The Startup Chat With Steli And Hiten

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about mental health and how to stay mentally healthy while you are building a startup. When you’re building a startup, staying mentally healthy is really important. Way too many entrepreneurs try to be strong and save face when circumstances are bad and this can lead to depression or worse. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten on the importance of mental health, best practices to stay mentally healthy in a startup, what you need to do, what to avoid doing and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:49 About today’s topic. 01:20 Why this topic was chosen. 01:51 Why you should seek help if things are looking really bad. 02:04 Best practices to stay mentally healthy in a startup. 02:39 How things change constantly in the startup world. 03:29 Why having awareness of your emotions, your mood, and your feelings is the goal. 04:10 The importance of self-awareness. 04:48 The need for self-improvement. 05:59 An example of being self-aware. 0

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about changing a teams culture versus firing and hiring a new team. There comes a time in every startup's life that fundamental changes need to be made in the way things are currently done. This could be as in order to solve a crucial challenge, prepare for growth or adjust to the current business environment. How you approach this as a founder is crucial as if it’s handled the wrong way, can lead to negative consequences for your startup. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about changing a teams culture, why you may want to do this, how to do this the right way, examples of some companies that have had to do this and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:38 Why this topic was chosen. 03:15 How Hiten approaches this challenge. 04:25 Why great leadership can help prevent this situation in the first place. 06:41 An example of a real-life situation of this challenge. 08:17 How you may want to approach this issue if

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the concept of company builders or company studios. But what is a company studio? According to Steli, a company studio is a corporate structure that brings together talent and people, develops ideas and prototypes with those people and once those ideas or prototypes become something viable, they infuse capital into that project and incorporate it into a new business. It’s basically something in between starting your own company and being part of an accelerator like Y-combinator. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what company studios are, the benefits of joining them, the challenges of running one and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:35 What is a company studio. 01:51 Benefits of joining a company studio. 02:20 Why this idea is appealing to entrepreneurs and first-time founders. 03:19 The different ways of learning how to run a business. 03:57 How company studios function. 04

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about affiliate how to rebrand your company the right way. Sometimes, some founders might decide to change the name of their company. This could be because they don’t like the name, the name is not resonating with their customers or they need a new name that reflects the current state of the company. While it may be a good idea to change the name, doing so a lot comes with a lot of risks and the rewards might not be that great. Listen to Steli and Hiten talk about when the is the right time to rebrand your company, how to pull of a successful rebrand, examples of companies that rebranded the right way and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 01:00 Why this topic was chosen? 01:39 How you know that rebranding is a good idea. 01:50 The two main types of rebrand that companies do . 02:53 Why you should think carefully about a name change. 03:12 Reasons to rebrand. 04:00 A major reason why companies change their names. 04:54 An

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to come up with a name for your startup. Finding the right name for your startup can be challenging, and it’s important you come up with a great name because it can have a significant impact on your success. For example, if you choose the wrong name for your startup, it could fail to connect with customers or worse. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about how to come up with a great name for your startup, how they came up with the names of their companies, they share some tips that can help you come up with a name for your own startup and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:40 Why this topic was chosen. 01:43 Why you should choose a name that makes sense to your customer. 03:00 How thinking about the customer can help you come up with a better name. 03:37 How Hiten and his team came up with the name FYI. 04:17 How to come up with a name that doesn’t take you a lot of time. 05:07 Why it’s a not a goo

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about replacing yourself as CEO or the founder of your startup. One of the hardest decision a founder can ever make is deciding when it is time to hand the wheel to someone else. Why it may seem like something that needs to be done, it’s also something that Hiten recommends you don’t do as it can limit the success of the company amongst other things. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why you shouldn’t replace yourself at your company,  how to do this the right way if it’s something that has to be done and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:32 About today’s topic 00:47 Why you should replace yourself as the founder of your company. 01:36 Another reason why you shouldn’t do this. 01:55 How replacing yourself reduces the chances of your company succeeding. 04:16 An example of an exception when it comes to replacing yourself. 04:43 The best way to do this. 05:38 Why it is better to promote someone in the company. 06:06 How your cust

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to help your customers through change. When you’re building a product, it is common to make changes to it. This could be a UI change, a pricing change, a Logo change and so on. These changes will affect the customer so it is important to consider them before making any changes. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thoughts on how to properly make changes to your product, how to communicate those changes to your customers and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:23 Why this topic was chosen. 00:51 Why it’s important to consider the customer before making any changes to your product. 01:54 Examples of how not to make changes. 05:13 How even lowering the prices can create friction with your customers. 05:51 Why you have to think through why you’re doing the change. 06:52 How to be more thoughtful about communicating a change. 08:40 Why the changes you make should be relevant to the customer. 09:2

