Founder/CEO @ LEANSTACK | Bestselling author and founder

I have bootstrapped several products to millions of users and worked with thousands of early-stage entrepreneurs worldwide - helping them systematically find repeatable and scalable business models using my battle-tested playbooks. 

Instead of:
-Spending several months building a product you hope people will buy.

Imagine a world where you:
- Spend several weeks defining a product you know people will buy.

For aspiring or early-stage founders:

If you’re looking to bootstart your idea, consider joining my 30-day Business Model Design Challenge below: 

You'll learn how to:
- Find or test a big idea worth pursuing,
- Design a business model blueprint,
- Stress-test your idea before investing time, money, and effort. 

Join the next Business Model Design Challenge:
https://runlean.ly/challenge

Ash Maurya

There are three core jobs of a business model. 

1. CREATE VALUE
You create value with your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). To craft a compelling UVP, you need to deeply understand your Customer Segments and their Problem(s).

2. DELIVER VALUE
You deliver value through your Solution and Channels.

3. CAPTURE VALUE
Value capture (getting paid) lies at the intersection of your Cost Structure and Revenue Streams.

The Lean Canvas also helps you describe two more essential jobs:

4. MEASURE VALUE
You measure the output of these three jobs using your Key Metrics.

5. DEFEND VALUE
You deter copycats and competitors using your Unfair Advantage.

Lean Canvas = Business Model Story

I build systematic frameworks for early-stage founders. Author and creator of Lean Canvas.

Your product is NOT "the product" of your startup.
Your business model is THE PRODUCT.

Too many founders obsess over features while ignoring:
→ Customer segments
→ Problems
→ Revenue streams  
→ Distribution channels
→ Cost structure
→ Key metrics

Building the best solution means nothing if the other pieces in the puzzle don't fit.

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In 2006, I had 6 months of runway left. Everyone told me to raise money immediately.

Instead, I did the opposite.

My mentor asked one question: 'Would you rather spend 6 months pitching to investors or pitching to customers?'

I picked customers. Six months later, we were profitable. Never raised that round.

The counterintuitive truth: When you're running out of money, don't chase investors. Chase customers.

Every founder thinks they need funding to get customers. It's backwards. Customers fund your business. Investors fund your story.

Which would you rather have?

Most founders pitch their solution the same way to everyone.

Big mistake.

Investors care about market size and traction.
Customers care about their problems and outcomes.
Advisors care about learning from their experience.

Your solution stays the same. Your story must change.

Good entrepreneurship isn't about changing worldviews—it's about framing your business model in terms of your audience's existing worldview.

Are you telling the right story to the right audience?

Simple models help us understand the complex. 

Before investing in any company, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger use a latticework of mental models to evaluate the company. 

If it passes their tests, they move all in. Otherwise, they do nothing and wait.

Evaluating early-stage ideas is no different.

I have settled on 3 universal (product-agnostic) mental models that I use to
- baseline progress,
- prioritize risks, and
- formulate a “right action, right time” next step.

Here they are: 

1. Lean Canvas: Deconstruct an idea using 12 basic building blocks.

2. Customer Factory: Chart key milestones using 5 customer-centric metrics.  

3. Customer Forces: Understand customer behavior using 4 causal forces. 

BELIEFS + METRICS + INSIGHTS = BUSINESS MODEL STORY

Most founders think a great offer is about discounts and bonuses.

But the most powerful offers tell a story that makes saying no feel irrational.

I call this a "Mafia Offer" 

Here's a 4-Act structure:

Act 1: Identify an undeniable market shift (external to your product)
Act 2: Show why their current solution can't bridge the gap
Act 3: Demonstrate your different approach (transformation, not features)
Act 4: Present pricing as natural extension of the story

After rebuilding my pitch this way, I no longer get butterflies in my stomach when I reach the pricing conversation. 

Customers don't buy products. They buy a promise of something different AND better.

Are you pitching features or selling a customer story?

