is something founders need to know. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And I'm going to let you say it, Steli. [0:00:06] Steli Efti: Cash is King. [0:00:08] Hiten Shah: Yes. So, that's what we're going to talk about on the startup chat today. And yeah. Wow. That statement is more true than ever. [0:00:20] Steli Efti: Never is cash more king during a crisis, right? I mean, it's always king, but during difficult times, even more so. So, we thought it might be useful for us to just share a couple of things that we have either done ourselves with our businesses or have seen others do successful during these times in order to improve their cash positions, to improve their cashflow, to just strengthen their companies and their startups to financially be able to make it through whatever rough waters we still have ahead of us, right? So for you, if I come to you Hiten and I'm like, "Hey, I have a startup. We have revenue, we have customers, we have costs. We need to improve our cashflow position." What are the go-to tips that you would give? I know that this is, every case is different, but in general, what's some of the things that you've seen people do, or you've done yourselves with your companies that can make a big difference during these times on improving cashflow. [0:01:21] Hiten Shah: Yeah. I mean, Oh God. The reason I say that is, sorry God, but is... Wow. There are founders and busin

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the power of encouragement. Running a business is difficult. Every entrepreneur knows this. Difficult times are going to arise and sometimes, all we need is a bit of encouragement to get over these difficult times. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about the concept of encouraging others, why it’s so powerful,  why some people are better at it than others and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 02:03 An example of a fascinating Muay Thai trainer. 04:36 Hiten’s thoughts around encouragement. 05:07 How humans can be really insecure beings. 06:05 How humans are terrible at recognising when someone needs encouragement. 07:17 How talking things out can give us encouragement. 08:15 How encouragement is an interesting concept. 08:50 Why it’s important to become aware when someone needs encouragement. 09:32 The importance of encouraging each other. 3 Key Points: Sometimes I can be quite critical with people and with myself.I think anyone can use encouragement, in both ways.Become aware when someone needs encouragement, and when you need it as well. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about the power of encouragement. And here's the reason why I want to talk to you about this, Hiten. Well, there's many reasons I want to talk to you about this. I think recently, I just saw something on social media that talked about, it doesn't cost you a lot to be encouraging, but you could change somebody's entire life. And there was some story attached to that that was beautiful, inspiring. And it made me think, how powerful encouraging others can be and how that's still something that, in some ways I do a lot of in my life, but in other ways, I always feel like I'm not doing enough of, right? And sometimes I even have a difficult time because I can be quite critical with people as I'm with myself. So, just wanted to talk about this concept of encouraging others. Why is it so powerful? How do you do it and how do some people do it so well? I'll give one other example that kind of has been lingering in the back of my mind. I think that plus seeing that story connected the dots in a way that made me think, I want to talk to Hiten about this. I'm sure he has something incredible to say and we'll have a great discussion and I'll learn a ton of things. So, people know that I'm crazy about martial arts. I'm a huge fan of Muay Thai, which is kind of the Thai-style Kickboxing. And so, there's this guy, there's many old legends of Muay Thai in Thailand, these older gentleman that used to be in the sixties, kind of the Muhammad Alis and kind of the superstars of the spor

Today on The Startup Chat we talk about worry. We get lots of questions about things that are rooted in worry. Worry is a useless emotion that just paralyzes action and problem solving. There are 2 different problems people worry about. The problem you can’t do anything about. The problem that you will never have. Worry can be helpful in business because it tells you there is an issue that needs to be addressed. A worry should be short term and dealt with in a matter of hours not days or weeks. Here are some observations we had about worry: What exactly is a worry The 2 questions to ask yourself Problems you will never have The difference a little experience makes Hiten’s helpful hack for worrying The productive way to worry vs. the unproductive way to worry Learning how to worry is key to keeping your business running smoothly. Problems should be dealt with quickly, when a worry creeps up, be proactive. We invite you to join our Facebook group.  It’s great to have such an incredible group of entrepreneurs out there making it happen every day. We’d love to hear from you; please feel free to join our Facebook group and share your experiences, challenges, and motivation with us and the rest of Startup Chat community. We appreciate having your email address at  The Startup Chat  because we’ll be sharing some special podcast episodes and other things exclusively with the people on our email list.  Click the link above and fill out the email address box to become part of the community today! As always, you can hit us up on Twitter @Steli or @hnshah, #thestartupchat. The post 520: Encore episode – How to Worry in Business appeared first on The Startup Chat with Steli & Hiten.

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about The HEY launch. Basecamp launched their new product, HEY, recently and have succeeded in creating a lot of buzz and a huge waiting list in the process. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how HEY was marketed before it launched, how the launch of HEY was a campaign, the unique position of Basecamp as a company and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:41 Why this topic was chosen. 02:04 One thing about Basecamp that a lot of people don’t realise. 02:48 About HEY. 03:47 How the launch of HEY was a campaign. 05:00 Another interesting thing about the HEY launch. 05:53 The unique position of Basecamp. 07:38 How Apple is a very principled company. 08:30 How Basecamp has found a middle ground. 10:03 About Basecamp’s marketing strategy. 3 Key Points: The team about basecamp is that they’re not as strategic as you might think. They just have principles that have worked for them for over 20 years.They don’t need to make privacy the enemy when they launch.Who starts a battle with Apple? [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about something that we usually never do, which is a recent product launch, HEY, and maybe the concept of beef as marketing. I don't know. We'll see. But during the last couple of weeks, there've not been many really impactful business product launches, I think, or at least if there were any- [0:00:26] Hiten Shah: I mean we don't really talk about news on here. That's really what you're going after, right? [0:00:29] Steli Efti: We never do that. Yes. [0:00:30] Hiten Shah: We don't do that, but we're going to talk about news today. [0:00:33] Steli Efti: Yeah, we are, because it's sort of fun. To me, at least, it's been fun to observe the Basecamp folks launched a new email product. It's called HEY. They teased it for a long time, they had a waiting list, and then they launched it. And even before they launched it, actually, they spent a good amount of time, critiquing privacy in email, which was kind of curious, interesting. They always like to fight battles, especially when they have products in the battle in some way, but they always want to stand for some bigger idea, go after some big evil thing that needs killing, and make it a cause. And so at the beginning I thought it would be privacy. They would just shoot at all these email providers that don't respect your privacy. I thought that would be the big battle, but it turns out the big battle's with Apple, which is even more fun. [0:01:28] Hiten Shah: So here's what's interesting. So these folks at Basecamp launched hey.com, and part

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how reinvention causes everything to thrive. People or companies might seek to reinvent themselves or change the way they do things, and most of the time, this can be a good thing. However, a lot of the times, people think that for you to reinvent yourself, something has to be destroyed. While this is true in some cases, it doesn’t always have to be. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about reinvention versus destruction, one beautiful thing about the USA, how reinvention can cause hardship and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:31 Why this topic was chosen. 01:07 Reinvention versus destruction. 02:24 One beautiful thing about the USA. 04:01 How reinvention can cause hardship. 05:13 How more American companies go through reinvention. 05:47 Why Hiten wrote this tweet. 06:01 How America has always been about reinvention. 06:23 What destruction is about. 07:19 What causes things to survive and thrive. 3 Key Points: I don’t think destruction is always required for reinvention.Reinvention is such an interesting concept.It is not easy to reinvent yourself. [0:00:01] Steli Efti : Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about something I... Popped in my head and I tweeted. And the statement is, "Reinvention is what causes everything to thrive." And for me, just to lay it out real quick, this comes from the fact that many folks think about destruction, or destroying things, in order to build them up again, or start fresh. And I feel like that's a very... Has a lot of negative connotations and can probably bring up a lot of things that prevent people from thinking about how to change and adapt. I truly do believe that is how you thrive. And when I think about it like that, I think the right word is reinvention, versus destruction, or versus tearing things down. Because I don't think, that is always required for reinvention. Maybe it is sometimes, but our worldview, I believe, which is healthier, should be oriented around, at least my worldview, I prefer being oriented around reinventing the things I'm working on. My business, my product, my marketing, my sales, whatever. Myself. Over thinking of it as rebirth, which is what a lot of other folks sometimes call some of this stuff. So anyway, I know you wanted to talk about it Steli, because you saw it amongst the things I tweeted recently. [0:01:38] Steli Efti : This is one of the new format that we've established this year, which is, Hiten tweet episode, which is when I see a tweet of yours and I'm like, "I wonder why he tweeted that. This interesting thing. Let's talk about it." Which is what we would do if we met up for coffee today, I'd be like, "I saw this tweet of

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to make plans during 2020. With everything that has happened in 2020, you’d be forgiven if you chose to describe this year as the year of crisis. With this crisis comes uncertain and it can be quite challenging to make long-term plans in uncertain times like these. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if you should make plans in 2020, how you should plan in this year, why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:42 Why this topic was chosen. 01:33 Should you make plans in 2020? 02:43 How you should plan in 2020. 04:19 Why your timelines have to be shorter during a crisis. 04:59 How Steli currently makes his plans. 06:04 The right way to approach crazy times like these. 08:00 How Hiten approached the crisis. 11:59 How teams could deal with high pressure. 12:12 How you can adapt to the uncertainty. 3 Key Points: You’re just planning, but not as far ahead as you normally would.2020 isn’t done with us.During a crisis, your timelines have to be shorter [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how to make plans during 2020. So, making good plans is always challenging, but I find 2020, I mean... 2020 is a particular, unique year, in that it probably is a more challenging year for companies and startups and founders to make any sort of plan that people might have real confidence in, especially if it's a longterm plan. So I've encountered this a couple of times this year already with friends that I thought it might be useful for the two of us to unpack this for our listeners, which is, "What the hell do you do?" If you run a startup, if you're a founder and you want to plan, should you, in 2020? Are plans completely useless? Are they totally useful? And how should you think about making plans kind of the way that we approach this and the things that we've seen work well? I thought might help founders keep their sanity and hopefully accomplish more of the things they want to accomplish, even during an outstandingly crazy year like 2020. So, first of all, let me ask you this question. 2020, should we still make plans or would you advise anybody to stop making plans because this year is too nuts? [0:01:29] Hiten Shah: So, the... The... I've had, like, two or three conversations specifically about this, and I've shared something that... By the time I have two or three and I get the same question, and it's a new question, I tend to like, have some kind of way to think about it or, like, you know, I'm driven crazy, you know? So I think that's a really good question. The way it worked for me, and the way I was ap

