The Startup Chat With Steli And Hiten

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to get unstuck when you’re trying to complete a project. Sometimes when we’re trying to complete a project or a task, we may get stuck at some stage and not know how to get past it. This is very common and not knowing how to get past this can reduce your productivity or cause frustration. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what causes people to become stuck, tips that can help you get unstuck and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 About Brain.fm and how it can help you focus. 03:00 The first tip that can help you get unstuck. 04:39 How doing this one tip can raise your confidence. 04:45 Hiten’s number one way to get unstuck. 05:09 Another thing Hiten does to get unstuck. 07:06 Another thing that helps Hiten gets unstuck. 08:51 How getting in the mode of getting things done can help you get unstuck. 09:45 An example of how to get into a flow.  3 Key Points: I’ll reach out to people that I k

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to know if your conversion rates are good or not. In the startup world, it’s very common for founders to get hung up on benchmarks, conversion rates and so on, that they lose focus on what really matters - testing and optimization. There are just too many variables that affect the results that it is impossible to know what a good conversion rate for your business is until you’ve tested things out. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about benchmarks, how knowing the right benchmarks depends on a number of criteria. how different variables can affect benchmarks and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 03:00 How knowing the right benchmarks depends on a number of criteria. 03:39 Why ranges don’t matter. 04:10 Why you should look inside your business not outside it. 05:00 How different variables can affect benchmarks. 05:15 Why you should benchmark yourself. 06:39 The importance

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on sleep for founders. Being a startup founder can be very stressful, and It’s very common for founders to struggle with sleep. Not getting enough sleep can not only affect your productivity, but it can also be detrimental to your health. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how founders tend to struggle with sleep and some challenges that keeps founders up at night, how there’s a science to sleep and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 02:44 How founders tend to struggle with sleep. 02:57 Why some founders struggle with sleep. 03:11 One main challenge that keeps founders up at night. 04:07 Another challenge that keeps founders up at night. 05:42 How some founders feel like they need to outwork others 06:18 How there’s a science to sleep. 07:32 Tips for getting better sleep. 08:48 How everyone has trouble sleeping. 3 Key Points: Make sure you don’t rely on one big cus

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about launching a starter plan. Recently, the team at Close.com introduced a Starter Plan for their software - a plan that’s designed for 1 - 3 person teams and costs $35 a month. This comes after years of focusing on bigger companies and charging a lot more for their CRM In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk dive into why Close decided to introduce a starter plan, one of the main philosophies at Close, how fear preventing the team from introducing a lower priced plan and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 02:20 Why Close decided to introduce a starter plan. 03:11 One of the main philosophies at Close. 03:38 How Close discourages certain companies from buying their product. 04:21 How Close’s reach grew over the years. 07:55 How fear preventing the team from introducing a lower priced plan. 08:43 How Close is now ready to support smaller customers. 10:00 How a lot of companies focus on sta

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to deal with your employee's side project. When an employee begins a side project, it’s easy to think that that project will affect his or her productivity. However, this is not always the case and in fact, doing a side project can actually increase the productivity of an employee. In this episode, Steli and Hiten how to decide if an employee should be allowed to do a side project, examples of side projects that are ok, the difference between a side project and a hobby and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:20 Why this topic was chosen. 02:20 Hiten’s take on this issue. 03:44 Redlines to look out for. 04:50 Examples of side projects that are ok. 05:22 Why your priorities should be your work. 05:40 The difference between a side project and a hobby. 06:41 What side hustle means to Steli. 07:50 Why running a side startup can affect an employee’s productivity. 10:46 Why the discipline of an employee

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why focus is so important and how to get more of it. If you’re going to be successful at anything, then staying focused on that thing is super important. If you lack focus in your life or your business, it is a safe bet to say that you will not succeed with your mission.   In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why staying focussed is super important, tips to help you stay focused, they share a mental hack to help you when you feel stuck.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:41 Why this topic was chosen. 01:00 About Brain.fm and how it can help you focus. 02:15 One way Hiten stays focussed when working. 03:21 The importance of staying focused. 03:29 One thing you can do to stay focused. 04:40 Another thing that can help you stay focused. 05:29 How accomplishing your big task can be a challenge. 06:45 A mental hack to help you when you feel stuck.  3 Key Points: Without focus, nothing gets done.Music can help you

