Pareen Lathia community builder · founder operator · occasional coder

what i say on every call

28 things · ranked across 76 founder calls from my last 200 recordings · counts are approximate

i've done around 5,000 founder calls since 2020. by call 3,000, i realised i was repeating the same 28 things. these are those patterns. if you're stuck, start with the picker.

where are you stuck?

ranked by repetition 28

  1. 01 the chart is the pitch Don't explain to me your problem and your TAM and everything. Just show me if the hockey stick curve is being formed. ~30 calls the curve
  2. 02 a retweet gets you 50 users One tweet from Monad or Solana or Vitalik or god is not going to do anything. You will get 1000 eyeballs, 50 people sign up, 10 deposit, and then what? ~21 calls first users
  3. 03 unless someone pays, don't code Unless you can get a paid user for this, you should not code at all. ~18 calls before you build
  4. 04 one thin slice. hot dog stall, not hotel buffet Just choose a very small battle but win the hell out of it. If you come number five in four areas, nothing matters. ~16 calls before you build
  5. 05 500 users, 100 come back. then we talk Someone who has 100,000 users but 3 percent retention is actually less interesting than someone who has 2,000 users with 30 percent retention. ~14 calls first users
  6. 06 the only thing i'm checking in the first 30 minutes Typically if you are already content and satisfied, that's the opposite of being a founder. ~13 calls the founder
  7. 07 your ambition is set by who you sit next to You don't want to learn from the third best guy ever. You want to learn from the guy who has actually done it. ~13 calls the founder
  8. 08 hitting 100 million is easy. staying there is hard Hitting 100 million is not that hard. Sustaining at 100 is very hard. It'll be discounted and their life will become hell after that. ~13 calls after the money
  9. 09 a demo day is for the second meeting, not for money The aim of a demo day is not to close funding. Your pitch is not going to close funding. It never happens. The aim of a demo day is to get you the second private meeting. ~12 calls raising
  10. 10 tell them they're too poor for your product Attitude is the biggest way to create a pull rather than you having to go and push in sales. ~11 calls selling
  11. 11 vcs say nice things to everyone If VCs say nice things about you or your startup, that doesn't mean shit. Their job is to be nice to everyone. ~10 calls raising
  12. 12 is your last investor doubling down Generally it would actually be a signal if any of these people were to invest again. ~8 calls raising
  13. 13 raise small, then scale. say half the number If you are raising 2 million, say one. Don't be ambitious. ~7 calls raising
  14. 14 the pitch is the start of a race The moment you pitch, you are participating in a race. Then you have to run full velocity, whatever it takes. ~7 calls raising
  15. 15 if you don't need the money, you get the money If you don't need VC money, you get VC money. If you need it, most VCs don't want to give it to you. ~7 calls raising
  16. 16 tweet every day. no one's watching, which is the blessing None of your accounts are big so no one is watching, which is a great thing. Right now just go post whatever you feel like and that's a blessing actually. ~6 calls the founder
  17. 17 illusion of progress Partners, partners, incubators, programs, VCs. Nothing is resulting in money. It's just illusion of progress. ~6 calls the curve
  18. 18 consensus or contrarian. know which race you're in In a consensus market, what matters is money and speed. And speed is not in features, speed is in growth. ~5 calls before you build
  19. 19 5x or feel depressed Anything that doesn't 5x my chart, I'm going to feel depressed about it. And I'm going to be depressed till the time my brain throws something that's so crazy it has to do something. ~5 calls after the money
  20. 20 your investors are in the boat. stop trying to impress them Imagine a sea and imagine a boat. You guys have a boat. We are in that boat. If something is broken, might as well tell him. ~5 calls after the money
  21. 21 close the lead first. everything restarts after the wire Till the money is in the bank, bro. Get the money in the bank. Your round is not closed yet. Everything else is later stuff. ~5 calls raising
  22. 22 money in, money out. no round numbers It can never be a round number, man. It just cannot. ~4 calls the curve
  23. 23 piggyback on whoever already has the relationship You can't sell the future without comparing it to the past. Or the easiest way is to just piggyback on the past. ~4 calls selling
  24. 24 start specific. abstract later Smallest possible problem that you can solve, which people pay for. If they are not paying, they are just taking you for a ride. ~4 calls before you build
  25. 25 the only laws are laws of physics The only laws are laws of physics. Everything else is just a suggestion. ~4 calls the founder
  26. 26 trauma is fuel. don't release it If you can take trauma and use it as fuel, then founder. If not, then not a founder. ~4 calls the founder
  27. 27 11 megapixels doesn't convert If you have a 10 megapixel camera and I give you 11 megapixel, you won't really convert. ~3 calls before you build
  28. 28 the first two years are unglamorous. let the story be choppy Let the story be very choppy. Eventually, in hindsight, you can smoothen it. ~3 calls before you build

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