Founders Should Take Care Of Themselves
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Founders Should Take Care Of Themselves
And fintech meets religion
Big week!
I’m hosting an IRL meetup in NYC and over 100 founders have already RSVP’d — AND we’re doing a members-only fireside chat + Q&A with Tibo, who recently sold his startup for $10 million. Upgrade here and join the community.
Today at a glance:
Opportunity → Credit Card for Religious giving
Framework → Entrepreneurial Operating System
Tool → Design Feedback
Trend → Google Analytics Alternative
Quote → Founders that can take care of themselves
🤝 A Message from PartnerHero
There’s a secret that all savvy founders know: the key to growth is customer experience.
Customer-led companies that think about CX holistically reduce churn, increase LTV, and drive more referrals. But building a support team on your own can take a lot of time and money.
That’s why the smartest founders I know are in on another secret: the best way to deliver amazing CX is by working with PartnerHero. They build high-quality, affordable, on-brand CX teams for incredible brands like Loom, Miro, Lovepop, Privy, Etsy, LMNT, and more.
Whatever stage you’re at – solo founder who needs to reclaim their time or scaling startup that needs help keeping up – PartnerHero has a solution to fit your needs.
Give them a shout and see how they can help you grow through customer experience.
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💡 Opportunity: Credit Card for Religious Giving
Many people underestimate the size and approachability of various markets within the religious space, but a friend of mine built a massive company within it.
A new idea I saw in the space is for a fintech product targeted towards worshippers of a specific faith (specifically Christianity, but it could apply to others as well).
You’d need to offer a way around the fact that the issuer would collect fees — churches currently push for people to use ACH, and people wouldn’t want to use the card if they thought the church may need to pay their fees.
Someone in the comments suggested a card that lets your rewards go to the church would be a compelling twist — I agree.
🧠 Framework: Entrepreneurial Operating System
Turns out even CEOs need operating systems.
I wrote about my cofounder operating system last year, but the EOS framework is directed towards your business as a whole. It outlines the six key components of operating any business, big or small.
Vision - Getting everyone in the org on the same page with where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.
People - Putting the right people in the right seats.
Data - Cutting through all the noise and identifying key metrics to focus on.
Issues - Becoming great at problem-solving.
Process - Systematizing your processes to create consistency and scalability in your org.
Traction - Becoming great at executing and making your vision real.
🛠 Tool: Campsite
Let’s be honest — few people other than designers want to use Figma. The interface just isn’t native for non-designers.
Campsite is a tool that helps designers get better feedback by keeping everyone on your team in the loop in a more approachable UI. It also integrates media other than just your mockups (like Looms and other videos) which is pretty cool.
It’s free for small teams and they’re constantly shipping new features.
📈 Trend: Google Analytics Alternatives
On July 1st, Google Analytics is transforming into a new product. The big change is that cookies will no longer be used.
Regardless of what you think about the new GA4, millions of websites are migrating to the new version this week (and many more are looking for alternatives).
That means there’s opportunities for new monitoring, reporting, and integration tools to be built.
💬 Quote: Founders that can take care of themselves
Paul Graham has worked closely with thousands of early stage founders through Y Combinator. He said that if you can take care of yourself, your startup is likely on its way to success.
I’d add that your investors will be more excited to help you if you don’t think you’ll need their help every step of the way (funny how that works, isn’t it?).
🔗 Links of the Week
Founders Fund GP Sam Blond shared how to scale revenue faster (Link)
Brett Adcock shared the playbook he used to raise hundreds of millions (Link)
Great breakdown on why seed valuations haven’t fallen despite less later stage venture activity (Link)
Steve Jobs on the importance of saying no to good ideas (Link)
I shared some of my favorite books for founders (Link)
Alexis Ohanian shared how to build a thriving community (Link)
💡 How I Can Help
Here are 2 ways for me to help you close your fundraise, find PMF, or accelerate growth:
Here are 3 ways for me to help you close your fundraise, find PMF, or accelerate growth:
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