Idea to Startup

Today, we'll lay out a framework to help you identify and kill bad ideas. It's hard to objectively evaluate your idea early on - this framework helps you rise above your idea to do it effectively. A side-effect is that the framework will help you find and pursue the good ideas.

We talk through 1) Finding and Evaluating the Real Risk, 2) Predicting Organic Growth Potential, and 3) Predicting the Likelihood of Converting Early Customers, using a startup idea from a listener as an example. 
Tacklebox
Kunal Shah Delta 4
Dig out of a Hole Idea to Startup Episode - The Four Characteristics of Great Startup Ideas
00:25 - Killing Bad Startup Ideas
02:00 - The Three Pillars of the Will Your Idea Fail Framework
02:45 - The Startup Idea - AI Messaging for Plumbers and Electricians
03:15 - Dig out of a Hole Markets link to episode
05:56 - Smooth Jazz
06:24 - Part 1 - How to Find and Evaluate the Real Risk
07:35 - Flipping your biggest risk to your biggest strength
11:00 - Decisions aren’t made in a bubble
13:45 - Part 2 - Predicting the Organic Growth Potential
14:00 - Kunal Shah Delta 4 Scale
17:41 - Part 3 - Predicting whether you’ll actually be able to get first customers to convert
18:49 Managed by Q

A 20(ish) minute skills episode on sales 101 for entrepreneurs who hate sales. We go through three tactics and a bunch of examples to help you build a system for sales that'll help you grow without making you feel slimy. We set up sales for a sabbaticals as a service startup. And we talk through why entrepreneurs hate sales and how to reframe the whole thing.
Tacklebox (Code WINTER2025)
Text Expander
Streak
Pipedrive

Today we'll talk about why people hand their keys over to random strangers on the street in New York City, how a person selling cures for baldness converts 80% of the people he speaks with, and how you can build a strategy to cultivate trust with your customers, too.
Tacklebox (20% off with code WINTER2025)

Today we talk about two methods to help make your big startup plans for 2026 manageable. We borrow Short Assignments and Shitty Drafts from Anne Lamott, we get a little help from Martin Scorsese and a Bronx Tale, and we talk through a startup that's helping 40 year olds deal with loneliness. All in like 14 minutes. Not bad. 
Tacklebox WINTER2025 for 20% off
Bird by Bird
The To Do List Monster
The Saddest Thing In Life
 
00:00 Tacklebox
00:28 Actionable Motivation
01:08 How to Actually Take a Swing at Your Potential
04:15 The Two Best Ways to Make Progres
05:59 The One-Inch Picture Frame
10:20 Shitty Drafts
12:55 The End: The Saddest Thing In Life

Today, we'll talk through how you'll find customers in-person. This is the single most important acquisition tool for early-stage founders, and there's no excuse - any business targeting any customer can do it. We use a few Tacklebox examples and give you a framework to make it happen. 
 
Tacklebox CODE "HOLIDAY2025" for 50% off month one)
Tacklebox Sunday Emails
Tally (online form builder)

Timestamps:
00:45 Your In-Person Growth Strategy Intro
01:30 Cropped
04:20 For the People Who Can’t Do In-Person
05:26 Your In-Person Acquisition Plan: A Date Wingman
07:34 Places to Find Hard to Find Customers
09:54 The Script
11:42 The Media
12:32 The End