Hey everyone,
Here’s this week’s update from the The Founder’s Foyer show!
When John Koelliker and I first connected, I was curious about how he conceptualized and kickstarted Leland while he was still at Stanford, and the way he was building a marketplace for folks interesting in picking others' brains (literally!). Being a first-time founder, John definitely leverages his network in a way he could help other founders and builders understand the basics of product-building.
Finding purpose from little projects and talks with your friends is always a fun thing to do. For John, this turned out to be a way of understanding how a marketplace platform for personal coaching is much needed—a side-project set him up for building Leland. As someone who earlier did a 1-on-1 consulting for folks, John realized product-izing his skills was the best way he could reach a wider community and help them with finding the right peers around.
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John and I discuss about:
Why entrepreneurship and the steps that led to this path
What's the difference between a side hustle and full-time foundership?
What John learned from his Stanford days about side projects
Finding the initial audience that believes in your mission
Building a conviction for others to trust in you
What's it like to build a sustainable growth engine for a product?
Mistakes: As a room for improvement for first-time founders
Product manager to founder: PM lessons that come handy
Successfully raising $4M seed funding and tips for new founders
Finding the right VCs who support your journey
Sharing lessons with fellow founders—a healthy community
Listen to our conversation as a podcast on:
Thank you, and keep your suggestions coming! :)
Have a great week ahead,
Aishwarya
The Founder's Foyer with Aishwarya: First-time founder lessons, marketplace growth models, fundraising