A lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of talking to your users. Product leaders and entrepreneurs write about it with good reason: If you don't talk to your users, you don't know how to solve their problems. Founders have two starting points: 1.

Calm the Fuck Down: A Founder’s Guide to Surviving Startups I’ve long wanted to write a book about startups. The working title? Calm the Fuck Down. It’s a mantra that I’ve needed to remind myself of repeatedly over the years, especially during the Wallaby days, and

This past Tuesday, January 7, a fire of unknown origin started in Eaton Canyon, a gateway to the Angeles National Forest at the eastern edge of my current hometown, Pasadena, CA. The fire exploded out of control, and while the damage assessment is ongoing, I am sure 10% or more

A joke: Q: What's your favorite type of VC? A: Ones that say "yes." An insightful answer: Q: What's your second favorite type of VC? A: Ones that say "no." I am enjoying operating a business without outside investors (nor plans to

Earlier this month, The Atlantic reported that "Substack has a Nazi Problem." On December 21st, co-founder Hamish McKenzie published a note on his platform with a clear answer: I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either—we wish no-one held those views.

It's been far too long since I wrote anything for my blog. Much of my writing efforts have gone into my substack, CardsFTW. My busy work life has also sapped much of my energy for writing here. It's once again time for a blog post about

Quibi is shutting down, and everyone has an opinion. While the Quibi debacle inspires this particular post, it isn't about Quibi. It's about the value of capital constraints. When you start a venture-backed company, you want to raise more money. Whatever amount of capital that you

In 2002 I spent a semester studying abroad in Adelaide, Australia. One of the classes I took at the University of Adelaide was an Introduction to Australian Politics. I enjoyed the course thoroughly; it led to me understanding the parliamentary system. One aspect of Australian politics that stood out to

We all know that having information and insights can allow you to make better business decisions. It can help you close deals, avoid time-wasting activities, and accelerate your business. I've noticed a particular information asymmetry in startups around what startup founders know about investors and what investors know

I've recently been in a lot of conversations about how school is going this fall. My children are starting their sixth week of virtual school for the year, and I don't expect them to return to in-person learning any time soon. I prefer to stay positive

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the death of expertise.I wrote about it two years on this blog, [https://matthewgoldman.com/startups-and-the-death-of-experience/] but it feels like something that comes up frequently. It is once again at the time of my mind during the COVID-19 pandemic

Today, we launched the first product from my new company, Vertical Finance [https://verticalfinance.com]. Many people have asked what we've been working on and it's a real pleasure to share it with you now. Reposting our welcome letter [https://wine.grandreserverewards.com/welcome-to-grand-reserve-rewards/] from Grand

A recent discussion online and several real-life conversations have had me considering the risks and rewards of founding startups as compared to being an early employee. Most of the conversation focuses on the financial risks and rewards of whether or not it is worthwhile to be an early startup employee.

Today I heard a statement that I am hearing frequently: "It's easier than ever to start a business." This statement is usually followed by some discussion of how great Amazon Web Services is or the cloud in general. The concept is that instead of spending lots

> Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy That Serves All Americans’ [https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans] This announcement by leading CEOs has certainly been a hot topic as of late. I have been asked my opinion a few times. If you haven't

Leadership requires being visible. We can discuss leading from in front versus leading from behind. We can also discuss leadership versus authority and many other interesting ways to discuss leadership. Through it all, however, I believe there is a requirement that as a leader you are visible. You have to

Ever since I've been in the professional workspace the open office design is all that I have known. For years now we have had research that shows that the open office is a trap [https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-open-office-trap]. As I think about how to build

As I've taken the past few months off, I have been having a lot of conversations with startup CEOs about product and product management roles. Some of this has been in the potential discussion of my joining their teams and some of which has been in more general