Minna Song, co-founder & CEO of EliseAI turned 100 VC rejections into a $2.2B company after 8 years of relentless hustle and survival. While others chased hype, she worked front desks to learn real estate, monitored product 24/7, and personally interviewed her first 400 hires.
Her playbook? Relentless focus on customer pain points, an uncompromising work ethic, and one rule: never die, be the cockroach. Backed by a16z with $250M, Minna proves billion-dollar companies are built by solving “unsexy” problems.
00:00 Intro
02:16 Why 90% of Founders Fail to Find PMF (And How Not to Be One of Them)
05:17 Brutal Lessons From Our First 10 Customers
07:41 Only Cockroach Founders Survive
09:27 The Secret to Hypergrowth
11:59 Forget Shortcut, Just 24/7 Grind
#startup #unicorn #AI
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Why these startup founders think they become GOD once their company is successful.. blaa bla bla you have to work hard blabla la
"90 hours is sustainable… it just means you wake up, go to work, go home, and go to sleep." [12:46] 💀
That's not a business plan; that's a cult mission statement. Huge respect for the "cockroach" survival mentality and the conviction to study the housing market by working a front desk job… but the next unicorn will be built by someone who figured out the 80/20 rule of effort. 😅
Typical hustle culture mentality, just building without care and thoughtfully addressing the product gaps.
You can’t solve a poorly understood problem except by luck!
The best athletes in the world optimize for sleep.
Raise $2B to continue working 7 days a week? As a VC I find that disingenuous. You are human not a machine… Balance is embedded in nature for a reason. Even Cockroaches are active only at night and are extremely efficient. More time doesn't necessarily mean more productivity sometimes it's the opposite… Europeans had several months of winter while Africa had sunshine all year round which made Europeans more efficient.
Her services are a mediocre disaster though.
It’s annoying that video after video is people who went to prestigious or Ivy league schools talking about how they “just worked hard”. Not that they didn’t, but they start out ahead of 99% of people.
She's actually baddass and nonchalant about it.
TL;DR 🚀
Startup success demands relentless effort, deep customer insight, and solving core problems in essential but underappreciated industries.
🚀 Key Points
– Hard work and persistence are crucial, especially when resources are tight.
– Immersing in the industry and talking directly with customers reveals real needs.
– Elise AI targets housing and healthcare, sectors vital to society, fueling strong growth and funding.
– Early customers want control and collaboration, shaping product direction and trust.
– Hiring adaptable generalists early helps the company move fast and handle diverse challenges.
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