Raising money: strategy

Pivots / when your startup isn't working

Listen... shit happens.  Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  And when they do, we have a choice to make: do we shake things up or call it quits?   Both have merits.  In this episode I tell the story of an early encounter with failure at Curtsy and how we eventually survived it.  The experience taught me a lot about the nuts and bolts of the "shake it up" option.   Let's unpack.

Intuition & making hard decisions

In this episode I talk about intuition and making hard decisions. Not like, what should I have for dinner tonight but like, should I quit my job and move to New York?  You know, those decisions where pro-con lists, endless thinking, and convos with well-meaning friends tend to leave us more confused.  What gives?  Let’s unpack together.

Raising money: strategy

In this episode we go over how venture capital works, what motivates investors, and what kind of companies they go nuts over. Why do some startups appear to raise money with zero effort while others try unsuccessfully for months?  Has raising money become easier over time?  What can we do as founders to maximize our chances of success?

Managing your time

Hey y’all, ⁣ ⁣ In the last year I’ve been way more intentional about how I spend my time, at work and in life. In this episode we go over my journey from being a bit of a lost cause to actually making some impact (#WIP). ⁣ ⁣ I attempt to answer the age-old question: do founders need to work 80 hour weeks in order to succeed? If not, what’s a more scaleable system that we can start with before falling back on the “brute force” approach? ⁣ ⁣ I cover the perils of productivity, why flow state is overrated, the benefits of time-mapping, and taking everything I learned to bring more order to my personal life—for better or worse. ⁣ ⁣ If you liked the episode, please rate 5 stars and leave a review in Apple Podcasts :) ⁣ ⁣ Thanks for listening, ⁣ ⁣ David

How to hire

In this episode we go over strategy and tactics I've learned over the last year of building the Curtsy team to 30 people: Why you can ignore inbound in the early days. The real reason to do reference calls. Two ways to get replies on LinkedIn. Why you don't really need to "sell." Interview questions that aren't boring. Why your job is not done after the offer letter is signed. Why projects suck. Enjoy!