Most founders don't know what their differentiator is. That's a problem. Today, we walk through two paths to help you find a differentiator strong enough to anchor a business. We also help you root out bad differentiators - the ones that'll just waste your time. There's also a story about a Rabbi's wisdom, a founder making decaf coffee, and a poison ivy company I'm obsessed with. 

• Tacklebox - start your company before you quit your job
• How to Find Your Wedge
• How to Use Landing Page Tests 

00:30 Differentiator Intro
01:45 Rabbi Joke
05:15 Smooth Jazz
05:45 How to Find Your Differentiator
06:46 Path 1: Letting a Customer Tell You
11:41 Path 2: Four Questions to Pick Your Differentiator
19:32 How to Test Differentiators
21:00 The Reality of Differentiators (Downer)
22:16 The End - Taking Yourself Seriously

Vacuums are uncomfortable, but they're actually far less risky than the alternative. A No Whisper Ideas post on how to think about, approach, and create vacuums.

Brought to you by Tacklebox.  

Today, we're digging into the mailbag to answer some common questions. We hit on how to actually commit to a startup idea when you aren't confident it'll work (featuring the Discipline + Strategy Levers), the most frequent advice I give (feat. Monkeys and Pedestals and Sell the Position), and a question on the startup decision - should you do a thing that'll take 10 years? 

• Tacklebox
• Good Strategy Bad Strategy
   

00:30 Mailbag
01:53 Question One: How to Commit to an Idea
03:57 Discipline - Levers and Hooks
05:42 Marathon Programs
11:30 Strategy - Where to Run
19:00 Smooth Jazz
19:21 Question Two: The Key Stories
20:22 Monkeys and Pedestals
23:00 Sell the Position
25:07 The $10K Prompt
25:53 Question Three: How Old Will You Be?

Today is Part 2 of the series introducing the ERP (Early Rep Potential) Rubric. The idea behind ERP is that the best idea for you is the one you can do "full rep" tests on the fastest. We help Erica evaluate the potential of her FODMAP idea, where she's looking to help people identify specific food sensitivities. We score the idea and get clarity on its potential. We also talk a little Jon Hamm.  

• Tacklebox (test your startup idea)
• No Whisper Ideas (weekly newsletter, sign up to get a Notion copy of the ERP Rubric)
• How to Pick Which (of your many) Ideas to Pursue (ERP Rubric Part 1)
• Jon Hamm Show

00:30 ERP Rubric Part Two
03:52 The Ideas - Mold and FODMAPs
06:27 ERP Intro: Choose a Specific Customer
09:12 Part 1: Can You Find Your Customer?
12:59 Part 2: Can You Convert Customers?
17:01 Part 3: Can You Build a Solution?
21:12 Part 4: Collecting Feedback
23:19 Part 5: Organic Growth Potential
25:23 The Final Two Questions
28:00 The End

Today, we're trying something new. We send out the No Whisper Ideas newsletter every Sunday, and today, we posted it here. Maybe you'll like it. It's on Startup Misogis, a way to make a visible, memorable dent in your year. 

• Tacklebox
• No Whisper Ideas
• The North Fork Century
• The Ride
• Misogi
• Jesse Itzler
• Proof That You Can Do Hard Things

00:00 Intro - What This Is
01: 34 A 100 Mile Bike RIde
02:22 A Misogi Challenge
04:16 Startup Misogis

Got a notebook full of startup ideas but no clue which one to build first? In this week’s pen-and-paper episode, we walk through the ERP—Early Rep Potential—Rubric, our simple scoring system that shows you which idea you can run the fastest customer “reps” on. We’ll put Erica (a Tacklebox member juggling “easily twenty ideas”) to the test, scoring her two biggest concepts live. Want to follow along? Grab an editable copy of the ERP template at gettacklebox.com when you sign up for our No Whisper Ideas weekly article here.

• Tacklebox
• No Whisper Ideas

00:30 When You’ve Got Lots of Startup Ideas (Meet Erica)
02:32 The Two Types of Entrepreneurs
07:13 Erica’s Ideas
12:40 Smooth Jazz
13:05 Reps
16:20 The ERP Rubric
22:51 The ERP in Action

Today, we’re talking about startup identity—why you need one, and how it makes every decision you face way easier. We’ll talk swimming and nervous systems, walk through the Decision Equation, and help our good friend Carl figure out which customer to start with for his AI tool that helps adults learn Spanish. Then we’ll wrap with a simple framework to help you clearly define your startup’s identity. It’s practical, a little weird, and really important. On to it.

• Tacklebox
• Hero

Timestamps

00:30 Your Startup Identity
01:30 How to Swim
04:17 How to Learn Something New
06:34 Re-learning How to Make Decisions
08:45 Tacklebox - two week free trial
09:15 Carl’s Idea - AI for Learning Spanish
13:13 The Decision Equation
14:15 Picking a Customer
19:30 Identity: Your Decision Filter
21:30 Four Identity Exercises
24:13 The End: What Do You Want?

We're Back!  Today, we'll talk about Extreme Quality - the best way to create contrast for your startup and the antidote to the average stuff most people are pumping out. We’ll unpack the six key components of identifying a high-leverage customer moment, explore how the Car Guy built a wildly successful business by eliminating hassle, and explain how most founders are focusing on the wrong thing. Also, Gladiators and Steve Carmichael.

• Tacklebox (new free 2-week trial)
• Byldd - $10k one month MVP

00:27 Anxious People
04:17 Email Opportunity
08:20 Extreme Quality
10:00 Byldd - a development agency we trust
11:10 The Quality Misunderstanding
12:20 The Quality Equation
14:43 Example: The Car Guy
19:09 The Six Components of a Moment
23:33 A Clarification, and The End

Today, we'll talk about the four steps I'd take if I needed to start a startup in 2025. We'll also talk about idiots.

We begin by embracing the reality that both founders and customers are irrational. Then, we build out steps and a process to address this. We start with a life audit, increase our Luck Surface Area, tackle the unit economics of working with one customer, and build out a system for accountability. This is a fun episode - one of my favorites in a while. 

• Tacklebox - code "MuchAdoAboutStuffing" for 20% off month one
• How to Engineer Luck
• A Weekly Prioritization and Audit Framework for Entrepreneurs

Timestamps

00:30 Intro - A Listener Email
02:59 A Note on Idiots
06:33 Part 1: Actually Make Time For A Startup
08:23 The Life Audit Exercise
11:33 The Budget Audit Exercise
12:23 Smooth Jazz
12:54 Part 2: Plan for Luck
16:38 Part 3: Focus on One Person
20:16 Part 4: A System
24:30 The End: Enthusiasm

Today is episode two of testing an idea (AI for Parenting) live on the pod. We use a second round of interviews to go deep on the actual problem we're solving for parents, pull inspiration from an AI tool in the dementia care space, and end up with a Wedge product that'll use voice notes to reduce the pain of handoffs. We also hit on one of my favorite tactics - The Pain Text. Hot Frosty is in there, too, because why not. 
 

• Tacklebox Customer Interview Workshop
• You And Your Research - Richard Hamming 
• How to Find Your Wedge

00:30 Intro
01:20 Part 1 Recap
06:00 Picking the Problem
07:44 Interviews Round Two
10:54 The Text Prompt Tactic
14:51 What are the Stakes?
15:52 Customer Interview Workshops
16:20 The Wedge
21:01 Problems and Pain
22:20 The Stakes, Part Two
23:30 What’s Next