The Startup Chat With Steli And Hiten

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how not to get ahead of yourself. Sometimes we tend to get ahead of ourselves when things are going well in our business, and this can be a bad thing as we tend to lose focus on what’s working and get distracted by what we could be doing. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how to contain your ambition when things are going very well in your business, they share specific examples of how we can get ahead of ourselves and talk about why it’s a good idea to chill out sometimes and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:31 Why this topic was chosen. 03:00 An example of how we can get ahead of ourselves sometimes. 04:05 Why it’s a good idea to chill out sometimes. 06:24 Why you shouldn’t worry about scaling at the early stages. 07:17 Why being small is ok in the beginning. 08:19 Issues you’ll have once you start scaling. 09:12 The importance of thinking about how to make things work. 10:36 A specific example of h

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the dangers and the downsides of being overprepared. Sometimes we tend to overprepare for a meeting that we screw it, meaning we research the other party a lot, and go into that meeting trying to impress them. This can be a bad thing, and can be as bad as being underprepared. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how to overpreparing is a bad thing, why you need to chill out a little bit, they share some tips that can help you prepare for a meeting and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:34 Why this topic was chosen. 01:33 Why you need to chill out a little bit. 03:27 How we don't like people that need to be liked. 04:21 An example of being over-prepared. 05:20 How VCs are good at evaluating people. 06:00 How you can be overprepared. 06:40 How most people are either over prepared or underprepared. 07:40 The cons of being underprepared. 3 Key Points: You need to chill the fuck out a little bit! We don't

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to define your identity. Trying to define who you truly are is one of life’s biggest struggles. Often, when we define ourselves, we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our identity or how we compare to other people around us. In today’s episode of the show, Steli and Hiten talk about how to define yourself, why Hiten tweet about this topic in the first place, they share some tips that can help you define yourself and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 About today’s topic 00:37 Why this topic was chosen. 01:26 What made Hiten tweet about this topic in the first place. 02:45 Things that shape your identity. 04:05 Why a lot of our titles are mostly just labels. 04:45 How to define yourself. 05:50 A core part of Steli’s identity. 06:53 How Hiten defines his identity. 08:15 How social media makes defining your identity much more difficult. 3 Key Points: Don’t try to find yourself, just define your self. There are certain parts of who I am an

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to make increasingly better choices in your life and your business. Decision making is one of the most difficult things that a human can do. People often say that they find it hard to make decisions. Unfortunately, we all have to make decisions all the time, and this could range from trivial issues like what to have for breakfast, right up to make or break decisions like who to hire in your business and so on. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thought on how to get better at decision making, why it’s important to figure out what you're basing your decisions on, how to choices that make you feel happy about and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:06 A bit of background into how this topic came up. 01:43 How a lot of our choices are made out of the fear of missing out on something. 03:03 Why it’s important to figure out what you're basing your decisions on. 0

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the importance of sleep and rest. As a founder, a good night's sleep is incredibly important for your health. In fact, it’s just as important as eating healthy and exercising. Unfortunately, the work and our environment can interfere with our natural sleep patterns and this can affect a founders performance. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on the importance of sleep and rest, their pre-sleep routines, why drinking water before going to bed is a good idea and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 03:01 How many hours of sleep Hiten gets on average. 04:40 Why you should do what works for your body. 04:54 How many hours of sleep Steli gets on average. 06:00 Hiten’s habits when it comes to going to sleep. 07:07 Hiten’s best pre-sleep routine. 07:38 Some things Hiten does before he goes to bed. 08:00 Why drinking water before going to bed is a good idea. 0

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about holding on to people who aren’t working out too long. One of the biggest mistakes founders make is holding on to a non-performing team member for too long. Doing so can be bad for the business, the team and for the non-performing team member as well. So it’s important to let people go if it’s not working out and do it at the right time. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about why hanging on to a non-performing team member is a bad idea, when the right time is to let them go, consequences of hanging on to a non-performing team member and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 02:36 What made Hiten tweet about this topic. 02:46 Why it’s bad to wait too long to let go of a team member. 03:04 How Hiten started the tweetstorm. 03:17 Consequences of hanging on to a non performing team member. 04:48 Why you should speak to team members about issues. 05:07 Why it’s bad for the non-performing