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the lack of mastery in inner work. As humans, we all are experiencing life differently, and these experiences shape who we are and mould us into what we are at any given time. Although some of us would love to master our shortcomings, it is an ongoing situation, and mastering inner work is the type of work that never ends. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how your strength can be your weakness, how inner work is the type of work that never ends, why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:48 Why this topic was chosen. 01:01 How your strength can be your weakness. 03:04 How inner work is the type of work that never ends. 04:05 How inner work can feel like a never-ending onion. 05:21 How what you are today will always keep changing. 06:22 Why you shouldn’t dehumanize your heroes. 07:12 How Jeff Bezos is a human. 08:47 Why there’s no mastery at the end of the tunnel. 09:51 How long it took for the Steli and Hiten to realise they were full of shit. 3 Key Points: There’s no mastery in inner work.Inner work is the type of work that never endsYour strength is your weakness. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about the lack of mastery in inner work. So, here's what I want to briefly chit-chat with you about and kind of unpack with you for the audience. Recently, I had a very intense kind of weekend session with a good friend of mine, where we did a lot of what I would call inner work, just very introspective work of what's going on in our lives and what are the challenges? What are the limitations? What are possible blind spots? We had some very deep, very, very intense, very good and honest conversations with each other. Then there was one moment where my friend looked at me and was like, "Wow," because I'd brought up something that I've just recently gotten to realize about myself and how surprising that was, because it didn't fit my self-image at all. I was like, "I'm so surprised that I am this way." It would have been- [crosstalk] [0:01:03] Hiten Shah: But I am. And I know. [0:01:04] Steli Efti: But I am. Now I know like, "Wow." And then it was like, "Wow, I'm mind blown," especially, I wouldn't have expected you having this kind of a surprise revelation because you have such a master of inner work. And I was like, in that moment, my response was like... [0:01:19] Hiten Shah: Feel like that but not really. [0:01:20] Steli Efti: No, I'm like... I think I said verbatim and then I thought, "Oh, I should tweet this someday." And then the world, it started exploding... [0:01:27

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about "Should Have Done This Earlier". Business comes with lots of challenges. Sometimes we figure out the solution to a challenge and, depending on how you look at it, might feel relieved about figuring it out or frustration about not doing so sooner. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you shouldn’t focus on the negative side of things, the benefits of having a positive outlook on things why working on our attitudes towards ourselves can be a game-changer and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:31 Why this topic was chosen. 01:07 Why Hiten tweeted about today topic. 02:32 How there are different ways to look at a lightbulb moment. 03:52 How what you focus on changes how you look at different situations. 04:56 Why how you feel whenever you figure out something challenging doesn’t matter. 05:15 Why you shouldn’t focus on the negative side of things. 06:54 Why you shouldn’t set conditions for yourself. 07:00 The benefits of having a positive outlook on things. 09:53 Why working on our attitudes towards ourselves can be a game-changer. 3 Key Points: If you feel that you were dumber a year ago, you’re growing.Not every day is going to be the same.What you focus on a situation, changes how you look at it. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat, we're going to talk about, this is another tweet episode. This is a new tradition we have, where Steli Efti reads Hiten's tweets and once in a while thinks, ha, this is both very wise and kind of curious, and there's something here that we should probably unpack for the audience on the Startup Chat. So I'm going to read the tweet that you posted recently Hiten, and then I'm going to ask you what prompted it, and we'll just see what unfolds. [0:00:34] Hiten Shah: Sounds good. [0:00:34] Steli Efti: So here's the tweet. "Should have done this earlier. I should have done this earlier. A statement full of frustration and relief at the same time." All right. So what made you tweet this? [0:00:51] Hiten Shah: Yeah, it's one of those things that's related to another thing that I really kind of have funny feelings about. And that thing is this idea that if you felt like you were dumber a year ago, you know you're growing. Or you felt dumb for some opinion you had, or thought you had or think you did a year ago or whatever, you're growing. So it's very similar to that where it's like, sometimes you just have those moments and this is very, it's personal life and work and business, but you have those moments where you're like, "Oh, should have done this earlier." And sometimes it's just an idea that you have, and y

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to keep your sanity in 2020. With all that is going on in the world at the moment, the COVID-19 epidemic and the current police brutality protests going on around the world, it’s really difficult to stay composed and not let it all affect your mental health negatively. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about things they are doing to stay sane at the moment, how nobody really knows how to feel right now, how information overload could be a problem right now and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 01:58 How Hiten is keeping his sanity right now. 02:36 The difference between luck and gratitude. 03:00 How nobody really knows how to feel right now. 03:12 How information overload could be a problem right now. 04:06 One really unique thing about these times. 05:50 How Steli is keeping his sanity right now. 07:19 One reason why this current situation is so intense. 09:07 How this current situation is hitting a nerve with a lot of people. 3 Key Points: This year is something else!These are unusual timesI just feel really lucky.Nobody really knows how to feel. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat we're going to talk about how to keep your sanity in 2020, how to be a founder during these times, how to be a human these times. Man, this year is something else, and I'm sure we're not the only... Lots of people are going through a lot of things right now. I felt like typically we're known for super short, super sharp, very tactical and practical episodes, but these are unusual times so maybe they call for an unusual Startup Chat episode. I felt like it might make sense for us to just check, how do we deal with this? How do we think about all the insanity that's going on in the world? Maybe we do have a few things to share with our listeners that are going to be helpful or if not, maybe that in and of itself gives some comfort that not even the two of us know how to deal with this. [0:01:02] Hiten Shah: That's right. [0:01:03] Steli Efti: So let me ask you, the first big wave was obviously the global pandemic and COVID, now we're going through this wave of worldwide demonstrations and rights, peaceful protests kicked off by police brutality, but it's maybe even bigger than just that. There's a lot of different things that are in the mix that are going on right now. How have the last two, three weeks been for you, and for your team, and your company? Has it been different than the first COVID wave of craziness, and how do you cope? How do you keep your sanity during all of this right now? [0:01:50] Hiten Shah: Yeah. For me, I just

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about online meetings & virtual events during COVID-19. One thing that has been on the rise during the COVID 19 crisis has been online conferences, and there are a number of factors that are causing this. One of those is that people ar3e working from home and have more time to attend these conferences. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how the number of invitations to online events conferences has revved up rapidly, Hiten’s experience with online events, how people have more time for online events right now and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 01:28 How the number of invitations to online events and conferences has revved up rapidly. 02:02 Hiten’s experience with online events. 03:39 How things might gradually shift. 04:23 Why this explosion of online events fascinates Hiten. 04:54 How people have more time for online events right now. 06:00 How people are starving for new connections. 06:40 How online events are much easier to attend. 07:22 One thing that’s always going to be true about online events. 3 Key Points: The amount of invitations to online events and conferences has revved up rapidly.There’s been a lot of exuberance for online events, more than I’ve ever seen in my life.This explosion is fascinating to me. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody this is [Steli Efti]. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: This is [Hiten Shah]. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: Today on The Startup Chat we want to talk about online meetings, webinars, conferences during COVID-19, is it a good idea, is it a bad idea, is it going to, yeah what is happening in the world around the trying to bring physical events online, what are we experiencing, observing? We both felt like it's an interesting thing that's going on around the world, Zoom fatigue and other things pop to mind. We just wanted to chit chat and see what we're observing, what we think will happen next, how to think about these things. Let me ask you first, I have just, the amount of invitations to online events and conferences for me has just ramped up drastically. Obviously because this is conference summer time I guess and a lot of conference organizers decided to try to do their events completely online but also just the amount of webinars that companies give, the amount of meetings that you, I mean we always because we were remote, always had a lot of Zoom meetings. It's gotten even more because now I do Zoom meetings with friends, I do Zoom meetings, calls with family members. I just do a lot more of these virtual video conferencing calls. Yeah, I'm curious, are you also, I've done a few conferences, I've done a bunch of webinars and everything in between so far. I'm starting to try to figure out how I feel about all of this and if I want to do

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the Sales & Marketing Grind. This episode is inspired by a tweet from Hiten that pointed out how marketing is a grind, one that you need to get used to, as it requires you to do the same thing over and over again in order to be successful. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about the tweet that inspired this episode, what prompted this tweet and why marketing is different from sales and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:34 Why this topic was chosen. 01:05 The tweet that inspired this episode. 01:40 What prompted Hiten’s tweet. 03:02 How marketing and sales is a grind. 04:09 How marketing and sales are like working out. 05:03 What makes Steli stay consistently on the sale grind. 08:22 A mindset that salespeople need to develop. 10:10 Why marketing is different from sales. 11:34 How Hiten gets through the grind. 3 Key Points: The most difficult part of marketing and sales is getting used to the grind.Just do more of what ended up working.It’s the same thing over and over again. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey, everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah, and today I'm going to start off the chat. Steli is prodding me to talk about a tweet, and this tweet was talking about how sales and marketing is a grind, and you have to do the same thing over and over and over again, and you might even quit before you hit gold. So what thoughts did it spur for you? [0:00:33] Steli Efti: Well, first let me actually read the tweet, right? [0:00:36] Hiten Shah: Yeah, go for it. I totally butchered it. [0:00:38] Steli Efti: So, "The most difficult part of sales and marketing is getting used to the grind, doing the same set of things over and over and over again, sometimes with such mediocre results that you think about giving up right before striking gold." I like that tweet, because I think there's a kernel of truth in there, but there are parts of me that instantly recognize the truth in this or my truth in this, but there's also a part of me that wants to disagree, and then there is a immediate question that I have once in a while when you tweet, which is what prompted this? I literally go, "Huh, I wonder what prompted this? Probably something interesting. I have to remember to ask him next time I talk to him." So let's start the episode with that. I'll tell you what I think about this, but first, what made you tweet this? What prompted this tweet, this thought? [0:01:34] Hiten Shah: Yeah, I think especially with sales and marketing, people look for the silver bullet, and the silver bullet is the one thing you can do and everything's all taken care of. What I've noticed for sales and marketing, it's not that. And so what prompted it, is nothing super in parti

