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cover of episode Episode 781 | A Founder's Regret List: 12 Mistakes I’ll Never Make Again

Episode 781 | A Founder's Regret List: 12 Mistakes I’ll Never Make Again

2025/7/1
logo of podcast Startups For the Rest of Us

Startups For the Rest of Us
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Rob Walling
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Rob Walling: 我早期认为启动软件公司必须筹集风险投资，但这是一个误区。在2000年代初，我完全相信风险投资是启动软件业务的必要条件。这种想法耽误了我多年，因为我花费大量时间阅读商业杂志，这些杂志让我觉得融资是最终目标。现在我意识到，很多人接受融资是因为他们不知道有更好的选择。我的使命是增加世界上独立自主创业的人口，通过播客、书籍、YouTube、MicroConf和TinySeed来传播不需要风险投资的理念。我浪费了很多年时间思考如何融资，却没有实际行动。

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Chapters
This chapter explores the common mistake of believing that venture capital was the only path to success for software companies in the early 2000s. It emphasizes the importance of bootstrapping and highlights the wasted time spent pursuing funding instead of building and launching products.
  • Believing venture capital was necessary to launch a software business.
  • Wasting years pursuing funding instead of building products.
  • The importance of bootstrapping and independent, self-sustaining startups.

Shownotes Transcript

Are you repeating any of these mistakes in your business? 

In this episode, Rob Walling walks through his ‘founder regret list’, detailing 12 key mistakes from his 20-year entrepreneurial journey. In this very personal episode, he tells some stories he’s never shared publicly before.

**Topics we cover: **

  • (4:17) – Thinking venture capital was the only path

  • (6:12) – Launching without validating the idea

  • (9:26) – Choosing ideas that couldn’t be bootstrapped

  • (12:48) – Relying too much on books

  • (16:36) – Trying to do everything solo

  • (21:10) – The arrival fallacy

  • (23:19) – Delaying email list growth

  • (25:51) – Taking random advice too seriously

  • (28:43) – Overestimating skills after early wins

  • (30:29) – Letting anxiety steal the joy from success

  • (32:34) – Not letting wins build confidence

  • (33:50) – Holding onto a scarcity mindset

Links from the Show: 

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question) for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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