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how founders can avoid customer development mistakes. Customer development is a four-step framework for discovering and validating the right market for your idea. It is used by founders to build the right product features that solve customers’ needs and much more. Customer development is crucial to the success of a product, therefore it has to be done the right way. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into what  Customer development is, why it’s important, some common mistakes founders make when they do it and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:27 The biggest common mistake founders make. 02:56 Another common mistake founders make. 04:47 Why there are different types of product validation. 06:04 Why giving you money is a much stronger form of validation. 07:22 Another big mistakes founders make. 10:05 Why not being able to reach enough people is not an excuse. 10:44 Why y

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about what makes you truly come alive at work and why are you working. This episodes is a special episode of the show. Today Hiten and Steli ask what brings you alive at your workplace. They share with us what it is that brings them alive at theirs. Listen to the full episode to hear what brings Steli and Hiten alive at work, why it’s important to share this insight with the world and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 About today’s topic 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 02:14 What makes Steli come alive at work. 03:07 Another thing that makes Steli come alive. 03:55 What makes Hiten come alive at work. 05:53 The Hiten loves seeing things grow at work. 06:25 Thinking about what makes you come alive at work. 06:43 How to contact the hosts with your answer. 06:53 Why it’s useful to share these insights with the world. 3 Key Points: The bigger the change at work the more alive I become. The second best day is if I help somebody else change their mind.

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to hire people that are much more senior than you are. Sometimes when it’s time to hire new staff for your startup, you may be in a situation where you’re hiring people who are much more senior than you, both in terms of age and experience. It can feel intimidating when this happens, but it really shouldn’t be. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thought on how to hire people that are much more senior than you are, how to manage this situation, how this could be an opportunity for learning and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:30 Why this topic was chosen. 01:44 Hiten’s first response to the question. 02:43 How being a founder is management. 04:00 Why a big part of this struggle is a mindset thing. 06:01 Why hiring is no different than any other function of a business. 06:50 Why you shouldn’t put unnecessary pressure when it comes to managing this situation. 07:21 How unnecessary pressure

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to do sales when you’re a self-service product. When done right, the self-service model can be a great way to sell saas products. Leads come through your funnel, sign up for a trial and upgrade to a higher tier without you lifting a finger or hiring an expensive sales team. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what exactly the self-service model is, how to optimize your website for it, mistake that saas entrepreneurs make when it comes to optimizing for sales and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 02:22 How sales is approached at FYI. 02:50 Optimizing for sales at FYI. 03:27 An example of how to optimize for sales. 05:50 A mistake that saas entrepreneurs make when it comes to optimising for sales. 06:41 Why treating a free trial like a freemium product is a good idea. 07:41 Best places to optimise for sales. 07:55 Why you should invest in copywri

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about copywriting and writing good copy for startups. When it comes to marketing your startup, your copywriting is one of the most critical elements that could make or break your campaign. But what is copywriting? It consists of all the content that marketers use to try to get people to take an action after reading or hearing them. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what copywriting is, why it’s important, tips that can help you write better copy and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:47 Why this topic was chosen. 01:46 Why copy is important. 03:10 Why the copy you write is key to pulling people in. 04:43 Tips for improving your copy. 05:29 Why you should write copy with the customer in mind. 06:00 What makes good copy. 07:37 Examples of bad copy. 08:36 Another example of bad copy. 09:29 Why you should read your copy out loud. 09:23 One tip that can help you to write better copy. 3 Key Points: To me, copy is

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to design and write effective Calls-To-Actions (CTA). In the marketing world, a call to action is a prompt on a website, email or social media that tells the user to take some specified action. Call to actions generally takes the form of a button or hyperlink and are typically written as a command, such as “Book my call” or “Buy It Now” and so on. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten dive into what  Call-To-Action are, why they are so important in business, common mistake people make when designing CTAs and they share some tips that can help you design more effective Calls-To-Action for your Startup. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 01:02 One common mistake people make when they design CTAs. 02:16 Another common mistake people make when they design CTAs. 03:32 Why Hiten dislikes generic call to actions. 04:19 Why using disconnected CTAs is a bad idea. 05:49 How to determine what type o

