@ace

0 to 1 product cycle: 1. start you perceive the idea. *if you got the courage you move to 2.* 2a. build you build the thing. it’s fun. the craft coupled with the “what can be” hopium is undeniably fun. *if you got the killer instinct and/or did this many times, you do 2b in parallel* 2b. pre-launch marketing you sell the thing. it can be fun but it is when you start feeling the friction. still, so far so good. 3. launch & market you launch the thing. first few weeks or months are fine but reality starts setting in. product positioning feels like checkmate in every direction from combination of competitors and lack of sustainable traction 4. despair and endurance you start losing hope. you realize that nobody gives an atomic particle of fuck about your thing. and you wake up some mornings realizing you too don’t even use the thing that much 5. iteration/pivot hell you start changing things. small, big, but change is good. action yields information. *5 is the graveyard of most ventures even among the most formidable of founders.* 6. pmf then you feel the pulse. not only is the thing alive by some people, but also it keeps spreading. people actually love thing thing as much as you do. *6 pmf is not final, it can be derailed. the challenge continues in and out of 5. again and again 7. victory meaningful fruition. acquisition is the obvious path but the lasting victory is when the founder is so sold that they don’t even consider selling. it is their life’s work and these are the people whose names we respect.

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