from the notebook
Insights.
Hard-won lessons from 15+ years of building products. No theory, no frameworks — just what actually works and what doesn't.
Article
Why Most MVPs Fail Before Launch
90% of the time, the problem happened before a single line of code was written. They built the wrong thing.
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Article
The Build Trap Founders Fall Into
The belief that the next feature will fix everything. That if you just add one more thing, suddenly customers will show up. They won't.
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Article
How to Know If Your Dev Team Is Building the Wrong Thing
You're paying developers $15k-$30k a month. The standups sound great. But something feels off. Here's how to confirm it.
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Case Study
How a Founder Avoided Wasting $120k on the Wrong Product
He had a dev shop lined up. $120k quoted. He was ready to wire the deposit. Then we talked to 30 restaurant owners.
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Article
Your Dev Team Doesn't Work for You
Your developer's job isn't to make you happy. It's to make your customer happy. Most founders get this backwards.
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Article
The Only Phase That Matters
There are four phases to every project. Most founders skip the first one entirely and wonder why nothing works.
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Article
You're Not Ready to Scale
You formed the business. You built the product. You're ready to grow, right? No. You skipped a step.
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Article
First, Sell Once
Figure out how to sell. Then sell repeatedly. Then consistently. Then at scale. Then at margin. Most founders start at step 4.
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Article
Stop Following the Founder
The worst thing your team can do is exactly what you tell them. Because you might be wrong.
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