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about starting a Startup during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID pandemic, there’s going to be a lot of people thinking about starting a new Startup. However, whether now is a good time or now to start is a question that needs to be answered. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about if this is the right time to start a Startup, why there’s never a good or bad time to start, what to consider if you’re starting something right now and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 01:37 If this is the right time to start a Startup. 02:22 Why there’s never a good or bad time to start. 02:34 How the world is very different right now. 04:38 Why this is a good time to start. 07:44 What to do differently if you started now. 09:05 Why cash flow is more important right now. 10:16 Why “nice to haves” are off the table. 11:57 What to consider if you’re starting something right now. 3 Key Points: I don’t think there’s ever a good or bad time to start a Startup.The world is different.There’s more access to information right now than in 2008. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about starting a startup during COVID-19. Basically the idea, if we have to start a new company or a startup right now, no co-founders yet, no money, no product. Would we do it? Would we think that, with what we know about entrepreneurship, would we think that this is a good time or would we want to wait until whenever the economy's better? And if we thought that now is a good time to start something, how would we go about it? How would we think about it? Is there anything different about starting a startup right now during this kind of special time in history around the world? Would we approach in any way differently than we usually would? I thought that it'd be a fun topic to talk about. It probably is going to have a few golden nuggets for people. So let's get the first question out of the way because I think that's going to be an easy one. You never know, especially with when you talk to Hiten Shah, but is this a good time to start a startup or a bad time to start a startup? What's your reaction to that if I asked you, "Hiten, I have entrepreneurial ambitions, but I wonder if this is the right time for me to start something." [0:01:16] Hiten Shah: Yeah, great question. It's just a great question because the circumstances, like this has happened before, right? So there's like the 2000s, and this is particularly in tech, so there's the 2000s and there's like the 2008 kind of housing bubble thing. And then I think the next one was right now. And these are all time

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to get good at taking critical feedback. Sometimes we need other people’s feedback or opinion on something that we are working on, this is perfectly normal and can help you improve what you’re working on. However, some people are not good at taking other people’s feedback and this can lead to negative reactions from that person or worse. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you shouldn’t take anything personally when it comes to feedback, how to get better at taking feedback, how to give feedback to someone so that they don’t take it personally and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 01:04 Something Steli is very sensitive about. 02:01 An example of someone who doesn’t take feedback well. 03:23 Why you shouldn’t take anything personally when it comes to feedback. 04:05 What makes people good at taking feedback. 05:06 How to get better at taking feedback. 05:21 How to give feedback to someone so that they don’t take it personally. 06:04 What to think about when you give feedback. 08:07 Why it might be better to ask for someone’s opinion instead of feedback. 3 Key Points: I’m very sensitive to people that ask for feedback but can’t take it.When it comes to feedback, don’t take anything personally.Start learning how to ask for feedback. [0:00:00] Steli: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten: And this is Hiten [Shah 00:00:04]. [0:00:05] Steli: And today on the Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how to learn to take critical feedback well. And to learn from critical or even sometimes negative feedback. Here's why I wanted to talk about this Hiten, where do I start? I think one of the things that I have very little patience for, I've gotten better at this in life, but I'm not great at it, is people that have a difficult time. That are asking for feedback but can't take it. It's something I'm very sensitive to. I instantly, very quickly I shut down on this. So one second... The thing that I have a difficult time with is people asking for critical feedback. But then when I'm telling them very direct feedback, they don't want to hear it. They get defensive or they explain or excuse or push back or try to convince me and I've gotten a little better. But in general, I'm running out of patience very quickly with that and I instantly disengage. I am very judgmental of this, because in my mind I think you asked me for feedback. I didn't ask you to convince me that your idea is brilliant. And when I told you what I think of your idea, instead of being curious and asking for more of my thinking, and then you can decide what the fuck you want to do with it. Instead of doing that, you're now spending all this time trying to convince me of something I don't w

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about questions to ask yourself during this crisis. In times of crisis, especially one like the COVID 19 crisis, where anxiety is so universal, it’s important to ask yourself certain questions so that you recognise when you might be exhausted and there’s no good answer or solution to a challenge you’re facing. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what the concept of a wartime CEO means, why there’s no such thing as a peacetime CEO, the right way to think about this concept and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:36 Why this topic is important. 02:56 Why this particular crisis is unique. 03:53 Questions to ask when you think you’re tired. 04:50 How we sometimes ask ourselves questions that don’t have an answer. 05:57 Good questions to ask that can be helpful. 07:54 A question Steli asks his mum now. 10:00 Why Hiten switched to focusing on luck rather than gratitude. 12:03 The difference between gratitude and luck. 13:28 How focusing on what you feel lucky about can give you a new perspective on life. 3 Key Points: I can’t tell you why I’m exhausted.When you go through a time like this when anxiety is so universal, it’s literally in every interaction.We’ve never had a crisis at this scale before. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about good questions to ask yourself during these uncertain times. I think this is a important topic. I will tell you why and get personal, but we always get personal on this anyway. I had a friend text me the other day, text me something of the nature of like, "I don't know, man. I'm just tired today." He was like, "I feel like I'm tired every night." And it's a friend of mine that wouldn't tell anybody else that. I texted him and I'm someone who really wouldn't tell anybody else that either. [0:00:51] Steli Efti: Yes. [crosstalk 00:00:52]. [0:00:53] Hiten Shah: I told him, "You know what? Me too." Then I texted him and this was the night before last, literally very fresh. I texted him last night and I'm like, You know what? I feel the same today as well." He's like, "Yeah, me too. He's someone like you Steli, where I'll tell him anything privately and we'll chit chat publicly sometimes and stuff like that. I understand where he's coming from when he says it to me because there's a lot of... He's just resilient. He's seen lots of different things in the past. Someone like you, right? We just have this common either experiences or way of dealing with the world. I've just been wondering, how do you still... Of course it's okay to feel that, but how do you ask yourself questions t

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to ruin your reputation during a crisis. In times of crisis, like the current COVID 19 situation, a lot of people will panic and act in a way that would ruin the reputation of themselves or that of their brand. So you want to be very careful how you treat people in times like these so as not to cause bigger problems for yourself when the crisis is over.  In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about Steli’s recent experience with a desperate salesman, Hiten’s thoughts on this particular experience, how treating people desperately and sleazy can ruin your reputation and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:42 Why this topic was chosen. 03:15 Steli’s recent experience with a desperate salesman. 07:12 Hiten’s thoughts on this particular experience. 08:22 How this is an unusual experience. 09:10 Why the devil is in the detail. 09:44 What was wrong about this person’s approach. 10:32 The second thing that was wrong with this person’s approach. 12:16 The importance of communicating your value. 12:34 How treating people desperately and sleazy can ruin your reputation. 3 Key Points: During a crisis, people will sometimes show their true colours.Some people have been consistent over the years that anything they do is not surprising.The devil is in the detail. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today with The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how to ruin your reputation during a crisis, or what not to do, so that you build a strong and positive reputation in the marketplace during a crisis. So let me set the scene real quick. The reason why I wanted to talk about this is twofold. One, a common acquaintance of both Hiten and mine, did something a couple of days ago that has ruined his reputation with me, and we were just chatting about that. But that also sparked this thought, that during a crisis I think people will sometimes show their true colors and true face, but maybe sometime impulsively just act weird. And underestimate the damage that you can do to yourself and your brand, during this difficult time, when you act selfishly, or out of order, or do shitty stuff, right? Because you're in a panic, or because you feel pressure, or because you're stressed. So I felt like it might be a good idea to talk about that a little bit. I'll summarize my story, and then maybe we dissect it, and try to highlight some learnings for our listeners, that they can take away from this. So the thing that happened with this common acquaintance between Hiten and I, is that this is somebody that has been friendly with me, and I've been friendly with him online for many, many

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to stop your customers from churning during COVID-19. During a crisis like the COVID pandemic, it is to be expected that a lot of your customers will cancel their service with you. However, there are some things you can do to reduce the rate at which your customers cancel. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you should always be working hard to improve your retention, what you shouldn’t be doing during this crisis, what to do to stop churn in this crisis and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:27 Why this topic was chosen. 01:10 Why churn is to be expected. 01:24 Why you should always be working hard to improve your retention. 01:34 What you shouldn’t be doing during this crisis. 03:00 Why you shouldn’t be lazy about trying to stop churn. 03:21 What to do to stop churn in this crisis. 04:10 The importance of talking to your customers. 05:43 Some practical ideas to help you stop churn. 07:58 How people’s feeling has been changing over time. 3 Key Points: We have to expect that some amount of churn is unstoppable.You should always be working hard to improve your retention.You shouldn’t be lazy about trying to stop churn. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah and today on the Startup Chat we're going to talk about this idea of having a sense of urgency in your business and instilling it across your business. The definition of this is basically people in the organization, you as an organization, thinking of urgency of execution, urgency as like a sort of either a framework, a mantra, a way of being, that I think is necessary in business and it's something that I strive towards in my own companies. And there's usually no better time than like when there's a pandemic or a crisis to really think through how you can have a greater sense of urgency because you're kind of forced to at this time. But how can you do that more regularly in your company, in your business, and why is it important? It's kind of like, I think what we can unpack. [0:00:58] Steli Efti: I love it. I just had to think, what a weird statement that's totally normal to be like, "There's no better time to think about urgency than during a pandemic." And it's like, "Yeah, of course this is [inaudible 00:01:12]." [0:01:12] Hiten Shah: Sounds about right, right? [0:01:13] Steli Efti: There's an old business saying that, thy shall move fast during a pandemic. I get it. [0:01:20] Hiten Shah: Yeah. I mean, come on. Okay, go on. [0:01:28] Steli Efti: So I'll challenge this, because this episode is actually inspired by our

