First Round Review - Articles
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The most actionable, tactical company building advice around for founders and startup leaders.
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How dbt Labs Built a $4.2B Software Business out of a Two-Person Consultancy
Tristan Handy, CEO and co-founder of dbt Labs, shares the unorthodox moves he made to transform a Philly-based consultancy into a billion-dollar SaaS powerhouse.
You’re Not Ready for a Head of Growth: Run This Founder-Led Growth Playbook Instead
Founders are responsible for figuring out how their business is going to grow. Use these tactics — specifically designed for founders — to uncover your most impactful growth levers.
How to Intentionally Design Your Org, From Square’s Former CEO
Former Square CEO, AWS's first GM and 12-year Microsoft veteran, Alyssa Henry, walks us through the two crucial considerations for organizational design — your business and your people — and...
The Pivot to Product-Market Fit: How Plaid, Clay, Lattice & Other Startups Broke Out
For many startups, the secret to finding product-market fit lies in the pivot. Here’s how these founders knew it was time to change directions.
Building a Deep Tech Company? Most Startup Advice Doesn’t Apply — Read This Instead
Learn from Loyal founder Celine Halioua’s rigorous approach to milestone-based planning, fundraising and multi-product strategy for deep tech companies.
How I Spent 17,784 Hours in 5 Years as a Startup Founder
Sam Corcos, co-founder & CEO of Levels, shares a detailed look into exactly how he spent 5 years building the company, with reflections on what changed in the transition from...
0-$5M: When, Who, and How to Make Your First Sales Hire
Expert advice from Dropbox, Figma and Stripe on timing your first sales hire, finding the right candidate profile and creating effective onboarding to successfully transition from founder-led sales to a...
Lessons in Product Scaling and Storytelling from Figma’s CPO
Figma CPO Yuhki Yamashita offers up his playbook for the gnarly phase of product building that arrives after a startup clinches product-market fit — and sets its sights on the...
The Rotation Program That Keeps This Startup’s Engineers Learning — and Not Leaving
Checkr VP of Engineering Krista Moroder opens up about the rotation program that’s helped keep her org’s non-regrettable attrition at near-zero.
0-$5M: How to Nail Founder-Led Sales
First Round partner Meka Asonye sits down with founders and first sales hires to unpack 6 specific tactics for learning to embrace founder-led sales instead of avoiding it. This is...
EvolutionIQ Just Got Acquired for $730M — Here's Their Playbook For Building an Enduring AI Business
We sat down with the founding team for the inside story of one of the first major vertical AI exits.
This 90-Day Plan Turns Engineering Leaders Back into Frontline Developers
David Loftesness has deftly cycled between management and IC roles throughout his career. Here, he lays out a plan to help engineering leaders make a smooth transition back into the...
The GTM Inflection Points That Powered Clay to a $1B+ Valuation
How do you create a go-to-market machine that’s able to turbocharge (and then sustain) revenue growth? Clay co-founder Varun Anand shares the biggest lessons from the company's success, with growth...
How to Make Your Product Idea Go Viral Inside Your Company: Lessons from Figma Slides
How Figma Slides founding PM Mihika Kapoor transformed a hackathon project into one of Figma's most anticipated launches.
The 30 Best Pieces of Company Building Advice We Heard in 2024
For the 12th year in a row, we rounded up 30 timeless company-building insights we published from the year before.
Everything in Business is About Fighting Entropy — Here’s How Rippling Does It
Matt MacInnis, COO of Rippling, shares why most companies slow down as they scale, and his advice for how startup founders and executives can prevent it.