Daily Productive Sharing 1249 - Lessons From The First Startup

One helpful tip per day:)

When Jacob Bartlett first entered the workforce, he joined a startup—and his 11-month stint taught him some tough, unforgettable lessons:

1. If a startup has been running for a while with no product launch in sight, ask yourself whether the team truly has the conviction to ship.
2. Even if everyone is motivated, if your cofounder isn’t clearly a top-tier player, the odds of breakout success are slim (though you'll probably still learn a lot).
3. If your equity deal requires you to take out a loan in order to receive dividends, that’s just code for you’re funding the company yourself. Run.
4. Startups boil down to two things: building product and selling it. If you don’t know what your cofounder is doing all day, trust your engineering gut.
5. Pitch competitions are often a waste of time. Real validation comes from talking to users and shipping fast—not dazzling a panel of judges.
6. Building a marketplace startup is extra hard: you need to create supply and demand at the same time.
7. And a final red flag: if you barely got vetted before being hired, ask yourself—are they excited about your skills, or just happy you’re the first person willing to work for free?

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Jacob Bartlett 刚踏入职场的时候，加入了一家初创公司。那段11个月的经历带给他不少血泪教训：

1. 如果一家初创公司长时间运营却迟迟没有产品上线，要考虑这个团队是否真的有决心。
2. 即使你们都很有动力，如果你的联合创始人并不是明显的“顶尖选手”，那么公司获得巨大成功的概率也很低（不过你可能依然会学到很多）。
3. 如果你的股权分配需要你“先掏钱贷款才能分红”，那实际上是要求你用自己的钱投资。赶紧跑！
4. 创业公司只有两件事：做产品和做销售。如果你不知道联合创始人每天在干嘛，就相信你的“代码直觉”。
5. 初创公司路演大赛大多是浪费时间——真正的验证来自于和用户交流、快速迭代，而不是让评委眼前一亮。
6. 做双边市场（marketplace）型初创公司通常被认为是最难的，因为你需要同时建立两个市场。
7. 还有一个危险信号是：如果你自己没怎么被考察就被录用，要思考对方到底是看重你的实力，还是因为你是第一个愿意免费干活的工程师。

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