Jason Cohen

List everyone you know who started by launching a startup every month, and the ninth one was really successful. List everyone who has 1 really good idea / year, and obsessed over it, and was successful. The second is 100x more common. We can all list the people in the first…

Sales is not “selling your soul.” Well, it is, if you’re doing it wrong. (And many do, as you’ve experienced on the receiving end.) If you're passionate and finding the right customers, it's wonderful. For them too. (You’ve experienced that too.)

Founders and investors spend too much time trying to quantify "target" markets, when: 1. They should target a smaller niche at first anyway 2. Markets change size over time, sometimes dramatically 3. Some companies create the market 4. Companies pivot “Big enough" is enough.

People want to use their favorite devices, tools, and patterns. But teams and global optimization require standardization and coordination. Here’s a bunch of tips for navigating this tension: longform.asmartbear.com/tension-autono…

My version of Hofstadter’s law: A startup always takes more cash than you expect, even when you take (my version of) Hofstadter’s law into account. This is why: longform.asmartbear.com/more-money/?ut…

Often infrastructure scales until 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 it 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 doesn't. It’s scary, because it's an emergency without warning. Except there 𝘢𝘳𝘦 warning signs. This is why metrics and observability see important before it feels like you “need” them.

Wondering if you're spending too much time on your product launch? Walk-out music is cool for fighters making an entrance. But how much time did the fighter spend training vs. picking the music? That's the right ratio of time.

Proving, once again: (1) Niche strategies can be good (2) Distribution > Product

Important to think about sometimes. You're more likely to have a month than a year, a year than 10 years. Regardless of age, but a bigger spread on the probabilities as you age.

"Just do it" is great if what you're doing is right. But it's not, and you don't know which parts aren't right. Hence Lean Startup.

Do you believe people often buy based on emotion, even in B2B, especially when the choices are largely equivalent? Does your advert and social and web site and pricing page and “about us” evoke emotion? And what emotion do you want to invoke?

What would be a "good enough" result for your business? This is a good question if you're having trouble finding something that's working. Would it be good enough to make $10,000 a month in profit, which might mean $20,000 to $30,000 a month in revenue? What I find is that with…

i like building but I like money more that's why I am doing marketing

People say “that’s your baggage” like it’s a bad thing. It can be, when it’s limiting or leads to incorrect believes. But it’s also who you are, uniquely. Here’s how I’ve navigated my baggage: longform.asmartbear.com/scars/?utm_sou…

It’s never done, never just right. Publish anyway, launch anyway. Some stuff you’ll fix after. But most stuff isn’t as important as moving on to the next thing.