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to instill a sense of urgency in your business. In the startup world, the most successful CEOs tend to be the ones that maintain a sense of urgency in order in their business. They react quickly to market changes, develop new products all the time or add new features to existing ones. And having this sense of urgency is key to the success of their startup. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about the meaning of a sense of urgency, how to react in times of crisis, what makes a CEO good at maintaining intensity at all times and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:45 Why this topic was chosen. 01:52 Why Steli knows how to act during a crisis. 02:35 What Steli does during a crisis. 03:22 What Steli struggles with. 04:05 What makes a CEO good at maintaining intensity at all times. 05:06 The meaning of a sense of urgency. 06:25 How to react in times of crisis. 06:55 Why the sales department is an area of most businesses with the most sense of urgency. 08:36 What a sense of urgency means to Steli.  3 Key Points: There’s a very different mindset and leadership style as a CEO during wartime versus during peacetime.A lot of companies are under some level of threat at the moment.I don’t think there's such a thing as a peacetime CEO. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah and today on the Startup Chat we're going to talk about this idea of having a sense of urgency in your business and instilling it across your business. The definition of this is basically people in the organization, you as an organization, thinking of urgency of execution, urgency as like a sort of either a framework, a mantra, a way of being, that I think is necessary in business and it's something that I strive towards in my own companies. And there's usually no better time than like when there's a pandemic or a crisis to really think through how you can have a greater sense of urgency because you're kind of forced to at this time. But how can you do that more regularly in your company, in your business, and why is it important? It's kind of like, I think what we can unpack. [0:00:58] Steli Efti: I love it. I just had to think, what a weird statement that's totally normal to be like, "There's no better time to think about urgency than during a pandemic." And it's like, "Yeah, of course this is [inaudible 00:01:12]." [0:01:12] Hiten Shah: Sounds about right, right? [0:01:13] Steli Efti: There's an old business saying that, thy shall move fast during a pandemic. I get it. [0:01:20] Hiten Shah: Yeah. I mean, come on. Okay, go on. [0:01:28] Steli Efti: So I'll challenge this, because this episode is actually inspired by our last ep

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to be a good wartime CEO. In times of crisis, companies need strong leadership to make some tough decisions that will help them get through this crisis. However, there is a tendency for some CEOs to use the crisis as an excuse to behave badly towards employees and everyone around them. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what the concept of a wartime CEO means, why there’s no such thing as a peacetime CEO, the right way to think about this concept and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 01:13 The concept of a wartime CEO. 02:55 Why there’s no such thing as a peacetime CEO. 03:57 How people think about wartime or peacetime in business. 05:07 How your business is always under attack. 05:23 The idea of wartime versus peacetime really means. 06:30 Why context really matters when deciding how to lead. 09:05 The right way to think about this concept. 10:09 How speed is the most important thing during wartime. 3 Key Points: There’s a very different mindset and leadership style as a CEO during wartime versus during peacetime.A lot of companies are under some level of threat at the moment.I don’t think there's such a thing as a peacetime CEO. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey, everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Chat we're going to talk about being a good wartime CEO. What does it take? What does it look like? What is it? How could it be useful to know more about this? You use this framework potentially during these difficult times. So first maybe we'll break down for the listener the concept of peacetime CEO and wartime CEO. First time I heard about this was Ben Horowitz's book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things. I think he's the first one to use this metaphor. I'm not sure if he stole it from somebody else. I haven't read that book in many years, but something tells me maybe not a bad book to read right now. [0:00:44] Hiten Shah: Definitely not. [0:00:45] Steli Efti: For some people, it just describes very difficult times, very difficult decisions for a CEO. But the way I remember his breakdown on wartime and peacetime, and then I want to focus on the wartime metaphor is that he basically describes, hey, there's different phases a company can go through, and during the peacetime for a company, it means the company is not under any direct threat by a competitor, by industry, by markets, by whatever. And it is growing and it's prospering. And so, it's a time where you as a CEO, you have to manage that growth, that prosperity, you have to stimulate creativity. And it was describing how for a long time Google was in peacetime, right, not on the really aggressive attack of c

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to notice your own bias. As humans, it’s natural for us to have biases in different ways. However, not noticing these biases can be detrimental to us and cause us to make bad decisions in business and in life in general.  In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about the importance of noticing your own biases, examples of how people can be biased, how people can be irrational during uncertainty and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:36 Why this topic was chosen. 01:31 The importance of noticing your own bias. 02:32 Examples of how people can be biased. 04:16 How people can be irrational during uncertainty. 05:09 How every prediction can be right at some point. 06:34 How people don’t like to uncertain. 08:40 Examples of how people can be irrational. 09:13 How people can be unhelpful with their bias. 10:04 How biases can be a defense mechanism against being wrong. 3 Key Points: Noticing one’s bias is sort of a superpowerThere’s irrationality that comes up when we have uncertainty.Every prediction can be right at some point. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about how to notice your own bias and how to ensure that you don't make bad decisions because of a rigid internal bias that you might have. The reason why we wanted to talk about this, at a prior episode we were just talking about how to negotiate with oneself and we had shared a little bit about this idea that the one thing that I recently noticed of people wanting to believe something because of self-interests and then trying to selectively find the information, the experts, the articles, the data that confirms their bias and continuously defending their mind against everything that would attack their thought process and collecting the things that confirm that thought process. And how big of a waste, to me that seems such a... I mean, we always do this, but right now it's such a heightened environment that I just notice this so much and just... I'll give you one quick example and then let's talk about this because noticing one's bias, I feel like, is a superpower in avoiding making avoidable mistakes. [0:01:23] Hiten Shah: Absolutely. [0:01:25] Steli Efti: One thing that was really interesting at, I don't know, maybe six weeks ago or so, five, six weeks ago when we were in the Western world in Europe and the U.S. Much earlier in the pandemic timeline. And it seems still very far away, like a problem that was in Asia and in China and maybe there are a few, a couple of cases in Germany, a couple of cases in the U.S. But there were still a lot of debate of it would ever become a probl

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to negotiate with yourself. Sometimes, we talk ourselves out of doing something that’s good for us or we know we should do. This is a common habit that a lot of founders have, and is known as self negotiation. Tts a sabotaging tactic that keeps us from changing our habits or procrastinating. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why self negotiation is a very interesting concept, when to negotiate with yourself, what negotiating with yourself can look like and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:31 Why this topic was chosen. 01:06 Why this is a very interesting concept. 02:28 Why the biggest impact that we can make is mostly inward and not outward. 03:27 How a lot of people negotiate. 03:49 When to negotiate with yourself.  04:38 Things Hiten does when he negotiates with himself. 05:40 What negotiating with yourself can look like. 08:47 Hiten’s thought process for figuring out what the right thing to do is. 10:07 How Steli approaches decision making. 3 Key Points: Usually, you negotiate with two parties instead of with yourself.For me, it’s all about figuring out if what I want to do is the right thing to do.The biggest impact that we can make is mostly inward and not outward. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:05] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about, how do you negotiate with yourself. This is based on a tweet. I think it was James Clear on Twitter that tweeted it and then I retweeted it and Steli saw it, put it on our list to talk about. We're jumping in. We're going to talk about how you negotiate with yourself. I think it's a very interesting concept. It's something that... One of those things that when you read it you're like, huh, what does that mean? How do I do that? I think that's really where the discussion starts.So to me, negotiating with yourself is almost like... Usually you negotiate because there's two parties and they want different things. They're not aligned yet. I think in a way you could say either it's because I'm watching too many shows right now and random things. There's a show called Limitless and there's also a movie called Limitless. The main character takes a pill and the pill makes him super smart. When he does that, pretty much when everyone takes the pill, they see a part of their psyche, whether it's somebody else they love or themselves and they start talking to themselves. And literally what they're doing is, they're negotiating about what to do because now all of a sudden they're super smart. They need someone to talk to apparently, but it's all in their own psyche. But it's someone to talk to you to negotiate what they should do. [0:01:38] Steli Efti: That's interes

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to maintain mental health during a global pandemic. Due to the current coronavirus crisis, a lot of companies are struggling, and this is going to affect so many founders mental health. So it’s important to know how to cope with the current climate an avoid harming your mental health In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how this current crisis can affect your mental health, what Hiten is currently doing to take care of his and his family’s mental health, how Steli is coping with in the current crisis and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 01:39 How this current crisis can affect your mental health. 03:48 What Hiten is currently doing to take care of his and his family’s mental health. 04:49 Why Hiten was consuming a lot of content about the crisis early on. 07:22 How everyone has their own wy of dealing with this crisis. 09:13 The importance of knowing when to cope. 09:45 How Steli is coping with in the current crisis. 10:23 How making checklists is helping Steli cope. 11:57 How Steli is coping through exercising.  3 Key Points: The staying at home part is not just challenging for meYou need to know when enough is enough when consuming content about the crisis.You have to consume information in order to understand what’s going on for myself. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about how to maintain one's mental health during a global pandemic. So, for those of you that don't know, we recorded... The last, I think four episodes or so, were very focused on the current COVID-19 crisis around the world, and this is very unusual for us. We've been doing this, I think this week we're going to surpass, or just last week we surpassed the 500 recordings. We've been doing this for five years plus. We had never done episodes that were centered around world events at the moment. [0:00:41] Steli Efti: Nope, that's right. [0:00:42] Hiten Shah: But then again, there's never been a world event that's so big that it literally has captured- [0:00:50] Steli Efti: Impacts everybody. [0:00:50] Hiten Shah: The entire world. [0:00:52] Steli Efti: That's right. [0:00:52] Hiten Shah: So this is a different time even for us in this podcast. We did an episode on sales during this crisis, marketing during this crisis, and working from home during COVIT-19. I felt that it would be helpful and useful to people that are listening to us to talk a little bit about mental health. I think that in step one, when all of this started rolling, or becoming a bigger topic in the Western world, in Europe, in the

