What we did, and a playbook for how you can do the same. — If you have a product idea, stop sitting around and start executing I bet you can get the ball rolling this very weekend and start validating (or invalidating) your idea, begin capturing interested customers, and even start testing willingness to pay. At the onset of building Brainfood, we moved very quickly. Once the value proposition was hammered out, we doubled down on…

I want to become an inventor when I grow up! (Click here for a list of my favorite design tools!) I made this conclusion as early as I can remember. From age 5, my sketchbooks were filled with every wacky gadget, from multifunctional antenna laden brick phones to super top secret spy vehicles (so embarrassing). Many years later I found myself stuck and wondering: How on earth do I turn…

I spent the past month interviewing over 30 famous content creators. Here’s what I learned. — I’m building the Creator Playground on my mission to help content creators on their journey from 0 to 1 million followers. As a startup founder, talking to these creators is the most important part of the process. My job is to dig into their journies and learn about their struggles…

You’ll learn on someone else’s dime, acquiring a playbook you can use, and even improve upon. — An environment to observe, experiment, and make mistakes Before diving in headfirst with an idea of your own, you have to remember that a successful company rides on much more than a brilliant idea. The journey is long and arduous, and there are so many instances in which a company can either succeed or fail.

Brainfood might still be alive and prospering today if our confidence was focused on the problem, not our solution. — Founders walk a fine line between crazy and genius. You’ve heard it before. That in order to make something from nothing, you have to possess irrational, unshakable confidence in your idea, right? I spent the past 2.5 years building Brainfood and that confidence is what carried me through rejections from investors, lack of conviction from mentors, and the uphill…

I spent the past 2.5 years building Brainfood. My design foundation was a strength but also came with blind spots. — If you’re a designer, you’re already equipped with some of the most critical tools for building a company. You know how to build a damn good product. You understand the importance of customer discovery, talking to users, and the role it plays in the pursuit of product-market fit. These advantages…

Time (or lack thereof) is the most powerful constraint. — Time and capital are your two greatest constraints At the inception of building a company, I’d argue that time is the more critical of the two. Constraints are the most powerful tool for keeping you disciplined, accountable, and maintaining forward momentum. If you feel like you’ve just struck gold with a startup idea, your first instinct might be…

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — Brainfood was my fourth startup in the past 10 years. It was nothing short of a phenomenal journey and I still learned volumes. Lacking a co-founder turned out to be a major variable, and I’d love to give you four reasons to not go it alone. 1. You’ll never be the best at everything. As a designer, I…

If you have the funds for either option, consider the following. — Building your own van is obviously more cost-effective, but there are two big variables to consider: the value of your time (and how much spare time you have), and whether or not you’ll actually enjoy the process. Building something physical and complex isn’t for everyone, and it might not be…