Eli Portnoy (with $66M in exits) taught me the importance of REALLY listening to your customers. TLDR from his chat:
- Listen to what customers actually mean - during COVID, his customers asked to stop payments, but Instead, he asked: “how do we make sure we're giving them enough value that they wanna pay us?”. He pivoted, new product gained traction which led to acquisition (full story on the pod)
- Your idea may change completely - Stop falling in love with your initial concept. It's just a starting point. Expect daily iterations and major pivots.
- You don't need perfect conditions to start - Eli built his first company waking up at 5 AM while working at Amazon with a newborn.
- Kill things fast - Bad features, wrong hires, failing strategies; follow your gut. Address problems quickly or they'll compound for years.
His current venture: https://www.backengine.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliportnoy/
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