The Startup Chat With Steli And Hiten

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the value of hype in your marketing campaign. In the startup world, it is common for a business to try to build some hype around a product that they are about to launch. However, this can leave a sour taste in the mouth of users, if the product doesn’t meet expectations, and it can hurt a brand In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how some companies are really good at being out there, the good and the bad kind of hype, how to separate hype from the quality of a product, and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:24 Why this topic was created. 02:00 Hiten’s thoughts on hyping your product. 02:40 How some companies are really good at being out there. 02:54 The bad kind of hype. 03:46 How to separate hype from the quality of a product. 03:59 How a great product will sell itself. 04:54 How there’s no perfect product. 05:40 There’s no such thing as a product that everybody loves. 06:39 How hyping is a balancing

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about meditation for founders. Meditation is an ancient practice that helps those who do it control their mind and consequently their lives. It’s a practice that is becoming increasingly common in the startup world and this isn’t surprising as meditation has many benefits. In this episode, Steli and Hiten they got into meditating, the different things you can experience when you meditate, how meditation is much more about being than doing and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:25 Hiten’s point of view on meditating. 02:24 How meditation is becoming common in the startup industry. 03:25 How meditation isn’t something you get good at. 04:30 How there’s a lot of different things that you can experience when you meditate. 05:28 How Steli got into meditation. 06:51 How hypnosis can be very directive. 11:58 How meditation is much more about being than doing. 10:10 How meditating

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about quantity versus quality when it comes to content marketing and marketing in general. In the startup world, it’s common saying that content is king. However, deciding whether if your content marketing strategy should be to push out tons of average content or just a handful of quality content can be tricky. And making this choice comes down to your content marketing goals. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why your goals matter more than anything else in content marketing, the various types of content marketing goals you could focus on and why you should focus on distribution first much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 01:50 Why your goals matter more than anything else. 01:55 The various types of content marketing goals you could focus on. 02:14 The importance of figuring out the worth of content to you. 02:21 How brand awareness could be a short term goal 03:05 How random cont

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to deal with Investor conflicts. Disagreements happen all the time between founders and investors, and these can affect your performance and that of the business as well. So it’s safe to say that how you handle these conflicts when they arise is super important to the success of the business. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into how why conflicts might arise between founders and investors, what to do if these conflicts arise, why you shouldn’t get too emotional when they do and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 03:50 Reasons why you might have a conflict with your investors. 04:32 What to do if you’ve got conflict with your investors. 05:08 The importance of making conflicts a business problem. 05:55 How to address investors you’ve got conflict with. 07:04 Why you shouldn’t be emotional about these things. 08:41 The first place to start when you’re trying to contai

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about mistakes people make when they ask for advice. Asking for advice can be a tricky thing. Often times, when asking someone is struggling with something, that person might not know exactly how to ask for it. Other times, that person might not be seeking new ideas but is rather looking for validation or an affirmation of a choice they’ve already made. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about some common mistakes people make when they ask for advice, how to ask people the right questions, why you shouldn’t give unsolicited advice and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 01:43 The first mistake people make when asking for advice. 01:56 The second mistake people make when asking for advice. 03:48 Why you should always take negative advice gracefully. 05:16 Why observations from other people are really valuable. 06:14 How to ask people the right questions. 07:02 The importance of meditatin

Today’s episode of The Startup Chat is a special one, in it, Steli asks for your help finding the right person for a job at his company, Close.io. Close.io is currently looking to hire a director of marketing for their team. This is as a result of the growth and scaling they are currently undergoing. While Steli has been talking to some amazing candidates, he’s decided to appeal to the Startup Chat community for help finding the right person for the job. In today’s episode, Steli talk about what they’re looking for at Close.io, the best and worst case scenario of recommending someone for the position, what Steli is going to do with what he learns from this experiment and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:24 Why this topic was created. 00:47 What Steli needs help with. 01:25 What Steli is looking for at Close.io 02:25 What to do if you know someone that fits the role. 02:33 The worst case scenario of recommending someone the Steli. 02:47 The best case scenario of recommending s

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why your biggest strength is your biggest weakness. Sometimes we think we’re really good at something but then, after some evaluation, we realize that we’re not as good in that thing as we thought we were. This could be a bad thing as our belief in our capability at something can turn out to be a huge weakness for us In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why our biggest strength is your biggest weakness, how Steli misses certain things about people, the importance of always trying to improve oneself and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 01:25 Steli realizing something about himself. 02:01 How Steli misses certain things about people. 03:22 How Hiten had similar experiences with Steli 03:36 One thing that Hiten is trying to change about himself. 04:34 How we are the stories we tell ourselves. 04:58 How Hiten is not great at understanding people. 05:58