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to do product management during the COVID-19 crisis. The current crisis is causing a lot of disruption for many companies, and one area in particular that most companies will be affected is in their product development roadmap. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how product development will be affected by this crisis, how this crisis has affected Hiten’s roadmap, if changing your roadmap is a good idea right now and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:29 Why this topic was chosen. 01:19 Questions some companies are having right now. 03:02 How this crisis has affected Hiten’s roadmap. 03:42 How this crisis is affecting Google’s Chrome. 05:08 How most companies still work from offices. 06:10 How most companies don’t know how to do product development properly. 07:51 If changing your roadmap is a good idea right now. 08:15 How product launches are going to be very tricky right now. 09:00 Products that are doing well right now. 3 Key Points: The big question that a lot of companies now have is how is this going to affect our product development roadmap.Google has slowed down or stopped releasing updates for Chrome.Be aware that you may not be as productive as you normally are. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti  [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: and this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how to do product development and product management during a global pandemic. [0:00:05] Steli Efti:So here's a question for you, Hiten. Most software companies. Let's talk just about product companies and software companies brought up, they had a product roadmap. Very likely that roadmap was spanning over a couple of weeks if not months. Many of them will have one that they had set for the entire year. But usually these product development cycles, they're substantial long and they need a good amount of head time to plan for them and to put things in motion and have a dev team work on things before they can ship things. So now you had this roadmap for whatever quarter two, let's say in quarter three this year and now the world is melting down. We're having with world pandemic, people have to work from home. And the big question that many people have is how is this going to affect our product roadmap and our product development process? There's one bucket of questions that is centered around productivity, right? Our dev team, are they going to be productive working from home with their families there? Are they going to be able to ship on time as our original timelines were how is this going to affect the productivity and the timelines and milestones and all that. And then there's the other bucket of questions that I see floating around, which is do we have to adj

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about what we have learned from each other in 500 episodes. After 500 episodes of the podcast, Steli and Hiten dive into what they’ve learned from hosting the podcast over the last 5 years. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about the very first episode of the show, what Hiten has learned from doing the podcast, why the podcast was started and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:12 Why this topic was chosen. 01:15 About the first episode of the show. 02:11 What Hiten has learned from doing the podcast. 03:50 How friendships should be natural. 04:56 The importance of friendships. 06:11 Why the podcast was started. 07:03 What the podcast has allowed the guys to do. 07:40 The nature of Steli and Hiten’s friendship. 09:14 A real gift of the podcast. 3 Key Points: It’s been a wild ride.We don’t talk about our personal lives as much as other things.To me friendship should be natural. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: Today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about, today is a big day, the 500th episode of The Startup Chat. What we're going to talk about is what we have learned from each other in over 500 conversation's over five years now or so. So would you believe it? Who in the fuck would have ever known when we first grabbed the coffee and I told you we too have great chemistry, we should do a podcast together, and you said, "Sure, whatever you want, Steli," who would have known that? That's the first encounter would have led to this type of relationship, friendship, and this kind of podcast. If all of you that are like, "I wish I was at the coffee shop, and could have listened to how they came up with the idea and how they put it together." You can, a lot of you don't know this, but the very first episode, if you Google thestartupchat.com and then episode one you're going to find the episode that we recorded right after walking out of that coffee shop where we basically came up with the name, what should it be, how long, why do we want this? Like that very first conversation we had about doing the podcast is recorded and published as the very first episode of The Startup Chat. So go and check that out, but who the fuck would have thought would have made it so long, to 500 episodes. Man, it's been a wild ride. It's been a wild ride. So today I thought it'd be fun to reminisce a little bit, to look back and to share a little bit of some things that stand out today, for us, in terms of what we have learned from each other, from doing a 500 episodes on The Startup Chat. So I'm going to put you on the spot. Since I had the idea for the episode, you're going to be the first one that's going to have to answer this. What'

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to sell in the current climate. In the current environment, making sales right now is extremely difficult. A lot of sales people will be working from home and that in itself can be very tricky. Also, many businesses are going to be struggling financially and this will hinder your ability to sell your product or service.  In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what to do right now if you work in sales, how working from home can be tricky for sales people, tips to help you cope when working from home and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:12 Why this topic was chosen. 01:26 What to do right now if you work in sales. 01:59 The nature of sales. 02:38 How working from home can be tricky for sales people. 03:11 Tips to help you cope when working from home.  05:04 The importance of authenticity when working from home. 05:32 Why you should focus on what you can control. 05:58 Why speed matters a lot right now. 08:10 Why cashflow is king right now. 3 Key Points: This is going to be a tricky time for people in sales.Sales people working from home is highly unusual.Nobody is going to care about what you sell in a week or two from now. [0:00:02] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:05] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah and today on The Startup Chat in our pandemic series... That's what it is. We're going to talk about sales because I have a sales something, savant genius, whatever word people want to use, but he knows a thing or two about sales. So let's talk about sales. I've seen some emails you folks have sent, I've seen some features you folks are releasing and I know you've changed it up, your roadmap a little bit, yourselves, in order to service folks. But I think the big question on people's minds from a sales standpoint, both if they're managing salespeople and they have sales people or they are a salesperson, what do I do? Everything's different now. I'm not in an office. I don't know if my prospects are going to listen to me anymore. Or even like... What do I do? So please lay it on us. [0:01:03] Steli Efti: Yeah. This is going to be a very tricky time for people in sales, but there's many other people that are in much worse situations. Okay, so a couple of things. I think first on an individual level, salespeople working from home is highly unusual and selling just from their home. And on top of it, it's going to be even much more unusual if the whole family's with them, right? Sales is such a context sport, kind of high velocity, high quality context sports, such a communication sport. And it's so fundamentally relying on the state that you're in being a powerful enough state to be able to influence people, hopefully in a positive way. That if you are at home and

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about marketing during the COVID-19 crisis. Due to the current coronavirus crisis, a lot of companies are sending out a bunch of emails to their customers, updating them about how they are handling the situation amongst other things. However, while it may be necessary to do so for some companies, it may not be the case for yours, and if so sending an email out might not be the best thing to do right now.  In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how some brands are reacting to the situations, how some brands are using the opportunity to send emails to their customers, what type of marketing is working at the moment and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:15 Why this topic was chosen. 00:59 How some brands are reacting to the situations. 02:12 How some brands are using the opportunity to send emails to their customers. 03:16 Brands that should be contacting their customers. 04:20 How FYI is handling the situation. 05:57 What to say to customers during this period. 07:09 Why you have to think about the audience. 07:52 What kinds of messages companies are sending. 09:26 What type of marketing is working at the moment.  3 Key Points: There are a lot of brands that are using this opportunity to send emails to their customers.None of the essential companies that I’m a customer of have sent an email.Part of it is reminding people that you exist. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about marketing during a crisis. Actually, marketing during a pandemic, as everyone's working from home while everyone's checking information about the pandemic all day long. [0:00:24] Steli Efti: All right, well- [0:00:25] Hiten Shah: This is... Go ahead, go ahead. [0:00:28] Steli Efti: No, go ahead. Go ahead. [0:00:31] Hiten Shah: I mean, seriously, I was just going to say that it seems like there are a lot of brands out there that are taking this, and I want to hear your reaction, taking this opportunity as a reason to send email to their customers. Are you noticing that? [0:00:58] Steli Efti: Oh, no. No, just about 20 to 30 emails every day. Who was it? I saw a bunch of people funny tweeting about this like, "Thank god, every company I've ever given my email is telling me how they're managing the COVID-19 situation." Yeah, there's a lot of emails about COVID-19 from brands. And the funny thing is, I would say that almost all of them, with a few exceptions, are from companies I don't even know. Or I'm not even like, "Am I a customer of this? Why use this? Why am I getting an email from this particular brand?" It's not very relevant. It's not, I don't know,

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about daring to WFH without losing your mind during the COVID-19 crisis. With the Coronavirus epidemic going on, a lot of companies are being making their teams to work from home. This will inevitably lead to some challenges especially if a company culture and the way it has been set up is not designed for remote work. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how there’s been an increase in remote working since the virus broke out, the biggest issues about working from home, why your company culture and how your team is set up matters now more than ever and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:21 why this topic was chosen. 01:12 How there’s been an increase in remote working. 02:15 One of the biggest issues about working from home. 02:52 The biggest concern companies have about WFH. 04:08 Hiten big tip for companies dealing with the current situation. 05:10 How Hiten’s team is handling the current situation. 06:19 Why your company culture and how your team is set up matters a lot. 08:35 How the current situation is not normal. 10:21 How the current situation will reveal what’s broken rather that breaking it. 3 Key Points: I don’t think there has ever been more companies going remote in the history of the worldBeing distracted is a big issue when you work from home.All it takes is for someone you know to get the virus and everything changes. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:06] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about how to work from home without losing your mind as the world is melting down right now. So it's been an interesting decade. Over the last week or two, Hiten, a lot is happening- [0:00:23] Hiten Shah: Pretty much. [0:00:23] Steli Efti: ... Has happened and will probably continue to happen. But one relevant thing for people that are listening to us is that you and I have been championing working remotely for many years. We've been teaching anything we learned as we've been running remote teams and companies for many years, but I don't think there's ever, in the history of the world, been more businesses going remote than in the past three, four weeks. And so now there's this surge of demand for all these companies, and we're going to focus on startups, that were used to going into an office and working, collaborating, and communicating with each other in person, that are now forced to do that from home. Which is also a slight different flavor than working remotely, since many people who work remotely might go to a coworking space or a coffee shop, now you're full-fledged, you're working from home, all your colleagues work from home. How the hell do you do this? How

