Great founders do many things well, and one of the things recently I’ve observed founders doing especially well is soliciting outside advice from other founders, investors, and advisors.
Especially in times of uncertainty, I find that gathering these additional perspectives can be extremely helpful to founders – but only if both sides have appropriate context for the conversation.
If I was running a company again and I was getting advice on nearly ANY problem I would make sure that I first started by sharing:
- Revenue
- Revenue growth rate
- Team size
- CaC and payback period
- Cash balance/runway
- Customer sentiment (both for my product and at a macro level)
Getting advice on hiring? Or maybe GTM strategy? Or undertaking a rebrand? Or how many markets to open next year? Or when to fundraise?
All of this advice, especially in a capital-constrained market, needs to take into account the underlying economics of the business and runway.
Other founders, investors, and advisors can be great sources of advice, but only when they have the most timely context for your company.