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about a new pricing trend in the startup world. There’s a new trend in the startup world when it comes to pricing. Some companies are beginning to offer custom prices to customers who meet certain criteria. This is in particularly common with larger companies like HubSpot or Intercom. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on these new pricing trends, why some companies started offering them if you should implement it in your startup and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:46 Why this topic was chosen. 01:49 Some examples of these new pricing trend being used today. 02:34 For the longest time, startups and servicing other startups wasn’t really a markets 02:43 Why this trend started. 03:22 Examples of why this trend started. 05:29 How larger startups started this trend. 05:50 If smaller startups copy this trend. 06:32 Why you should should go directly after the type of customer you want. 05:

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about affiliate programs and how to use it for your business when you want to acquire more customers. Affiliate programs can be an effective way to get new customers and scale your startup. For it to be successful, it is important to know how to create a program that helps your customers and advocates do your marketing for you. In this episode, Steli and Hiten talk about what an affiliate program is, why they don’t work for some startups, why some programs have failed in the past and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:46 What are affiliate programs? 01:09 Why it’s a channel that works really well. 01:20 A key metric that you can use to determine if this is for you. 01:53 A mistake startups who want to use this channel make. 02:12 An interesting thing about affiliate programs. 03:52 Two reasons why affiliate programs work. 04:04 What a referral program is. 05:03 The reason affiliate programs don’t work. 05:59 Another re

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about becoming cynical or jaded as a founder. One of the beautiful things about being an entrepreneur for the first time is that you have this youthful and blissful mind. You feel like everything is possible and everything you learn is mind blowing to you. But, this state of bliss wears off as time goes by and you get more experienced. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why new founders are less cynical than experienced founders, how to approach new ideas and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:36 The beautiful thing about being a first-time entrepreneur. 01:15 When new entrepreneurs typically start to become jaded. 01:55 How Hiten views cynicism in entrepreneurs. 02:16 How ideas can be fragile. 02:58 How Hiten reacts to new ideas. 04:20 Why you need to think through ideas versus shutting them down. 05:36 A quote from Jeff Bezos. 06:03 A hack that Steli has helped Steli in his entrepreneurial journey. 3 K

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about take-home assignments for job applicants. This topic was chosen as a result of mistakes that were made at recent hirings at Close.io and as take-home assignments is an integral part of the hiring process. In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what take-home assignments are, how to approach them, mistakes to avoid when handing them out and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:39 Why this topic was chosen. 01:34 A take-home assignment for a recent job posting at Close. 02:17 Hiten’s view on take-home assignments. 02:37 The only way to understand what a person can do. 02:49 An example of a contract to hire approach. 03:10 Why it’s a good idea to have every candidate carry out the same. 04:01 Why you don’t want to give them work that relates too close to your company. 05:10 How to give out take-home assignments. 05:34 Why you should give assignments that are limited in scope. 3 Key Points: I

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to consume opposing opinions. Whether we know it or not, we are all stuck in our own little bubble. While this can be a good thing, to live a more balanced business and work life, it is a good idea to be open to views that are different from our own. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thoughts on how opposing views can be valuable, how you can be more welcoming to opposing views and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:30 About today’s topic. 00:47 One of Hiten’s favorite books. 01:25 One huge value of opposing views. 01:54 How we are all, to an extent, living in our own bubble. 02:30 Why being aware is really valuable. 03:40 How thinking differently can help you understand others and their worldviews better. 04:27 How it can be very easy to get stuck in your bubble. 05:03 How listening to opposing views can help you get out of a sticky situation. 05:45 Some things you can do to help you consume opposing views. 06:50

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about how to act, move and execute faster. In the startup world, speed is everything. If you don’t execute fast, you’re very likely to fail. However, moving at such a fast pace can be scary to some founders and employees. Which is why it’s important to put in place processes that allow you to execute at a fast pace, otherwise your competition will. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on why speed is important for startups to succeed, they give examples of big companies that are excellent at executing and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:32 Why this topic was chosen. 01:10 Why startups are special. 02:02 What makes a startup move fast. 02:34 Why you may want to move fast. 03:38 Why you need a sense of urgency. 06:49 Why you need to be hyper-focused and prioritize. 07:03 Why it’s important that your team understands what needs to be prioritized. 07:54 Steli’s thoughts on why moving faste

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about whether being an entrepreneur really the right way to gain more freedom in life. It’s common for some people to think that being an entrepreneur is the right way to gain more freedom in life. However, this is not often the case, as sometimes, entrepreneurship can rob you of as many freedoms as it gives to you. In this episode, Steli and Hiten address this belief by many that entrepreneurship grants you all freedoms in life, they stress the importance of defining what freedom means to you and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:34 About today’s topic. 01:38 Isn’t freedom the main motivator for people becoming an entrepreneur? 02:09 Why you should do what whatever you need to do. 03:06 Why other people telling you what to do is easy. 03:53 How there’s a value in being told what to do. 05:31 Why you’re gonna need to have to work with people to be successful at something. 06:16 How entrepreneurship can rob you of many freedoms. 07:20 How you ca

