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Alex Koren

Founder. Thiel Fellow. Tech & Strategy.

On a mission to build things that matter.

Highlights

Aug 30 · linkedin

"Explain what you're working on to me like I'm 5."

I ask this question to most founders I speak to and almost none are able to articulate it clearly. Here's why.

The first half of their sentence always starts off simple. "We make a phone app..." or "You know your lemonade stand..." or "There's this thing called software..." These are all totally reasonable starts.

And then it falls apart.

"... that uses AI to optimize the pricing of products that you're selling locally." "... and we help you get more lemons by connecting you with 3PLs that offer a wide variety of shipping and storage solutions." "... and we help the developers of software become more effective by monitoring their repositories and pushing bug fixes as they arise."

...Huh? I'm 5! I don't know what optimization is, 3PLs are, or what fixing bugs means!

The reality is - If you can't articulate the issue to a 5 year old, you're probably not articulating it well to your customer. The similarity between a 5 year old and your customer, investor, new hire, or anyone else? They all need a compelling picture painted and that starts with simplicity and connective storytelling.

This is one of the things I do my best to work with founders to perfect during their time at an Antler residency. It's the foundation upon which people convince, sell, and grow. If you're looking for help on this or are curious about the residency, reach out!

Aug 1 · linkedin

Customer requests are not customer demands.

I see a lot of early stage companies follow two very reasonable adages - "Listen to your customers" and "The customer is always right."

The problem is, these startups take the requests and feedback and gospel and as the source of truth. But one data point from one customer doesn't not define a trend.

There are 3 possibilities when a customer gives you feedback:

  1. The customer is wrong and maybe you need to educate them better
  2. What the customer is asking for is an indicator there's a deeper root issue and you need to look beyond the solution they're suggesting
  3. The customer is right

In any of these cases, your first step is to test with other customers before you do anything. Take your time because tacking on reactive solutions tends to make products a mess (and puts you in a lot of debt over time).

Related Questions

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Alex Koren
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Experience

Venture Partner at Antler
Founder at Wongo Puzzles

Education

Mathematics and Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University

Location

United States