Good ideas are commonplace. Good ideas that look terrible are rarer, but they are where the real value is: that’s what your competitors are overlooking — What do we talk about when we talk about innovation? The word innovation itself means “the introduction of something new.” But that’s not what we want: infinite new things are possible, most of which wouldn’t make any sense. Most people at this moment point out that innovation also has to…

There is a honeymoon phase with new ideas. Making commitments at this stage is very risky. Here’s how this works and how to avoid trouble. — Who hasn’t had a new idea pop up, in the shower or while shopping, and seem like the greatest in the world? This is common enough that it has become a trope. And this is great, don’t get me wrong! …

Many companies get stalled by indecision when faced with lots of options. This can be fatal — but there are simple tools to get you out of that logjam. — I recently read The Bell Jar, a phenomenal novel by Sylvia Plath, made that much more touching by the tragic circumstances of the book’s author. I would recommend you check it out. Alternatively, you can stay here and watch as I defile this beautiful work of art by making a…

In most companies, product discussions are about features. But features are bricks in a wall, a means to an end. What matters is what you build with them. — Talk about product with almost any company, and the questions are going to be: what are you building? How is it going to look like? When are you going to ship it? I’m going to argue here that talking about features isn’t helpful. Any company has an infinite number of…

Most successful startups had near-death experiences. When listening to them, we should keep in mind that luck played a role in their success. — Read about any successful startup, and chances are you’ll find that moment when the company was days from bankruptcy but was saved in the nick of time by courageous management and employees. …

Ever feel like you’re doing stuff and yet not moving forward? Dwight Eisenhower has tips to help get out of that situation. — Leonard: Wait, what have you been doing for the past six months? Rajesh: You know, checking email, updating my Facebook status, … The Big Bang Theory, Season 3, Episode 4 If you’ve ever spent a day doing things, and yet not getting anywhere, Raj’s feeling in The Big Bang Theory…

For anyone thinking of starting a company, Paul Graham’s essays are must reads. Here is a list of my favorite ones, with some key insights. — Many people became famous by starting successful companies. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs are all household names. It is much more unusual to become famous in the startup ecosystem, by investing in, or otherwise supporting startups-but Paul Graham did just that.

The propagation of a product, an idea, or a disease, follows a well-defined trend. For startuppers, understanding it gives an edge when working to maximize growth. — This article has been written in collaboration with Dimitri Bozovic, who has written extensively about Spotify’s and Snapchat’s valuations. He also happens to be my brother. Check out the four charts below. Not looking at the axes, the curves are eerily similar, aren’t they? What are they?

In startups as in poker, it’s all about knowing when to fold, call or raise. Even if startuppers don’t use these words, the world of poker has a lot to teach us. — There is a great quote by Sam Altman from his first lecture in the How to Start a Startup course: “The outcome [of a startup] is something like idea x product x execution x team x luck, where luck is a random number between zero and ten thousand. …