Give First: The Long Conversation of Being a Co-Founder

<p dir="ltr">David Hoffman built and sold big-data and data analytics company Next Big Sound to Pandora in 2015. He's now building Beam, which helps people create shoppable mood boards for DTC brands.</p> <p dir="ltr">David reflects on his experience with mentorship and the long arc of the conversation that is being a co-founder and being in community. We unpack the Techstars motto "give first" and discuss the power of the Techstars community and the importance of community relationships in entrepreneurship.</p> <p dir="ltr">We talk through the complex evolution that is founding and scaling a startup, his experience doing just that with Next Big Sound, and the challenges of becoming a leader inside a growing company.</p> <p dir="ltr">One challenge is always scaling culture as a company scales, and David outlines some of the routines and structures that helped in defining his startup's culture. David also shares some insights on the post-startup-sale emotional roller coaster and the decision to build another company. Some of my other favorite insights from David:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Living the “Give First” motto requires approaching everything with curiosity.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Grown ups” is a construct: When it is your idea and your company, you can make the decisions you need to make.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Your Culture is made of your routines, whether it’s Friday bagels or snap-clapping after people share wins.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Your MVP product can be much, much more simple than you think if it creates value for your customers.</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">David’s nuanced reflections are a gift, and I’m so glad he sat down for this conversation.</p> <p dir="ltr">Head over to <a href= "https://theconversationfactory.com/listen">theconversationfactory.com/listen</a> for full episode transcripts, links,