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to increase your productivity. If there's one thing founders struggle with a lot, it's being productive. With all the distractions of social media, mobile gaming, and the internet, in general, staying productive at work can be a challenge, and this can have a negative impact on your startup. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what it means to be productive, how to define productivity for the role you’re in, tips for being more productive. and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:50 How being productive makes Steli happy. 03:42 Why it’s a good idea to consciously review your day, week or month. 04:10 What some of Hiten’s most productive days look like. 05:00 How to define productivity for the role you’re in. 05:35 Why Hiten works a lot on weekends. 06:01 The different angles to productivity. 06:37 Tips for being more productive. 07:14 How to measure productivity as a

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how we’re all dreaming of our own realities. Sometimes, we tend to dwell too much on past experiences that we don’t enjoy the moment that we live in. This can make us unproductive and lead to so many of the issues and uncertainties we encounter in life. In today’s episode of the show, Hiten’s theory about how every experience we have is all a dream, how holding on to memories of that past can diminish our future experiences, why you should figure out where your primary focus is in your thinking and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:38 Why this topic was chosen. 02:51 Hiten’s theory about how every experience we have is all a dream. 03:47 One way to test this theory. 06:03 How holding on to memories of that past can diminish our future experiences. 07:49 A killer quote by Erich Maria Remarque. 08:30 When Hiten typically brings up this concept. 10:45 3 ways people tend to look at the world. 11:52 Why you should figure out where

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to become a customer-first company. The startup world is very competitive. One way to stand out is to build a customer-centered culture at your company. This is the key to surviving the modern business environment.  In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why everybody in the company should be obsessed with the customer, how to create a culture around customer-obsession at your startup, why you need to hire people who are customer-obsessed and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 02:20 Why everybody in the company should be obsessed with the customer 02:44 One way to create a culture around customer-obsession. 04:16 Another way to create a culture around customer-obsession. 05:17 Why the best way to be customer-obsessed is to be the customer. 06:03 Why you need to spend time with your customers. 09:04 Why you need to hire people who are customer-obsessed. 09:28 On

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about what to do if your clients and customers are not paying you or paying too late. When you provide your services to a client, you expect to be paid for it. But sometimes, clients pay very late or worse, don’t pay at all, and it’s important to know how to handle a situation like this if it arises at your startup. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why you shouldn’t rely on one big customer, the first thing to do when a customer doesn’t pay, how to prevent this from happening and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 01:44 Why you shouldn’t rely on one big customer. 02:25 The first thing to do when a customer doesn’t pay. 03:40 What it’s like working with big companies. 05:37 Things you could do when this happens. 06:10 How to prevent this from happening. 07:14 Why you should ask for payment upfront. 08:47 How cash is king and key to a successful business. 10:10 Why having a great

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about product/market fit of popular products. Product/Market Fit is a common concept that is used a lot in the startup world. According to Marc Andreessen “Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” Understanding this concept is hugely important because when your users understand and use your product enough to recognize it’s value, it is a huge win for your startup. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what product/market fit means, what Hiten's new show is all about, where to check out the new show and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 02:00 What Hiten's new show is all about. 03:03 One thing that gets Hiten really excited about the new show. 04:57 Steli’s reaction to the new show. 05:05 Where to check out the new show. 06:11 One interesting thing about the research that was done for the show. 07:29 The second interesting

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the brand new remote work report. Working remotely is on the rise these days, and while being able to work from outside of a company’s office has been possible for a while, working remotely is only now becoming mainstream. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about the remote work report that was conducted by the FYI team, key lessons that were learned from creating the report, some interesting statistics about remote working and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 01:38 Hiten dives into what the report is. 02:25 How to download the report. 03:46 One of the key lessons learned from creating the report. 03:19 Some interesting stats about remote working. 04:26 Some challenges of remote working. 05:22 How remote working helps you learn to deal with yourself. 06:55 Why discipline is super important when working remotely. 09:06 How a lack of discipline can be detrimental to remote wor

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to hire service providers for your startup. Choosing the right service provider to work with for your startup can be quite challenging, especially if you haven’t worked with one in the past. You may be lucky and get it right the first time, but it’s highly likely that you’ll go through a couple before finding the perfect match.  In today’s episode of the show, what it’s like working with service providers, tips to help you choose the right service provider, why you should do background checks when choosing a service provider and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:38 Why this topic was chosen. 03:30 Steli previous experience with working with service providers. 05:12 How you never know what you’re going to get with a service provider. 07:08 Why a service provider should always know more about their specialty than you do. 07:35 Tips to help you choose the right service provider. 08:02 A case when hiring a service provider we

