Concepts
Every idea, one page. Simple explanation first, then the detail.
🌱 Foundations
What is a startup?
A startup is a new business searching for a model that works, under a lot of uncertainty.
The five parts of every business
Every business does five things: create value, market it, sell it, deliver it, and manage the money.
Bootstrapping & staying small
Building a business with your own money and customer revenue instead of investors.
🔍 Validation
Customer discovery
Go and talk to real potential customers to check that the problem you want to solve actually exists.
The Mom Test
Ask customers about their real life and past behaviour — never 'do you like my idea?'.
Lean Canvas
A one-page startup plan that starts with the problem, not the product.
Fake-door & smoke tests
Test demand before building by offering something that doesn't exist yet and measuring who tries to get it.
🛠️ Product
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The smallest version of your product that lets you learn whether you're on the right track.
Product-market fit
When you've built something a real market badly wants — and you can feel the pull.
Jobs to Be Done
People don't buy products — they 'hire' them to get a job done in their life.
Habit-forming products (the Hook)
Products become habits through a loop: trigger, action, variable reward, investment.
Product discovery & the four risks
Before building, check four risks: will they buy it, can they use it, can we build it, and does it work for the business?
The design sprint
A five-day process to go from a big question to a tested prototype with real customers.
♟️ Strategy
Business Model Canvas
A one-page map of how your business creates, delivers and earns money from value.
Monopoly vs competition
The best businesses avoid crowded fights by dominating a small market nobody else serves well.
Blue ocean strategy
Instead of fighting rivals in a crowded market, create a new space where competition doesn't matter yet.
Network effects
A product has network effects when each new user makes it more valuable for everyone else.
Disruptive innovation
Newcomers win by starting with simpler, cheaper products for customers the big players ignore — then moving up.
Strategic inflection points
Moments when the rules of your industry change so much that you must transform or decline.
🎯 Sales & Marketing
Making an irresistible offer
Make your offer so valuable that saying no feels silly — by boosting results and cutting time and effort.
The principles of persuasion
Six shortcuts make people more likely to say yes: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity.
Consultative selling (SPIN)
Win bigger sales by asking smart questions that help the buyer see their own problem — before you pitch.
Negotiation with tactical empathy
Negotiate by deeply understanding the other side's feelings and view — not by splitting the difference.
Positioning
Positioning is making it obvious who your product is for and why it's the best choice for them.
Start with why
People are inspired by why you do something before what you do — so lead with your purpose.
Pricing on value
Set prices by what your product is worth to the customer, not just what it costs you.
Lead generation: the core four
There are four ways to let people know you exist: warm outreach, content, cold outreach and paid ads.
Clear messaging (customer as hero)
Make the customer the hero of the story and your brand the guide who helps them win.
📈 Growth
Traction channels
There are many ways to get customers. Test a few, then focus on the one that works.
Do things that don't scale
Early on, win users by hand and look after them personally — automation comes later.
One Metric That Matters
At each stage, pick the single number that best shows progress — and focus on it.
Crossing the chasm
Early fans love new things; the mainstream wants proven solutions. There's a gap between them.
Unit economics (LTV vs CAC)
Do you earn more from a customer over their lifetime than it costs to get them?
Blitzscaling
Growing extremely fast — choosing speed over efficiency — to win a big, winner-takes-most market.
💸 Funding
Fundraising basics
Raising money means selling part of your company. Understand the terms before you sign.
Term sheets, explained
A term sheet is a short document setting out the key terms of an investment before the legal paperwork.
Valuation basics
Early-stage valuation is a negotiation about price, driven by traction, team, market and competition between investors.
Angels vs VCs vs bootstrapping
Different money comes with different expectations — choose the kind that fits your business.
🧠 Productivity
🧭 Leadership
Managerial leverage
A manager's job is to multiply the team's output, not to do all the work themselves.
Work on your business, not in it
Build systems so the business runs without you doing every task.
OKRs: Objectives and Key Results
Set an inspiring goal and 3–5 measurable results that prove you got there.
Radical candor
Give feedback that shows you care personally while challenging people directly.
Making decisions under uncertainty
Judge decisions by the thinking behind them, not just the result — and watch out for your brain's shortcuts.
The flywheel
Big results come from many small pushes in the same direction, building unstoppable momentum.
First who, then what (hiring)
Get the right people on the team before deciding exactly where to go.
Wartime vs peacetime leadership
Calm times need a different leadership style from crises — know which one you're in.