The hill climbing problem in startups:

Rushing to pick your first customer segment is like getting trapped on a local peak - you find success, but miss the mountain next door.

Start by brainstorming ALL possible customers. Test multiple segments in parallel.

Your odds of finding the best market increase dramatically.

I gave AI complete control of my product launch.
Not just "helping with copy" or "writing some emails."

Full control. Landing pages. Customer segmentation. Multi-variant email campaigns. Sales tracking automation.

The result? 209 paid customers in 40 days. Before the product was finished.

But here's the plot twist that surprised me:

The AI didn't win because it was smarter than me.
It won because it helped me focus on what I do best, while it took care of the rest. 

Full video here: https://lnkd.in/gruip9bq

Open video: AI Ran My Product Launch (Crazy Results) on youtu.be

Most startups defer pricing because their MVP feels "too minimal" to charge for.

This is backwards thinking.

Price is part of your product. It shapes customer perception and defines your market position.

If you intend to charge eventually, charge from day one. Getting paid is your first real validation - not downloads or signups.

The biggest mistake in customer interviews? Leading with your pitch.

When you pitch first:
• Customers pretend to agree
• You do most of the talking
• You hear what you want to hear

Instead, frame it as learning:
• Set context, then let them talk
• Ask how they solve the problem today
• Seek their advice, not their approval

People love helping. They hate being sold to.

Get the frame right and customer interviews become easy.

Most founders think they need to quit their day job to validate a startup idea.

This is backwards.

With the right approach, you can achieve problem-solution fit in 90 days working just 10-15 hours per week. Only then does going full-time make sense.

The myth of "take a leap of faith" has burned more founders than market crashes ever will.

What if the biggest risk isn't your idea failing, but you never properly testing it?

If you can't convert a warm prospect in a 20-minute face-to-face interview, it will be much harder to convert a visitor in under 8 seconds on your landing page.

Yet most founders skip this step entirely.

They build their MVP, launch a website, deploy AI agents, and then wonder why their conversion rates are terrible.

Worse, they don't know why.

Test your messaging, pricing, and user flow with 10 early adopters first. 

If you can't sell them, you won't fare any better with strangers.

The harsh feedback you get face-to-face will save you months of poor online performance.

Don't rush outside the building without first stress-testing your idea.
Stress testing is NOT customer testing, BUT business model testing.

2025 was the year of vibe coding.
Developers typed vibes into Cursor. AI wrote the code. Products shipped in hours.

But here's what nobody's talking about: AI just made the biggest startup mistake easier than ever.

The (Faster) Build Trap.

And it's creating thousands of zombie startups—built in days, dead in weeks (which I guess is still better than dead in months)

---

A founder I know spent 3 weeks building a B2B scheduling tool with Cursor. Beautiful interface. Clean code. Zero customers.

"AI made building so fast," he told me. "Why waste time on validation?"

Sound familiar?

Before AI, building took months. So we validated first. We had to.

Now building takes days. So we think we can skip validation. 

That's the trap.

---

But here's the plot twist:

The same AI creating this problem is also the solution.

Traditional lean startup? Plan-Do-Check-Act took 6 weeks per cycle. You'd run maybe 8-10 cycles per year if you were disciplined.

Most founders ran 2-3 cycles, got impatient, and just started building.

Why? Validation felt slower than building.

2026 changes the math completely.

---

AI collapses the PDCA cycle from 6 weeks to 6 hours:

• Plan experiments: 2 hours (not 2 weeks)
• Build tests: 2 hours (not 2 weeks)  
• Analyze results: 1 hour (not 1 week)
• Decide next steps: 1 hour (not 1 week)

You can now run 50+ validation cycles in the time it used to take to run 5.

That's not incremental improvement. That's a different game.

I'm calling these Vibe Startups—companies that use AI to not just build fast, but validate as fast as they build (before and after).

---

Speed isn't the competitive advantage anymore. Everyone has speed.

