All Posts: ‘Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed’

Words of Wisdom for Non-Technical Co-Founders (via Sam Altman)

by Scott Edward Walker on May 16th, 2021

To Our Clients & Friends:  Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Every few weeks we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we again present Sam Altman, the former President of Y Combinator and the CEO of OpenAI.

In this brief interview (from a few years back), Sam shares some solid advice for non-technical founders trying to launch a technical startup, including the following:

  • In order to succeed as a non-technical founder, “you have to be able to convince really good technical people to follow you.” (at 0:38)
  • If you’re not going to be technical, you have to be great at product and be a great leader.” (at 0:43)
  • “I would not start a company with somebody I didn’t already know.” (at 1:18)
  • “And I wouldn’t start a company with someone I hadn’t worked with on some project either.” (at 1:28).

I hope it’s helpful.  Cheers, Scott

More Words of Wisdom from Jeff Bezos

by Scott Edward Walker on February 7th, 2021

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week or two, we post a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we again present Jeff Bezos, an extraordinary entrepreneur. 

In this brief clip, Jeff shares some solid advice for entrepreneurs and founders: “You need a combination of stubborn relentlessness and flexibility – and you have to know when to be which.” I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott

More Words of Wisdom from Steve Jobs

by Scott Edward Walker on December 10th, 2020

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Every few weeks we share a short video clip of a successful founder, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present an old interview of Steve Jobs discussing the importance of quality.  My favorite quote: “We need to get back to the basics and go improve our products and services.”  I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott

Words of Wisdom from Geoff Ralston

by Scott Edward Walker on September 13th, 2020

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Every few weeks we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Geoff Ralston, the President of Y Combinator and a very solid former entrepreneur.  

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Jack Ma

by Scott Edward Walker on July 26th, 2020

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Kevin Systrom

by Scott Edward Walker on June 21st, 2020

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Every few weeks, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Kevin Systrom, the co-founder and former CEO of Instagram.

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Sam Altman

by Scott Edward Walker on February 29th, 2020

To Our Clients & Friends:  Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Every few weeks we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Sam Altman, the former President of Y Combinator and the CEO of OpenAI

In this interesting blog post, Sam shares some solid nuggets for founders, including the following: 

  • “The most counterintuitive secret about startups is that it’s often easier to succeed with a hard startup than an easy one.”
  • “The most precious commodity in the startup ecosystem right now is talented people, and for the most part talented people want to work on something they find meaningful.”
  • “If people care about your success because you seem committed to doing something significant, it’s a background force helping you with hiring, advice, partnerships, fundraising, etc.”

And below is an old clip for non-technical founders, with the following advice: “It’s very hard…to have a company [succeed] with no technical founders; it’s not impossible, but it’s a significant headwind.”  I would also add that it’s very difficult to raise seed funds from sophisticated investors if your company is a tech startup and you have no technical founders (i.e., all the development is being outsourced).

 

Fundraising 101: Words of Wisdom from Aaron Harris

by Scott Edward Walker on November 3rd, 2019

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week or two, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Aaron Harris, a partner at Y Combinator.

(more…)

How Much Equity Should You Give Your Cofounder? (via Michael Seibel)

by Scott Edward Walker on June 30th, 2019

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week (or two), we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Michael Seibel, CEO and a partner at Y Combinator

(more…)

Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed via Goldman Sachs

by Scott Edward Walker on April 14th, 2019

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post our favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present short clips from a number of successful business leaders and entrepreneurs via Goldman Sachs.

(more…)

More Words of Wisdom from Elon Musk

by Scott Edward Walker on March 16th, 2019
(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Vinod Khosla

by Scott Edward Walker on January 27th, 2019

(more…)

More Words of Wisdom from Jeff Bezos

by Scott Edward Walker on October 21st, 2018

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Travis Kalanick

by Scott Edward Walker on October 6th, 2018

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Travis Kalanick, a brilliant entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of Uber.

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Sam Altman

by Scott Edward Walker on September 3rd, 2018

To Our Clients & Friends:  Welcome to our series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week (or two), we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Sam Altman, the President of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI.

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Jack Dorsey: Choosing Your Investors

by Scott Edward Walker on July 29th, 2018

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and CEO of Twitter and Square.

(more…)

Motivational Clips for Entrepreneurs: “No More Negative Folks”

by Scott Edward Walker on May 20th, 2018

Welcome to our weekly series “Motivational Clips for Entrepreneurs.”  Each week, we share a favorite video clip to inspire and motivate entrepreneurs.  Why?  Because we know how tough it is being an entrepreneur or founder — and whether you’re launching your startup, trying to iterate on your business model or raising funds, you need a little juice to help you push the ball forward.  I hope these videos are a little juice.  Cheers, Scott

More Words of Wisdom from Jeff Bezos

by Scott Edward Walker on February 11th, 2018

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a favorite video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon and a truly extraordinary entrepreneur.

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Sam Altman

by Scott Edward Walker on January 6th, 2018

(more…)

More Words of Wisdom from Steve Jobs

by Scott Edward Walker on October 28th, 2017

(more…)

More Words of Wisdom from Elon Musk

by Scott Edward Walker on September 30th, 2017

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Jessica Livingston

by Scott Edward Walker on September 9th, 2017

(more…)

More Words of Wisdom from Marc Andreessen

by Scott Edward Walker on August 6th, 2017

(more…)

Words of Wisdom from Elon Musk: Launching a Startup

by Scott Edward Walker on July 2nd, 2017

Elon Musk v2

(more…)

Recruiting 101 for Tech Startups via Steve Jobs

by Scott Edward Walker on April 30th, 2017

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a short video clip of a successful founder, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we again present Steve Jobs, who discusses the importance of hiring “A players” (i.e., superstar employees) for your startup.  My favorite quote: “I found that when you get enough A players together… they really like working with each other… they don’t want to work with B and C players….”  I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott

p.s. Yesterday, I shared a Quora post via Twitter regarding recruiting (see http://bit.ly/2pJdVzX) and the following nugget: “[T]o be a great CEO, you need to find a way to force yourself to be a great recruiter.”