First appearances can be deceiving
You're not fooling anyone
You can't sell anything by doing all of the talking
It's how well you lose, not how well you win, that determines whether you get to keep playing
The real pros don't play every hand
Vanity metrics can hide the real numbers that matter to your business
You won't find a mentor if you don't ask
Put your customers and their needs before your vision for a solution
use small bets to find opportunities
even experts need to prepare for new terrain
People don't buy visionary products; they buy solutions to their problems
Only customers can tell you if you've found a problem worth solving
Hoping and praying for luck is not a strategy
It's never too late to test your assumptions
The secret to customer interviews is nonleading, open-ended question
The only way to get good at customer interviews is to practice
Finding out your assumptions were wrong is just as valuable as proving them right
Don't pivot to a new idea without testing your new assumptions
Save your chips for when you'll need the least amount of luck to win
Successful entrepreneurs recognize failure, fold, and live to fight another day
Test your assumptions before committing any resource to an idea
Luck can be engineered if you take emotion out of the equation
Every successful entrepreneur has more failures than successes
The harder you work, the luckier you'll get
Opportunities to find prospective customers are everywhere
The best feedback from potential customers comes from meticulous interviews
Recognize the vanity metrics to avoid big losses
Keep interviewing customers until yo find a migraine problem worth solving
People can't help themselves from sharing when you bring up a migraine problem
Stay objective in your interviews whether you are getting good or bad news
Nothing else matters until you can prove that customers want your product
Luck makers seek out new experience and find opportunities where ever they go
Luck is not a good strategy for poker or business : It's the outcome of a good strategy
To prove demand, find the shortest path to the ultimate customer action
Prepare for bad luck by building up reserves
Fear and inaction are the two greatest threats to your business idea
Understand your tendencies on tilt so that you can compensate for them
There is no mistaking it when you uncover migraine problems worth solving
Get comfortable with being wrong
Don't go all-in without confirming your assumptions through smaller bets
make sure you get it right the first time around
Even when you find a migraine problem, crafting a solution requires vigilance and readjustment
Don't commit all-in until you prove that customers want your product and there's a business model to support it
The strength of your initial idea, or starting hand, is always relative.