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why hacks are not enough for growth anymore. Growth hacking is a term that is used a lot in the startup world, but what does it really mean and what should you really care about when it comes to measuring it? In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what growth hacking means, how the term growth hacking came about, things to avoid when it comes to growth hacking and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 01:56 Why this topic was chosen. 02:24 How the term growth hacking came about. 03:41 Things to avoid when it comes to growth hacking. 04:00 The biggest mistake I think people make. 04:47 The best subject line hack. 06:01 How lying is a very bad idea when creating subject lines. 06:44 Why the open rate is not the end goal. 08:39 Hiten’s number one growth hack. 08:58 The real question to be asking about growth hacking. 3 Key Points: The biggest mistake I think people make is not looking at the entire cust

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about due diligence during fundraising. The fact is, no investor in their right mind is going to invest money in a startup that has sketchy numbers. Investors will want to know everything about how your business is doing and if you can give them the answers they need then that can kill the deal.  In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what due diligence is, how it can happen, what fundraising is about and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:36 Why this topic was chosen. 01:41 How due diligence can happen. 02:10 The problem with due diligence. 03:00 What fundraising is about. 04:07 How due scrambling during the due diligence process can ruin your confidence. 05:06 Why your emotional state is the most important thing to manage during the process. 05:44 Why trust is super important. 06:19 How problems can arise when you scale. 06:55 The number one thing that founders tend to neglect. 3 Key Points: This is a place wher

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to deal with bullies as a founder.  If you’re in sales, you’re going run into a prospect that is unreasonably aggressive. This typically tends to overwhelm most sales people and can lead to submission and overreaction by the sales person.  In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how most people see bullies, the main reason why bullies are over-aggressive, how people’s childhood affects how they act and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:40 Why this topic was created. 01:37 How most people see bullies. 03:04 How are bullies are just afraid themselves. 03:46 The main reason why bullies are over-aggressive. 04:03 How to deal with bullies. 05:59 How Steli deals with bullies. 10:00 Hitens thoughts on bullies. 10:45 A tip that can help you deal with bullies. 11:41 How people’s childhood affects how they act. 3 Key Points: Once in a while you’ll run into a prospect that is unreasonably aggressive. I’ve l

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about startup money management. In the startup world, it’s very common for founders to overlook the significance of how their money is managed. Properly managing your startup’s financing is super important and not doing so can have serious consequences for your startup. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what money management means, why you should take money management seriously, how to deal with upfront revenue and much more.  Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 What money management means. 01:40 What money management is all about. 02:43 How to deal with upfront revenue. 04:11 The best money management advice for new startups. 05:53 Why you should take money management seriously. 07:15 How founders run into money management issues. 10:31 Our first sponsor. 10:46 Why you shouldn’t do your own accounting. 11:30 About Pilot.com. 3 Key Points: If someone pays you upfront for a year, how do you recognize that revenu

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to listen & learn from those with less success than you. Getting advice from people is taking that feedback is a key part of growing both personally and professionally. Being receptive to people’s opinions helps strengthen the relationships we have with them and gives us a different perspective on that topic.  In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how you can learn from anybody and everybody, what Hiten cares about when he asks for advice from people, examples of people not to listen to and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:41 Why this topic was chosen. 02:30 How you can learn from anybody and everybody. 05:15 What Hiten cares about when he asks for advice from people. 05:38 Worst thing that can happen when you listen to people opinion. 06:59 People that Hiten doesn’t listen to. 07:17 Examples of people not to listen to. 07:55 A weakness of Steli. 09:33 People Steli loves listening to. 3 Key Points: Y

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about comparing yourself with other founders & startups. It’s common for some founders to compare themselves and their startups with other founders and startups. ,and doing so is never a good thing. The moment we start comparing ourselves to other people's apparent success, most of the time, we all lose. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why comparing yourself to others is never a good thing, why you need self-awareness and self-acceptance to get to self-improvement, how a lot of founders are so insecure about who they are and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:45 Why this topic was chosen. 02:02 Hiten’s point of view about founders comparing themselves. 03:23 The importance of self-awareness. 04:00 Steli trying to emulate Steve Jobs. 05:24 Why you need self-awareness and self - acceptance to get to self-improvement. 05:47 How a lot of founders are so insecure about who they are. 06:26 How lack

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to run marketing experiments when you’re just starting out. As a founder, you need to run experiments in order to find out what will work for your startup. However, most marketing experiments are done wrong, and this can lead to failures, demotivation or can cost you a lot of money. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how to run marketing experiments the right way, why having a goal super important when you run experiments, why comparing a startup to a big company is not helpful and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 02:20 What marketing means to Hiten. 02:46 Why having a goal super important. 03:01 Why comparing a startup to a big company is not helpful. 03:42 Why trying complicated strategies too early is a bad idea. 06:20 Why you should try doing things that are easier to pick up. 06:50 How Hiten approaches marketing. 08:10 Why you should listen to episode 30 of the po