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about whether you should be the face of your company. Being the “face” of a startup can be very intimidating for some founders, which is why a lot of prefer to not approach marketing this way. However, being a public CEO or founder can be a very effective way to market a startup. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about what made them become the face of their companies, examples of companies whose founders are the face of the brands, how to approach this if you’re starting a business today and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:12 Why this topic was chosen. 01:55 What made Hiten be the face of his brands. 04:37 How Steli became the face of his brands. 06:11 How Steli created videos in the early days of Close. 06:31 How Steli stumbled in public speaking. 07:01 Example of companies with public faces. 08:17 How to approach this if you’re starting a business today. 08:33 Why you shouldn’t make it complicated. 09:33 Why you do what’s right for your customers. 3 Key Points: It started out with me wanting to do the best job with the businesses that we had.There’s ego involved in everything.Once I discovered that creating videos was super easy for me, I just started creating a lot of them [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about humanizing your brand and being the public persona behind your company. Hiten, both you and I are pretty public people and are very closely associated with being kind of the humanized version of our companies, right? A lot of people but no closed in connection with Steli, right? Or Steli Efti. [0:00:33] Hiten Shah: Yeah. [0:00:33] Steli Efti: And same with FYI and Hiten Shah, right? It's inseparable. And I had an interesting conversation recently with somebody that was asking me lots of questions on how I strategically decided to go down that route. What are the pros and cons? Who should do it? Who shouldn't do it? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it just an ego trip? And I thought this is actually fascinating topic and I thought it'd be fun for the two of us to kind of quickly unpack this for people. So let me first ask you, you know, FYI is not the first company and product that you launched, that you have been very closely as a human associated with versus just being a brand where people don't know who the people are behind the company. Pretty much every company that you've been involved with, you've been a very kind of public face off and you've been building kind of your personal brand in conjunction with the companies that you've been building. Was that a strategic move? Did you ever do research and then decide this is the be

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to give presentations to your team. Internal presentations are very common in the startup world. And while these presentations can be very boring and packed with data, it doesn’t have to be. Learning how to make your presentations exciting will help a long way in communicating your message to your team. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about some mistakes people make when they give internal presentations, examples of good presentations, how to improve your presentations and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:29 Why this topic was chosen. 01:23 A big trend in internal communications. 03:20 How to present your data. 03:56 Why your presentations should have context. 04:27 How internal presentations are similar to speaking at conferences.  05:00 An example of how to create good presentations. 07:14 How to improve your presentations. 07:45 How the best presentations have stories in them. 09:10 What teams need from presentations. 3 Key Points: Internal communication is a very big topic.People are not used to presenting.People are overwhelmed by with too much information. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about something that plagues every company at some point. And Steli had an experience that I haven't heard yet, or some experiences, so I'm dying to hear them and talk about this. But it's basically the idea of how do you communicate internally inside your company? Steli, take it from here. Lead out. [0:00:26] Steli Efti: Yeah. There's obviously the internal communication is such a big topic. The one thing that I'd like to zero in on, because we are going through this and I've just personally had to go through this a couple of times and I'm currently working with leadership at close on this, is when people who are leading teams are giving presentations either for those teams or company-wide. And this could be a monthly report, hey, let's a summary of what happened last month and what we are projecting or our goals for next month. It could be a big project that was concluded or that is planned. Any kind of communication where somebody that is responsible for a project is sharing the learnings, pros and cons, or what has happened, or what is about to happen with people. One big trend that I see, one thing that I've seen again and again and again, is that people will go through the, this is a general communication challenge, they'll go through the simple work of just collecting information. So let's say I'm running a sales team. February concluded, so I'm doing a summary of what happened in February and it's a slide, and let's say there's six bullet points and it goes, we

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to deal with rejection. Rejection is very common. If there’s one thing that is going to happen to you as a founder is that you’re going to be rejected a lot, and this hurts. But just because you’re likely to be rejected when you ask for something shouldn’t stop you from asking. How you deal with rejection can determine if you’ll be successful or not. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how nobody likes being rejected, coping mechanisms that you can use to deal with rejection, the problem with rejection and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 01:08 How Steli doesn’t like to be rejected. 03:13 How Hiten deals with rejection. 04:30 The problem with rejection. 04:50 Why rejection is just an idea. 06:01 Why you need to ask all the time. 07:43 Why your decisions matter. 08:24 Why you shouldn’t put your self worth in someone else hands. 11:00 Tips to help you deal with rejection.  3 Key Points: I encourage people to get rejected and put themselves out there.I, for sure, don’t like to be rejected.Ask the person who you think is good at dealing with rejection how they do it. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten Shah: This is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: Today on The Startup Chat we're going to teach you how to deal with rejection. If you know Hiten and me, you know that we do believe great things come with taking great risk. If you know me, you know that I encourage people to get rejected. To put themselves out there, and to ask for things specifically that will place them completely outside their comfort zone, and with that bring a lot of risk of being rejected. Both Hiten and I have been rejected many, many, many times in our lives, and we know a thing or two about it. I do believe this is such an important topic. We thought today we're going to do a little bit of a back and forth of just like coping mechanisms that we have developed, strategies, ideas, habits that allow us to deal with rejection. One thing that I'll say right out of the bat, before I'll ask you for your first tip Hiten here, is that I do not know anybody, I've never met somebody, and I surely I'm not somebody who doesn't care about being rejected, or who likes being rejected. I for sure don't like to be rejected. People think, especially when they see somebody that is as outspoken and as loud as me, and has as much sales experience as I have that I don't care anymore. I could attempt anything and get rejected and I would not even just nothing from me, I would just dust off my shoulder. It's not true. It is simply not true. [0:01:46] Hiten Shah: That's not true? [0:01:46] Steli Efti: That's unfortunately not true, no. Even afte

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about daring to be different in all that you do, for your future happiness. In a world where most people seem to be doing the same things, being different can be a good thing. It can help you stand out from your competition and lead to you being very successful in future. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about What it means to be different, why being different takes courage, how being different pays off in future and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:33 why this topic was chosen. 00:43 Steli’s initial thought on Hiten’s tweet. 01:39 What prompted Hiten’s tweet. 03:00 Why being different takes courage. 05:46 Why Hiten used to word “dare”. 05:05 What it means to be different. 08:39 How being different pays off in future. 09:07 Why Hiten chose the phrase “future happiness”. 10:34 How being different helps you express yourself better. 3 Key Points: It’s ok to be different.Being different takes courage.Different means going against something [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about a tweet of mine that was very impulsive, not in a bad way. And I'm tweeting a little bit more than I was over the last few months and the tweet said "dare to be different in all that you do for your future happiness" and Steli, it must have like struck a nerve or did something cause we're talking about it today and Steli suggested it. So yeah, it's about being different and daring to be different. So how did you take it? What did you think? [0:00:39] Steli Efti: Well, the first thing I thought was what prompted this? (laughing) When I see a tweet of this nature, especially with somebody that I know like you, I'm like, huh, I'm curious what... Typically I would assume it's a conversation that inspires this with you, but who knows? It could be a million different things, but the first thing that it made was make me go, huh, this is interesting. I wonder if there's a backstory or there's a thought or a conversation that made Hiten want to send this message out to people. [0:01:14] Hiten Shah: Yes. [0:01:15] Steli Efti: What prompted this? [0:01:17] Hiten Shah: Yes, so there's no exciting story or a conversation. Some of the tweets definitely are part of a conversation. I think this one was just, I think I was thinking about it. And I was thinking about what makes people exceptional? And what causes them to, achieve things, basically? And I think one of the factors that if you start looking at a bunch of patterns of people that have achieved exceptional stuff, whether in business or personally, is they were different, there were different, something was different. They did

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about business Intelligence for startups. Handling all the data that you interact with at your startup can be a challenge, and it gets even more complicated as your business grows. It’s important to be on top of your data as things can easily get out of hand for your startup if you don’t. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about what business intelligence means, questions to answer when you do business intelligence, tools that can help you do business intelligence better and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:20 Why this topic was chosen. 03:06 What business intelligence means. 03:48 How you’re always doing business intelligence. 05:12 Questions to answer when you do data intelligence. 06:32 How some companies handle business intelligence 06:43 Why doing data intelligence can be tricky. 08:01 The right way to handle business intelligence. 08:33 Concerns to have when doing business intelligence. 09:14 Tools that can help you do business intelligence better. 3 Key Points: The amount of data in your business skyrockets as your customer base grows.You’re always doing business intelligence as long as you’re looking at some metrics.Trying to put data together is tricky. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about business intelligence for startups. So here's the deal, Hiten. Here's a trend that I've seen over the last few years and also something that's been on my mind. It's the big topic of data and insights within your company. I think when you're just starting out in your startup and you're a handful of people and you're working day and night and you're super involved with everything, you generally have, and should have, everybody care about data and look at the numbers. Look at the information and collect and do the research, and constantly and consistently generate insights that help you adjust and pivot until you figure out the big building blocks of your business. Try to figure out what is it that we're building? Who is it that we're building it for? What differentiates us? How do we bring this to market? All these things. But as your company grows and as you become 20 people and then 50 and then a 100, and as your customers are now thousands and thousands of customers, and you grow to hundreds of thousands and millions in revenue, the amount of data in all regards of your business, this can be marketing data, this could be sales data, this could be success data, this could be product metrics and data. The amount of information in your business skyrockets. And there comes a point where any time there's a question around specific metrics, you can have a team go after it

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about 100 ways to count your blessings. Being grateful for the things in your life is key to being happy in your life. The life of an entrepreneur can be super stressful sometimes and we tend to dwell on the things we don’t, which tends to increase our stress levels, versus being grateful for the things we do have.  So in this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you should be thankful for what you’ve got, why you should appreciate the people around you, the importance of counting your small blessings and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:13 Why this topic was chosen. 02:18 Why you should be thankful for what you’ve got. 02:47 Why you should appreciate the people around you. 04:23 When to have a moment of gratitude. 04:53 Why you should write down what you’re grateful for.  05:49 The importance of being grateful with somebody else. 06:05 Why you need to find something to be grateful for when you’re feeling down. 07:08 The importance of counting your small blessings. 08:31 The need to be grateful for your health. 3 Key Points: No matter what the experience is, be thankful for what you’ve got.Tell people that you’re grateful for them.I think it’s good practice to have a moment of gratitude everyday. [0:00:01] Steli Efti : Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti : And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about all the ways in which you can count your blessings and why you want to become an expert and really good at doing that. So any of you that have been listening to us for a long time, and a lot of you do and we really appreciate your attention and we really appreciate all the feedback and you sticking with us through all these years. We've been doing this podcast for a while now. For those of you that know us well, you know how much the power of gratitude and the power of appreciation means to both Hiten and me and how much we think about it and how much we try to practice it. We did a really popular episode awhile back, episode 161, The Power of Gratitude. You can just search it on thestartupchat.com or if you just put it into Google, Startup Chat, and then episode 161 you'll find it and you can check it out. But today I don't want to talk that much about why being grateful is of benefit to you in the world and why using the power of appreciation is really impactful. We'll just assume you already know. What I'd like to do is just do a quick episode where we share all the ways we have practiced and counted our blessings and just to stimulate people maybe with new ideas or to push them to pick up some old habits that they had accumulated. Because I really think that if we can increase, if we can even just get a handful of

