Uncharted Podcast #100, Lessons Learned From a Lifetime in Entrepreneurship With SaaStr's Jason Lemkin
Listen to this week’s episode below and access the transcription of the episode here
Join us at SaaStr Annual at the end of September by signing up for one of the few expo passes still available. Get your expo pass for free -> here (link is here -> https://www.saastrannual.com/buy-tickets?promo=letsmeetatsaastr)
Jason shares his learnings, from his time as three time founder, and what he’s learned from a lifetime in entrepreneurship:
On foresight: Jason shares “If it seems I’m two steps ahead, it is because I've been thinking about this for five years, a hundred hours per week.” In Jason’s experience, the best founders he’s worked with are three to four steps ahead and can tell the entire future of an industry.
On balancing life and work: Jason admits it’s extremely difficult and nearly impossible but the one tactical advice that he got from his mentor that worked for him is to not take home the drama of a startup after 6 to 12 months. It will be too much for your family. Don’t overshare here after the early days. You need home to be about your family and a place to destress. Your family — they can’t take the constant drama, it’s too much for almost anyone. They will tune out.
On resiliency and going long: Jason shares a few personal stories that have convinced him to never quit and those that don’t quit after a million get rewarded with either a single, double, triple or home run. So buckle up and go long!
On investing: Jason shares that his formula is he wants to invest in founder’s that are better than him and have higher traction than he had when he was running EchoSign.
On the topic of the first outdoor SaaStr Annual:, Jason is most looking forward to everyone getting back together for the first ever in-person SaaStr Annual and bringing together a distributed community. Join us at SaaStr Annual September 27-29th by grabbing a free pass here -> here
On what he would advice his younger self, Jason shares:
Slow down big decisions, speed up the rest. I’m not the first to say this, but boy it’s correct. You may think you only have 24 hours, or 5 days, or a week to make a huge decision. But it’s okay to slow those one or 2 big decisions a year down. Just speed the rest up. That VC will still want to fund you. That BigCo will still want to buy you. That partnership can still happen, even if you need another week.
Find a mentor, a real one. Someone you can talk to about this stuff.
Jason demonstrates his kindness in big ways but also finds ways to find things in common with folks on his team he cares about – like looking up sweets and treats from their country of origin (Iran in Poya’s case) as a way to make a deeper connections with folks on his team
Take a deeper listen here
Connect with us and our guest