Today on The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the main things that are killing your growth in your startup. Growing a startup can seem complex but it doesn’t have to be. There are several things that a you can do that could kill the growth of your startup and knowing what these things are will help you grow your startup to new heights . In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share some address some of the most common factors and thing founders do that kills or slows down the growth of their startup. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic 00:43 The reason this topic was chosen. 02:51 One of the big reasons startups grow slowly. 03:52 Another big reason that kills startup growth. 05:01 A story about Grammarly. 06:11 Why you shouldn’t be afraid to do the things that are right. 08:04 How Hiten and his team did user testing on Grammarly website. 09:36 Hiten’s thoughts on the simplicity of homepages. 11:38 How to go from non-data driven to data driven. 3 Key Points: If you can’t measure it, a

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about two parts of the business trifecta, the vision and mission statements. As a founder, you should have a clear mission and vision for your company. Mission and vision statements are similar and knowing the difference between both can go a long way in moving your company in the right direction.   In this week’s episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what a company’s vision should be, how it differs from its mission, how to create early versions of these statements and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:43 Why this topic was chosen. 01:34 What’s a mission statement. 02:28 What’s a vision statement. 03:41 Why you might not need both statements at the same time. 04:04 You can also have a product vision. 05:10 The right time to have a mission statement. 05:43 Why both statements are tools to help you run your company. 06:51 One of the main goals of these statements. 07:19 How these statements can help you make

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about what it takes to grow your company from one million to ten million in revenue. Hitting the million dollar revenue mark is a great achievement and something to congratulate yourself on. However, once you do, the new challenge now becomes growing your revenue to newer heights and this can be quite a challenge. Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Steli and Hiten thoughts on surpassing the one million revenue mark and much more. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:35 Why this topic was chosen. 01:50 How long it takes you to get to the ten million milestone. 02:31 Why the growth rate is really what’s important when you're trying to scale to $10 million. 02:43 What happens when you try to scale pass one million. 03:15 Things that break as you try to scale. 03:47 What it takes to get you to one million. 04:08 The big difference between leadership and management. 05:25 Why your goal should be to hit ten million with 3 or 4 years.

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about speaking at conferences. As you become more experienced and successful in business, you may get invited to speak at conferences. This could be for small acceptance of an award, to join a panel with your peers, or to keynote a major conference. One great thing about speaking at events and conferences is that it provides you with a huge opportunity to get your personal brand and company out in the limelight while, at the same time, entertaining and educating those who attend. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what it takes to speak at conferences and they share some tips that can help you do so effectively. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About the topic of today’s episode 00:33 Why Hiten prefers speaking at panels. 02:09 The number of times Steli speaks in a year. 03:18 Why Steli chooses to speak at conferences. 04:08 Steli breaks down how he decides what conference to speak at. 05:19 How to maximize your speaking gigs. 16

In today’s episode, Steli and Hiten talk about the importance of having scripts and templates in your sales process. While it may not be needed during the early days of a startup, documents and scripts are crucial in helping your salespeople communicate your value. Listen as Steli shares how he learned the value of scripts from his own experience in sales and crucial tips that will help you make the most of your own templates. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:05 – Today’s episode is about using scripts and templates in your sales process 00:50 – Steli talks about his early experience in sales 01:42 – Steli did sales training when he was just 19 years old and realized the trainees were struggling with their work 02:28 – Steli remembered a workshop he attended 03:06 – Another participant in the workshop used a workbook and Steli thought it was a bad presentation 04:20 – The participant told Steli that the workbook he used was for his employees so they can replicate what he does 05:22 – Steli had an “ah

In today’s episode of The Startup Chat, Steli and Hiten talk about the idea of figuring out the answer to the question “who am I?”. This is a question that we all ask ourselves at some point in our lives. However, in order for you to find yourself, you need to learn about yourself first. And this is no small feat. Figuring out who you are and what you want out of life can be challenging, and affects the kind of founder you will become. In this episode, Steli and Hiten share their thoughts on what this question means to them and share some tips that can help you answer the question. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00 About today’s topic. 00:44 Steli’s thought on how to figure the answer to this question. 02:55 Why you have to ask and answer this question. 03:18 The impact our childhood has on us as adults. 04:26 How our experiences are changing as we grow older. 05:03 A quote that came to Steli’s mind. 05:43 Steli thoughts on being who you want to be. 06:18 The importance of acknowledging who you are at your core.