In today’s episode of the startup chat, Steli and Hiten talk about 4 lessons for podcasters after 400+ podcasting episodes. Today’s episode is a special one. After over 400 episodes of hosting the Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten share the biggest lessons they’ve learned from the experience. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why it’s important to do your research on guests on your show, the importance of making your podcast conversational, why consistency is king when it comes to podcasting and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:50 Why this topic was chosen. 02:14 The first tip for podcasters. 02:41 Why it’s important to do your research on guests on your show. 03:07 The second tip for podcasters. 03:30 The importance of making your podcast conversational. 04:28 The third tip for podcasters. 05:06 Why consistency is king. 05:35 The fourth tip for podcasters. 06:00 The importance of finding your value proposition. 06:31 The final tip for podcasters. 3 Key Points: Do your r

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about personal finances for founders. One of the biggest mistakes founders make without realizing it, is neglecting to manage their own personal finances while they focus on starting, building and scaling their startups. This can be disastrous if it goes wrong as not paying attention to your own finances, ultimately slow down the development of your startup In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about common monetary situations founders find themselves in, recommendations on when to take a salary, the importance of having savings and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:50 Why this topic was chosen. 02:35 Common monetary situations founders find themselves in. 02:19 Hiten’s recommendations on if a founder should take a salary. 04:02 Why survival is your game if you haven’t raised money. 05:03 Steli’s advice on how to manage your finances. 06:37 When you can expect to see ROI. 06:58 The importance of having savings. 07:52

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to work successfully with designers. Working with a designer can be quite challenging, especially when you’re not a designer. From choosing one to giving them feedback on their work, to actually getting feedback from them. Managing your interaction with a designer requires some sort of skill. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into how to work with a designer when you’re not a designer, the importance of interviewing designers you want to work with, how to give feedback to a creative person and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:43 Why this topic was chosen. 03:03 How to work with creative people. 03:17 The helpfulness of a portfolio. 03:52 The importance of interviewing designers. 04:13 One of the biggest challenges of working with designers. 04:54 How to give feedback to a creative person. 05:41 How to treat designers at work. 06:00 How Hiten works with designers. 07:53 How to approach getting fe

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about identifying & focusing on growth customers. In the startup world, it’s common to want to prioritize customers that pay higher for your products, however focusing on these customers might not be the best way to optimize your business, as this customers might not necessarily be growing. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about what a growth customer is, the 2 types of money that come into any business, what is negative churn and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 01:00 Why this topic was chosen. 01:15 Who is a growth customer? 03:45 What is negative churn. 03:54 The 2 types of money that come into any business. 04:09 Why you need to identify your growth customers. 04:40 Why growth is a really crucial criterion to measure. 06:45 How identifying a growth customer can help you prioritize. 07:43 What companies are truly trying to do with their business. 3 Key Points: When most startups look at a customer, they just

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to create an ideal customer profile. Creating an ideal customer profile for your business is super important. It can help you build a better product, market it better and ultimately help you serve your customers better. But how detailed should you be when creating one of these? In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what an ideal client profile is, why you should create one for your business, tips on how to create a good one and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:24 Why this topic was chosen. 01:18 what is an ideal customer profile? 01:58 The goal of identifying your ideal client. 02:58 If you should pick an ideal client. 04:36 How understanding your ideal client can help you serve them better. 05:10 How companies sometimes misuse this concept. 06:10 How companies can use a customer profile. 07:15 If you should ignore a customer that doesn’t fit your profile. 07:37 Tips to help you crea

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to use documentation to get the right things done in a remote business. For your startup to run smoothly with no hiccups, it is crucial to document all your processes and have them followed by your team members. The importance of documentation is even more crucial in fully remote companies, as a lot can go wrong when everyone is not physically present. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why documentation of your process is super important, best practices and things to avoid when running a remote business and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:26 What inspired Steli to come up with this topic. 02:24 Best practices and things to avoid when running a remote business. 03:22 How FYI is solving a huge problem for remote companies 03:36 Why becoming disciplined in your writing efforts is a good idea. 05:50 How companies sometimes make the mistakes