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about hobbies for founders. The life of a founder, and entrepreneurship, in general, can be very stressful. In order to avoid burnout and stress-related illness, it’s important for founders to disconnect from work and do other non-work related activities, and picking up a hobby is a great way to do this. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about whether having a hobby is a good idea, why you should decide if you’re a marathon runner and a sprinter, the benefits of hobbies and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 03:06 Whether having a hobby is a good idea. 04:11 Why you should decide if you’re a marathon runner and a sprinter. 06:20 How most people go through different phases. 07:03 What Hiten hobbies are. 08:00 Why Hiten’s hobbies are not seen as traditional hobbies. 09:52 What Steli’s hobbies are. 10:29 The benefits of martial arts to Steli. 11:23 How Steli views his hobby.  3 Key Points: Are you a marathon runner or do you like to sprint?Some people might operate best in certain situations.I don’t particularly have any hobbies at the moment. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah.: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about hobbies for founders. Should founders have hobbies and a life? Should they not have them? Are there good hobbies and bad hobbies? Let's just quickly talk about this and kind of unpack it for our listeners from our perspective. So I want to set this up with a story. Many, many years ago and I'm going to have to be careful, I can't use real names, but I remember being at an event where one of our angel investors had invited us to, this is 2011 so long time ago, we had raised a small seed round back then and for what we were doing, and this is like a legendary [Angelo Messi 00:00:00:57] or somebody, everybody really knows in the start-up world, and I remember sitting in the audience, he was giving a talk and one of my co-founders is a super passionate skier. He loves the outdoors in general. He loves hiking, but he especially loves skiing. And remember at some point of the presentation of that angel investor, an angel investor going on on a rant that if you want to be a founder and now that it's great skiing season, every weekend you want to go hit the snow and ski, then you know you need to figure out your priorities. He would never invest in people that waste their weekends for lifestyle instead of putting focused effort into their work and outworking their competition. I remember looking over at my co-founder, this angel just had invested in us. He just didn't know that my co-founder was a passionate skier at the time and so we looked at each other and

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to set up successful partner programs. Creating a partner program for your company is a great way to grow your customer base without spending too much on marketing and customer acquisition. However, like most things in business, you have to do it the right way for it to be successful. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten what partner programs are, how to create one for your startup, mistakes to avoid when creating them and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:19 What partner programs are. 03:00 Why you should create an ideal partner profile before creating a partner program. 04:22 The importance of finding the right places to promote your partner program. 05:10 How to determine who could make a good partner for you. 05:46 How the team at Close created their own partner program. 07:10 Tools to manage partner programs with. 08:39 When to start a partner program. 09:31 Mistakes companies make when creating partner programs. 09:57 Why you need an application process. 3 Key Points: Partner programs are different from affiliate programsA lot of SaaS SMBs have started investing in partner programsAsk yourself who would be an ideal partner for you. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey, everybody. This is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. And today on The Startup Chat, we're going to talk about our thoughts on setting up a partner program for your business. So, there's affiliate programs, and those are ones where you actually give somebody sort of a payment, whether it's a fee for when they bring you a signup, or a fee on an ongoing basis when you get a customer from them, and then there's partner programs. And partner programs are actually quite a bit different, and they usually involve actually partnering up and having something more official happen, doing joint PR and things like that. So, that's the topic, and that's kind of a high level of difference between an affiliate program or partner program. A partner program, in some ways, is a deeper sort of relationship or it tends to be. [0:00:55] Steli Efti: Yeah, deeper commitment relationship. And I don't know if you agree with this, but just my observation has been that in the kind of past two years or so, two or three years, a lot of SAS SMB companies have started investing in partner programs that used to be a lot more of a play and a growth channel that... and took price, enterprise companies would go after. But now I see kind of more and more SMB companies go after that. Is that just my observation, or would you agree with that? [0:01:33] Hiten Shah: I would agree with that. I think it used to be something that larger companies would build out. Now it's something that I think even if you're targeting SMBs, or you're an SMB, yo

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the role entrepreneurship plays in your childhood. Things that happen in our childhood play a big role in shaping our adulthood, and becoming an entrepreneur is no different. Most founders would agree that there were things that happened to them when they were kids that influenced their decisions to become entrepreneurs.  In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about events that influenced them to become entrepreneurs, how your past is not your future, how our natural tendencies can affect us becoming entrepreneurs and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:14 Why this topic was chosen. 01:15 Things that influenced Hiten to become an entrepreneur. 03:03 Why Hiten’s father gave him some early advice. 03:42 The effect this advice had on Hiten. 04:31 How you get a better understanding of your childhood as you grow up. 05:54 Why how you respond to what happens to you is super important. 07:05 How your past is not your future. 08:24 Things that influenced Steli to become an entrepreneur. 10:12 How our natural tendencies can also affect us becoming entrepreneurs. 3 Key Points: There were things that happened in your childhood that made you become an entrepreneur.My dad told me not to work for anyone.Your past is not your future. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about what role your childhood plays in entrepreneurship and if it plays a role at all. So here's an interesting question. When you think back to your childhood, I do believe ... I have prior knowledge, but I do believe that there were things that happened during your childhood that played a role in you becoming an entrepreneur and how you develop as an entrepreneur. Is that true? Would you agree? [0:00:33] Hiten Shah: Yeah. Yeah. [0:00:35] Steli Efti: And I would agree for certain on my childhood and what role it played in me becoming an entrepreneur and how I approached the whole thing. So maybe let's just talk personal on this episode and talk about kind of what role our childhood played in it and how it influenced us. So when you think about your childhood, what are the immediate things that stand out where you go, well this is what happened during my childhood and how these events of things influenced me becoming an entrepreneur and what kind of an entrepreneur I became? [0:01:08] Hiten Shah: Yeah. Mine was very direct. So my Dad, when I was four or five, told me I shouldn't work for anyone. So I think he wanted to live vicariously through me and so he spoiled me at that point and said that. Then, over the years, he said three things. He said you could be an entrepreneur

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about whether entrepreneurs are made or born. Is being an entrepreneur something that comes naturally to some people and not to others, or can they can anyone, through education, experience and mentorship, develop the skills needed to become an entrepreneur? This is a question that comes up all the time and one that is not easy to answer. So in this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how entrepreneurs and founders come from all works of life, the intent behind this question, why no one is born to be an entrepreneur and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:17 Why this topic was chosen. 01:14 How entrepreneurs and founders come from all works of life. 01:14 How It’s the hard work that comes after you’ve started that matters. 02:43 The intent behind this question 03:47 How hard work plays a big role in being successful.  04:45 Why this question might matter to some people. 05:57 Why no one is born to be an entrepreneur. 06:31 The biggest fear people have about starting their own business. 07:32 How there’s always an issue to solve when you own your own business. 3 Key Points: Entrepreneurs and founders come from all works of life.Everybody wants answers, but nobody knows anythingIt’s the hard work that comes after you’ve started that matters [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on the Startup Show we're going to talk about and debate the age old question, entrepreneurs, are they born or are they made? I don't know if you've ever been asked this question, but I definitely have. So let me ask you right out of the bat, Hiten, and we've never talked about this before, I think. Entrepreneurs, what do you think, are they made or are they born? [0:00:29] Hiten Shah: What if I said neither? [0:00:31] Steli Efti: Yeah, if you said neither, I wouldn't be surprised. That's what would happen. [0:00:37] Hiten Shah: I don't think this question needs to exist. And I think this question doesn't need to exist because entrepreneurs, founders, people who start companies come from all walks of life and they come from all kinds of backgrounds. And there is no predictor of success. That's bottom line. There's no predictor of success. There's no high likelihood that this founder, that founder is going to build $1 billion business or even a profitable business. There is no predictor of success. This stuff is hard. And so I think my response to the question of are they born or are they made, is that they are who they are and most are accidental to some extent. Right? They build something and it just works. And in some way, right? After 10 years of nothing working for example, or the fir

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how Zoom became the best web conferencing product in a decade. Zoom is a popular video conferencing tool used by a lot of companies around the world, from small startups to big enterprises. However, the story of how Zoom became so popular is quite remarkable, as they were going into a very competitive niche when they started. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how Zoom got started, what makes it so competitive in a crowded market, Steli’s initial thoughts on Zoom and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:25 Why this topic was chosen. 01:15 Steli’s initial thoughts on Zoom. 03:11 How Zoom just works. 04:48 Some not so obvious things that Zoom did. 05:58 How Zoom got started. 06:20 What Hiten learned while researching Zoom. 06:37 What made Zoom succeed in a crowded market. 09:00 How difficult it must have been for the founders to make Zoom a success. 09:59 What makes Zoom competitive.  3 Key Points: One of the most interesting thing about zoom is that they went into an existing category and set the bar on reliability.What Zoom did was very subtle.We use Zoom extensively within our company. [0:00:00] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:02] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. Today on The Startup Chat we're actually going to talk about, I think a company that both Steli and I are big fans of, the company Zoom. I'm sure many of you listening are also big fans of the company. Many of you might know, I do these long write ups about companies just because I feel like a historian sometimes and I like really documenting kind of the history of a company and give my take on it. The company I did a little bit ago was Zoom, and it's a blog post, it's on the FYI blog. It's at usefyi.com/zoom, Z-O-O-M dash history. And you'll be able to get to it and you'll read, I don't know how many words it is, probably five, six, 7,000 words or something like that about Zoom, if you're interested. But you can also listen to us now as we talk about Zoom. One of the most interesting things about the company to me is that they went into an existing category and actually set the bar on something very basic, which is reliability. It's really reliability with this idea of video conferencing and being able to see people on video, and even the audio part of it. Now, ironically or not, we're also on Zoom right now as we're recording. [0:01:18] Steli Efti: That's very true. Now, this is the funny thing, when Zoom first launched, or when I first became aware of them, I remember, and there's an important lesson in this, I remember thinking, who wants to go into the video conferencing or web conferencing space now? Right? [0:01:43] Hiten Shah: Right. [0:01:44] Steli Efti: It was both, a

