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Taco Bytes: 10 Lessons for 10 Years of Building HeyTaco
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To celebrate HeyTaco’s 10th birthday, Una sits down with HeyTaco founder Doug Dosberg for a heartfelt and hilarious trip down memory lane. In this special Taco Bytes episode, Doug shares 10 powerful lessons from a decade of building a gratitude-powered business—complete with taco costumes, customer stories, and Beyoncé GIFs.
If you’re a startup founder, team builder, or taco enthusiast, this one’s for you.
Highlights from the Episode
- The Big 1-0: Doug reflects on what it feels like to hit the 10-year mark and why it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.
- Behind the List: How he went from “I don’t have any lessons” to “I have too many lessons.”
- Lesson Threads: The top 10 takeaways cover everything from building a bootstrapped SaaS to designing human-centered recognition.
Doug’s 10 Lessons for 10 Years
- Building a business is hard — It takes time, patience, and the courage not to quit when things get tough.
- Don’t do it for the money — Solving a real problem beats chasing revenue any day.
- Work on a problem you actually feel — Doug built HeyTaco because he knew what it felt like to do meaningful work and feel invisible.
- Your customers are the best investors you’ll ever have — He bootstrapped HeyTaco from day one, and never took outside funding.
- Tools don’t create culture. People do. — A moving story about a team using tacos to lift up a teammate shows that culture lives in moments, not mechanics.
- Customer service is the product — Doug still checks the support inbox. Listening to users fuels innovation.
- Recognition works best when it’s imperfect — Typos, emojis, and awkward phrasing are features, not bugs.
- Recognition is a leading indicator — Tacos often spike before major milestones (like a little ChatGPT launch 👀).
- Recognition reveals what actually matters — Teams can reverse-engineer their real values by looking at what teammates thank each other for.
- HeyTaco is just a vehicle — The mission is bigger: help people treat each other better and feel appreciated at work.
Also in This Episode
- Doug’s taco costume makes a triumphant return
- Una compares the HeyTaco dashboard to a football stadium noise meter (she’s not wrong)
- A spicy debate about AI vs. human support
Favorite Quote
“HeyTaco is just a vehicle. The real work is helping people treat each other better and feel appreciated.”
View all episodes
By Doug Dosberg and Una JapundzaSend us Fan Mail
To celebrate HeyTaco’s 10th birthday, Una sits down with HeyTaco founder Doug Dosberg for a heartfelt and hilarious trip down memory lane. In this special Taco Bytes episode, Doug shares 10 powerful lessons from a decade of building a gratitude-powered business—complete with taco costumes, customer stories, and Beyoncé GIFs.
If you’re a startup founder, team builder, or taco enthusiast, this one’s for you.
Highlights from the Episode
- The Big 1-0: Doug reflects on what it feels like to hit the 10-year mark and why it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.
- Behind the List: How he went from “I don’t have any lessons” to “I have too many lessons.”
- Lesson Threads: The top 10 takeaways cover everything from building a bootstrapped SaaS to designing human-centered recognition.
Doug’s 10 Lessons for 10 Years
- Building a business is hard — It takes time, patience, and the courage not to quit when things get tough.
- Don’t do it for the money — Solving a real problem beats chasing revenue any day.
- Work on a problem you actually feel — Doug built HeyTaco because he knew what it felt like to do meaningful work and feel invisible.
- Your customers are the best investors you’ll ever have — He bootstrapped HeyTaco from day one, and never took outside funding.
- Tools don’t create culture. People do. — A moving story about a team using tacos to lift up a teammate shows that culture lives in moments, not mechanics.
- Customer service is the product — Doug still checks the support inbox. Listening to users fuels innovation.
- Recognition works best when it’s imperfect — Typos, emojis, and awkward phrasing are features, not bugs.
- Recognition is a leading indicator — Tacos often spike before major milestones (like a little ChatGPT launch 👀).
- Recognition reveals what actually matters — Teams can reverse-engineer their real values by looking at what teammates thank each other for.
- HeyTaco is just a vehicle — The mission is bigger: help people treat each other better and feel appreciated at work.
Also in This Episode
- Doug’s taco costume makes a triumphant return
- Una compares the HeyTaco dashboard to a football stadium noise meter (she’s not wrong)
- A spicy debate about AI vs. human support
Favorite Quote
“HeyTaco is just a vehicle. The real work is helping people treat each other better and feel appreciated.”