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about if it’s necessary to sacrifice your life and your health in the early days of building your startup. In the startup world, creating a healthy balance between work and play is absolutely essential when it comes to leading a happy and productive lifestyle. But achieving this is not always easy – especially if you’re at the early stages of your startup. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on the importance of having a healthy work-life balance, why you should do whatever you can to make your business successful, the importance of knowing when to take a step back from hustling and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:32 About today’s topic 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 03:01 Hiten’s thoughts on this topic. 05:14 Why you should do whatever you can to make your business successful. 06:40 Why it should be called work-life harmony 07:43 The importance of knowing when to take a step back from hustling 09:17 Why there’s no such thing as

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about early morning routines and the act of waking up early in the morning as a founder. It is common knowledge that how well you sleep and the state of mind you create at the beginning of the day have a lot to do with how much you'll accomplish in that day. It’s a good idea to develop a morning routine that makes you be more productive. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thought on morning routines, waking up early in the morning as a founder and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 01:21 About Hiten’s morning routine. 01:49 How having a reason can help you wake up early. 02:57 Steli’s morning history. 04:39 The magic of waking up at 5 a.m. 06:42 Why waking up super early is not for everybody. 07:31 Why you should do what works for you. 08:04 The importance of observing times of the day when you could be doing more. 09:31 Why you need to adjust your routine. 3 Key Points

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about learning to ask for help in business. Many founders are not used to asking for help and this can be a disadvantage for themselves and their businesses. It’s common to see founders who are great at helping others solve their problems to be horrible at asking for help when they need it. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why it’s important to ask for help when you need it, why you should figure out how to ask somebody for something, tips for figuring out how to ask for help and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:33 Why this topic was chosen. 02:22 How Many founders are not used to asking for help and this can be a disadvantage for themselves and their businesses. 04:00 Why you should figure out how to ask somebody for something. 04:27 A major reason why some people are terrible at asking for help. 04:50 How Steli is working on his ability to ask for help. 05:29 One moment in time

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about what they call “the second time around”. “The second time around”, also known as second time syndrome, is basically starting a new business after a previous success or failure at another business. It is common for second-time founders to believe that they will be successful at a second business and most of the time this is no the case. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what “the second time around” is, how your first attempt affects your second attempt, why being successful the first time does not guarantee future successes, and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:45 What is the second time around? 01:00 Should the second time around be easier? 01:15 How your first attempt affects your second attempt. 01:43 A big factor that determines your success in business. 01:53 Why your ability to make good decisions is all that really matters. 03:34 Why it’s important to take the lessons from past experiences. 04:

This is an encore episode. In today’s Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about big picture thinking, its importance and some ways through which you can develop this skill. Oftentimes, we find that people are so caught up in day to day tasks that they fail to stop and prioritize. Steli and Hiten talk about being mindful in order to develop good prioritization skills. Tune-in and discover how you can cultivate mindfulness and build your prioritization skills which can help you execute tasks of greater value. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:03 – Today we are going to talk about big picture thinking 01:14 – Most people struggle with big picture thinking 01:28 – Steli is great at prioritizing and showing the bigger picture to his team 02:34 – Prioritizing is a skill that anyone can pick up by cultivating mindfulness 03:31 – Go-getters continue to attack what is in front of them 04:23 – Yet, there are some people who get bogged down by intense work activity and have yet to develop those prioritization skill

This is an encore episode. In this first ever podcast of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten chat about why they are starting the podcast and they unsuccessfully try to come up with a name for it. This ones all entertainment so get ready to laugh. The post 373: Encore Episode: How It All Began appeared first on The Startup Chat with Steli & Hiten.

This is an encore episode. When a business grows and scales up, it’s very easy to lose touch with the lifeline of your business—the customers. Many people begin to outsource their customer support and the gap between the CEO or founder with the customer grows wider and wider. Steli and Hiten warn against the tendency to forget about the importance of retrieving those customer insights. Since customers ultimately drive our success and inform us of how we can improve, Steli and Hiten talk about the different ways we can keep the connection going strong. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: tips on how to stay close to your customer 00:38 – Customer intimacy is what Steli and his team discussed on their team retreat in Dublin 01:28 – Hiten’s tip if you’re in sales: consider getting a sales call 02:06 – “Sales calls give you one type of insight” 02:32 – Doing customer support is also useful 03:27 – For Hiten, customer support is key 04:00 – In Close.io’s first year, Steli’s team answered

Today we're re-publishing our most popular episode of 2018, which is all about finding product-market fit. The post 371: Encore Episode: How to Find Product Market Fit appeared first on The Startup Chat with Steli & Hiten.