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about Product Hunt do's and don'ts. Product Hunt has become the ultimate place where founders go to launch their products to an audience that’s passionate about technology. While launching on Product Hunt can be great for your product, there are some do’s and dont’s you should be aware of if you decide to launch your product on Product Hunt In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten how Product Hunt is a strong community to push something out, the importance of finding a way to engage with the community, how to launch your product properly and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:17 Why this topic was chosen. 01:53 How Product Hunt is a strong community to push something out. 02:25 The importance of finding a way to engage the Product Hunt community. 02:59 Various ways to engage the community. 03:03 How to present your product on Product Hunt. 03:24 The importance of timing on Product Hunt. 05:43 How to launch your product properly. 06:19 Why you should be prepared to promote your page. 06:40 How founders should think about promoting their product launch. 3 Key Points: Most internet-related products are launched on Product Hunt today.If you can find a way to engage the community, that would be really smart.If you know there’s going to be a popular launch, you shouldn’t launch on that day. [0:00:04] Steli: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:06] Hiten: And this is Hiten Shah. Today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about Product Hunt do's and don'ts. The reason for that is because I ended up getting contacted sometimes multiple times a day, sometimes it just comes in waves, to submit a company, post a company to Product Hunt. Or a feature, or a marketing tool, or something like that. I tend to have a response to people right away after I check out what they have. The biggest do is make sure you do your homework about what's required when you need to submit to Product Hunt because there's a bunch of stuff that's required. There's like a title, a sort of tagline, a description, a bunch of images or a video if you have it, ideally, the makers and the categories you want to be in. There's just a number of things that are required. If you don't pay attention, you're not going to ... Basically you're going to come to me, or anyone else that might post for you, if you want someone to post for you, and they're just going to come back to you and say, "Hey, I need these things." So just be ready for those things. So that's my first two. I'm sure you have some questions, Steli, or at least some idea of what we should be talking about here, because I could talk about this probably all day. [0:01:31] Steli: Yeah. Well first of all, I think that it's important for to understand ... I mean, would you say that most softwar

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about mistakes to avoid when trying to sell your startup. In the startup world, it’s very common for founders to sell their startups at some stage. While this can be an exciting time for the founders, it’s important that you avoid certain mistakes so that things go as smooth as possible. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about common mistakes to avoid when selling your startup, why companies buy other companies, how not to negotiate a deal and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:14 Why this topic was chosen. 01:18 On really big mistake to avoid. 01:33 Why you should think about the reason people buy companies. 02:54 Why you need to know what you’re bring to the table. 03:31 How not to negotiate a deal. 05:29 Why you need to know what you want to optimise for and what position you’re are in. 06:00 The importance of prioritising. 06:45 How emotions can get in the way of getting a deal. 08:15 Why you should learn to disconnect your emotions. 3 Key Points: Companies are bought not soldBuys are strategic.You need to know what you’re bringing to the table [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about mistakes to avoid when trying to sell your startup. So here's the reason why I want to talk to you about this, Hiton. Well one, I think it's compelling content and people are going to be interested in this. Lots of people that are running a startup might want to sell it one day. And currently it's kind of part of my world because I have some friends that are in the process of selling their startup, and I've been very much involved in that and observing from the sidelines their approach and their strategies. And also, from my perspective, I've been observing a bunch of mistakes they're making or have made. So I thought, and I know that you've helped a ton of people sell their startup, so I thought that we could provide some value to our listeners out there. So, let me start with asking you, if you think about the more recent examples, or maybe there's just a top-of-mind. This is a big mistake most people make when they're trying to sell their startup, and if there's somebody that's listening to us that's going to be in this situation, this is the one mistake I'd like them to avoid. What comes to your mind immediately on this topic? [0:01:21] Hiten Shah: Yeah, the typical thing is that companies are bought, not sold. So, you got to think about, why would someone need your company, why would they buy it? Even if you're going through a banker or one of the firms that helps with that sort of opportunity of selling your company, you still need a reason why someone would buy

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the perfect onboarding plan for a new hire. Making a new hire is an exciting time for a team, however, it’s really to get onboarding right, as the experience that a new hire gets at the early stages determines if he’s going to succeed in the team or not. So in this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how Hiten handles onboarding of new team members, why you want to make new team members feel like they’re in the right place, How some onboarding plans set up new team members for failure and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:26 Why this topic was chosen. 01:14 How Hiten handles onboarding of new team members. 02:11 What Hiten’s onboarding process looks like. 02:45 Why you want to make new team members feel like they’re in the right place. 03:33 Why you should make sure that they can get to work as soon as possible.  04:35 How isolating it can be for new team members. 05:28 Why getting onboarding right is very important. 09:03 How some onboarding plans set up new team members for failure. 10:00 What you should do if your startup fails or is failing. 3 Key Points: We want to make sure that new team members feel supported.You make sure that they get to know the team.You want to make them feel like they’re in the right place [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:04] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:05] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about the perfect onboarding plan, the first 30, 60, 90 days of a new hire. What are the best practices to make sure that, once you've gone through the intense exercise of recruiting and hiring and finally making an offer and that offer being accepted. And having this new team member that you are now bringing into the company, into your startup, how do you make sure that you onboard these people in the most successful way possible to really set them up for success and longevity? And what are some mistakes that companies, teams and founders make when it comes to onboarding new hires that we have made or witnessed painfully and you should avoid? So let me ask you first, Hiten, when you hire somebody new, do you have a formal 30, 60, 90 day onboarding plan? Do you do that with everybody or is it something that with some roles you do, sometimes you don't or? Is it something that you don't like and just out of principle, you never do with anybody? [0:01:07] Hiten Shah: I don't know if it's like a 30, 60, 90 days. I like to do a [Koster 00:01:11]. The way we think about it is we want to onboard someone within two weeks and make sure that they have everything they need. I think one thing that we keep in mind is this idea that when an employee joins, one concept we try to make sure that we're acco

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about remote work worries? Are people working hard enough? Remote teams are relatively a new thing in the startup world, and deciding whether to allow your staff to work remotely can be a challenge. Questions about managing team members while they are working remotely are inevitably going to come up and how you address these issues is important. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about founders concerns about implementing remote teams, how some people are better at working remotely than others, why hiring the right people is very important for remote teams and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:10 Hiten’s thoughts on how to handle remote working. 02:36 How some people are better at working remotely than others. 02:58 Qualities a good remote worker needs to have. 03:15 The number one challenge of remote working. 03:34 How managing a remote team is ultimately the same as managing a non-remote team. 04:07 Why having good processes is important for remote teams. 05:29 Why hiring the right people is very important for remote teams. 07:21 Why Steli doesn’t worry about his remote teams.  3 Key Points: I don’t hear this specifically because I think people are not just willing to ask me.There are certain people who are better at remote working than others.The ability to direct themselves and be proactive about getting things done it super important. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah. [0:00:04] Steli Efti: And today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about remote work worries. Are your people working hard enough? Here's why I wanted to briefly talk to you about this. This should be a fun little episode. This is the number one... I don't know what your number one thing is that founders ask you regarding to remote work, but the number one thing founders and CEOs ask me when they meet me somewhere and they learn that I run a fully remote company. The number one thing that they seem to be worried about is that they, and usually they lower their voice and they look me deep in the eye and they look around as if it's some kind of a dangerous thing to say. They look around and they go, "How do you know these people are actually working hard enough?" And I'll tell you what my answer to this is, but I would die to hear two things from you first Heaton. Number one, do people ask you this as much as they ask me as well? I mean, I also direct a lot more internationally with people. This might be much more something people bring up in Europe than they do in the U.S and I would assume in the Bay Area it would be even less. But I'm not sure, so I'm curious. So do you hear this often or as often as I do or at all? And th

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about “not your typical advice”. Tweeter and Instagram are platforms that have made it so much easier for people to express their opinions and give advice about any topic. While this is a great thing for freedom of expression, it means that anybody, even if unqualified can give advice, and this dilutes the quality of advice that is out there. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how there’s a lot of startup advice out there in the world, how all advice is diluted to the point where it’s pretty much meaningless, how reading a book can be the best place to get the advice you need right now and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 00:47 How’s there’s a lot of startup advice out there in the world. 01:29 How we can get caught up in our ego on social media. 02:11 A typical scenario on Tweeter. 03:07 How Tweeter has made it easier for people to share their advice. 03:24 How all advice is diluted to the point where it’s pretty much meaningless. 04:01 Why you should take the best advice and leave the rest of it. 05:15 How reading a book can be the best place to get the advice you need right now. 05:50 How talking to people who have context and can actually help is a great way to get great advice. 3 Key Points: There’s a lot of startup advice out there in the world.We can get caught up in our ego on social mediaNobody is waiting for you to tweet. [0:00:01] Steli Efti: Hey everybody, this is Steli Efti. [0:00:03] Hiten Shah: And this is Hiten Shah, and today on The Startup Chat we're going to talk about not your typical startup advice. And this is a topic that I came up with about a minute ago, and it's been in my mind a very long time. I would say that both Steli and I gave a bunch of startup advice, and this is not your typical startup advice. The reason this is not your typical startup advice or advice of any kind is because, what's in my head is that there's a lot of stuff out there. I could use a worse word, but there's a lot of stuff out there where people are telling you things about what you should do or what you should not do. And there's also a lot of stuff out there now, as of recently in the last month or so, about how it's not good to work hard or it's good to work hard. It's good to work a lot of hours or not. Steli and I are not going to get into that debate. Because the answer is it depends, and that's the best answer I can really give you. And then I've seen something really fascinating that I haven't been able to talk about publicly and this is as public as I want to get with it. I've talked a lot about it privately, but it's this idea that we are all susceptible to ego traps. And what that means is that we can get caught up in our ego on social media, and then we turn into th