In today’s episode of the Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about creating a new category as a startup. Sometimes in order to stand out in a highly competitive niche, it may be necessary to create a new category for your product. This strategy is sometimes known as resegmenting and can be quite rewarding when done right, as you can then become a leader in the category you created. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what resegmenting is, if you should implement it for your startup, how Hubspot resegmented blogging, how Drift resegmented content marketing and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:47 Why this topic was chosen. 02:01 If you should create a new category for your product. 02:19 How it’s much easier to be number one in the category you created. 02:51 How Hubspot resegmented blogging. 03:50 How Drift resegmented content marketing. 05:07 If resegmenting is something you should do for your startup. 06:20 The important thing to consider if you’re thinking about res

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how secretive you should really be with your ideas as a founder. The startup industry, it’s common for new founders to be super protective of their ideas. However, more experience founders understand that ideas are a dime a dozen, and execution is all that really matters.   In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into how secretive you should be with your ideas, wow the execution of an idea is what really matters, when to be protective of an idea and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:27 Why this topic was chosen. 01:33 How secretive you should be with your ideas. 01:46 How the execution of an idea is key. 02:33 The last time the guys worried about sharing an idea with anyone. 03:28 How being new to coming up with ideas tends to make you overprotect them. 03:51 How the value of execution has taken center stage in the startup world. 04:06 How valuable is an idea in today’s world. 04:17 When to be protective o

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to create and how to set clear expectations. In any relationship, whether professional or personal,  setting clear expectations is key to making sure that that relationship is successful or not. But knowing what is expected of us something a lot of people struggle with, and this can lead to a lot of headache at work or home. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how expectations are the birth of either success or failure of any endeavor, why it’s a good idea to set clear expectations and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 01:00 Why this topic was chosen. 04:00 How expectations are the birth of either sucess or failure of any endeavor. 04:05 Why it’s a good idea to set clear expectations. 05:10 How you can trace the root cause of a failure to a problem of expectation. 06:25 Why expectations are important. 07:27 Why people suck at knowing other people’s expectations. 09:30 Times when we don’t have expectati

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about your level of incompetence. Sometimes, situations arise when you are unable to handle a situation properly. This could be because you don’t have the skill sets to handle that situation or you’re unable to figure out how to handle said situation. In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what being incompetent means, why it’s important to figure out what’s causing you to be incompetent at managing a situation, how to deal with situations you feel incompetent about and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:29 Why this topic was chosen. 02:53 The definition of incompetence. 03:30 How you can be incompetent at one thing but competent at other things. 04:30 Why it’s important to figure out what to do when feeling incompetent at something. 06:00 An example of what incompetence can lead to. 07:31 How to deal with situations you feel incompetent about. 08:31 How not knowing how to manage people is a huge l

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how not to make dumb mistakes under pressure. It’s common in business to find ourselves in situations where we have to make our most important decisions under pressure. And this pressure could be as a result of a lack of time, emotional stress, or desperation. Most times, when we make decisions under pressure, it ends up being a bad decision. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why you shouldn’t make very important decisions under pressure, how to handle these kinds of situations why they arise and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 03:01 Why you should never refer a client that thinking of switching to one that's successfully switched. 08:10 Why you shouldn’t give references when you don’t control the message. 08:30 Why you should never ever think or say the words “I’m gonna roll the dice”. 09:33 How to handle decision making under pressure. 10:25

In today’s episode of the startup chat, Steli and Hiten talk about why Steli is always looking to understand the person behind the message. Sometimes when we receive a message, it difficult for us to understand the true meaning of that message. And one of the reasons why we don’t is because we lack context around who the messenger is and why they are saying what they are saying. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why it’s important to understand the person behind a message, how doing so can help you understand the message better and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:27 Why this topic was chosen. 03:41 Something Hiten and Steli have in common. 04:36 How Hiten researches new people. 05:01 Why Steli researches the people behind a message. 06:37 How Steli can’t respond to a message without context. 07:23 How finding something negative about a person could affect our ability to receive the message. 08:14 Why Hiten likes to understand the person behind the message. 09:20 How

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to create comparison pages to highlight the differences between you and your competitors. The startup industry can be super competitive, and buyers are continually looking for better solutions to their problems. One way to show potential customers that your product is better than your competitors is by creating a comparison page on your site. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into what a comparison page is, who it should be targeted at, the right time to create one and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:50 Why this topic was chosen. 01:36 Who to target your comparison pages at. 02:02 How these pages are for search engines. 03:45 Another target for your comparison pages. 04:40 One thing that puzzles Steli. 06:04 How to create a compelling comparison page. 07:53 What makes a comparison page compelling. 08:00 Why comparing features is a good thing. 09:49 When to create a comparison page. 3 Key Points: