I think I may be the world’s greatest concert pianist.

The only issue is — I’ve never played the piano.

I’m not just being provocative with that statement. I genuinely believe it might be true. Not because I've been secretly toiling away at the next great concerto — but because becoming a Founder taught me I’m capable of becoming (almost) anything.

Becoming a Founder is one of the greatest exercises in self-transformation and fulfillment because we’re required to do so many things our natural path would have never challenged us with.

Once I realized how powerful this transformation could be, I learned how to use this ability to become an expert writer, architect, programmer, podcaster, designer, carpenter, lecturer, CFO, electrician, 3D mod...

There is only one perfect time to start a company, and that’s right now.

Yep, right this minute. In fact, by the time you’re done reading this, you’ll have already waited too long.

“But wait, Wil, I need to just get a few more things in order first. Then I’ll be in a much better position to launch this startup!”

Nope. Wrong. You already missed out. You already waited too long.

The key to right now being the perfect time to start is understanding why any other time is a total waste of time.

Waiting = Stalling

We all want to believe that if we just wait a bit longer, to plan a bit more, to save a bit more, to get a bit more experience, then our chances of being successful with our startup will be much better.

But we’re not waiting — we’re sta...

Types of Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the practice of raising small amounts of money from many backers online. It comes in four main types: donation-based, reward-based, equity, and debt (also called lending or peer-to-peer crowdfunding), each with different platforms, audiences, regulatory rules, and obligations to the people contributing money. The right type for a startup depends entirely on what the company can offer in exchange.

Donation-based crowdfunding (GoFundMe, Fundly, Mightycause): backers contribute money to a person, cause, or project and receive nothing tangible in return. Best for nonprofits, social-impact ventures, and personal causes; rarely the right fit for for-profit startups. Reward-based crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Ind...

Go to Market Strategy

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is the integrated plan for how a company will reach and acquire customers. It encompasses target segments (who we sell to), value proposition (what we sell), channels and motion (how we reach them), pricing and packaging (what we charge), sales and marketing investment (how we fund the motion), and success metrics (how we measure). The discipline is aligning these components into a coherent plan rather than letting each evolve independently and produce a fragmented approach that confuses customers and underperforms. It is the single most-important strategic document at most startups.

The core components:

Target customer segments:

• Specific segments the company will focus on (and which it w...

Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit is the stage at which a startup has built a product that satisfies a strong market demand, evidenced by accelerating, sustainable customer adoption. The phrase was coined by Marc Andreessen in his 2007 blog post "The only thing that matters," where he argued that product-market fit is the single most important state in a startup's life.

Andreessen's original definition is direct: "Product-market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market." It is the product-side analog to [Founder-Market Fit] on the team side. When you have it, customers buy the product as fast as you can build it. Usage and revenue grow without aggressive paid acquisition. Customers refer other custome...

Startup Funding Stages

Startup funding stages are the standard sequence of capital raises a venture-backed startup typically progresses through. They begin with pre-seed and seed rounds and continue through Series A, B, C, D, and beyond, with each successive round usually larger in size and higher in valuation than the previous one. Each stage funds a specific phase of company growth and reflects the milestones investors expect the company to have achieved.

The typical progression, with 2026 reference ranges from Carta and PitchBook: pre-seed ($100K to $1M, idea or earliest product, often friends and family, angels, or accelerators); seed ($2.5M to $4M median, MVP and early traction, post-money valuations around $24M); Series A ($10M to $15...

Private Investors

Private investors are non-public sources of capital that invest in private companies. They include angel investors, venture capital firms, family offices, corporate venture arms, and high-net-worth individuals, most of whom must qualify as "accredited investors" under SEC rules to participate in startup financings. They are distinct from public market investors (who buy publicly traded stocks) and from institutional debt providers (banks, lenders).

The four main categories of private investors at the startup stage are angel investors (individuals investing personal capital, typically $10,000 to $250,000 per deal), venture capital firms (institutional funds investing pooled limited-partner capital, typically $250,000 to $25...

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas is a one-page framework by Alex Osterwalder that maps nine building blocks of a business model on a single visual canvas. The blocks are customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. Popularized in Osterwalder's 2010 book "Business Model Generation," it facilitates strategic discussion, business model iteration, and team alignment around how the business actually creates and captures value. It is particularly useful for established companies exploring new business models, founders pre-launch thinking through their model, and strategic planning sessions, and it's one of the most wide...

There’s no such thing as a “retired Founder.”

Just one who hasn’t started their next company yet.

I love hearing about Founders that exit, but what I always find kind of entertaining is their story about how they will now finally retire. It’s always something like “I can finally put the stress of running this startup behind me and spend the rest of my days basking in the sun and enjoying life!”

My response is always the same: “That sounds awesome… call me when you want to talk about your next startup!”

They assume I’m being sarcastic. The idea of starting another startup after just finally selling one and prepping for retirement sounds ludicrous!

And yet, inevitably, I get the call. “You know, retirement actually sucks, so I’m thinking abou...

The most expensive equity we give out isn’t to investors — it’s to everyone else.

I listen to Founders stress all the time about how much equity they are going to give to investors (and they should stress!). They pine over whether they are giving up 12% vs. 15% in a Pre-Seed round, because they are so afraid of giving up too much equity.

Yet when it comes to giving out equity to everyone else — Co-Founders, Advisors, and Employees — they give that shit away like it’s Monopoly money.

If Founders are really worried about dilution, it’s not investors they should be worried about. At least with investors, we know what we’re getting. If they give us $1 million for 15% of our company, we know we got the value. But for everyone else, it’s kind of ...