Systematic validation at the speed of your thinking is the new moat.

---

Watch the full breakdown of how Vibe Startups work and why the 75-year old PDCA loop just became a lot more relevant (again):

https://lnkd.in/gXWHQpMn

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youtube.com

The New Way Startups Will Be Built in 2026

Joseph Bunga

Everyone tells you to start with a free plan and worry about revenue later.

That's exactly what's killing most startups.

Even MailChimp spent years as premium-only before introducing its famous free tier.

The problem with freemium-first:
• You give away too much (like an artist wanting appreciation)
• Low conversions drown you in non-actionable data
• Free users give bad advice about hypothetical features

The premium-first approach:
1. Charge from day one - pricing is your riskiest assumption
2. Launch with one plan for one customer segment
3. Target early adopters (they're not price sensitive)
4. Use trials or guarantees instead of free plans
5. Add freemium later as a marketing tactic

When I 10x'd my prices and repositioned from B2C to B2B, conversions went UP and I doubled paying customers.

Premium is a marketing tactic, not a business model.

Are you building for users who might buy or customers who do buy?

Most founders start backward.

They get hit with an idea and try to estimate how big it can get. But if you had three ideas to work on, wouldn't you always start with your most promising one?

Instead of starting with an idea, start with a goal.

Define your minimum success criteria: the smallest outcome you'd need in 3 years to call it a success. Then stress test your business model against that criteria.

If your model can't deliver your minimum bar, fix it before investing time and money.

What's your minimum success criteria?

The biggest startup myth? You need a "perfect idea" to begin.

I've seen countless founders wait years for that breakthrough moment that never comes. Meanwhile, successful entrepreneurs use a completely different approach.

In this video, I reveal the "Innovator's Gift" framework—a systematic way to find viable startup ideas hiding in plain sight.

Watch: https://lnkd.in/gts9nruM

Stop chasing fictional 5-year forecasts.

Most founders waste time inventing big goals or pulling out Excel wizardry when pitching investors. Even Mark Zuckerberg didn't think Facebook would be a billion-dollar company.

Instead, define your Minimum Success Criteria: the smallest outcome that makes 3 years of your life worth it.

Pick your game:
→ Level 1: $100K/year (solopreneur)
→ Level 2: $1M/year (small team)
→ Level 3: $10M/year (VC-backable)
→ Level 4: $100M/year (unicorn)

There's no right answer. But you must pick a game to play it well.

What game are you actually playing?

Wife & Mother of 7 | Venture Capital | Scientist | TOP 30 Patent Drafters | United States Patent Examiner | Violinist | Polyglot | STEM Children's Author | #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law

Kathryn Vatt is a scientist, former USPTO Examiner, and devoted wife and mother of seven, with over 25 years shaping the future of innovation. Recognized as one of the Top 30 Patent Drafters and Prosecutors and the #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law, Kathryn has built a career at the intersection of science, law, and business—helping inventors, startups, and global companies turn creativity into competitive advantage.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Biology) and Johns Hopkins University (M.S. Biotechnology), Kathryn is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor in Patent Law at the Franklin Pierce School of Law, one of the world’s leading IP programs. Her rare cross-disciplinary background gives her both the scientific insight and the legal strategy to protect ideas at the highest level.

At the USPTO, Kathryn examined thousands of patent applications, conducted exhaustive prior art searches, and made determinations that shaped industries and influenced global innovation. After leaving the Patent Office, she founded Vatt IP Management, where she develops bulletproof IP strategies, drafts airtight applications, and supports litigation teams in defending patents. She also mentors engineering and life science students through Arizona State University’s Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and judges international startup competitions, nurturing the next generation of innovators.

Her entrepreneurial vision extends to her ventures:

My Startup Shield™, a founder-focused program that helps startups secure their innovations before they pitch. It protects ideas at the earliest, most vulnerable stage and positions founders to raise capital with confidence

My AI Examiner™, the world’s first proprietary patent search platform that combines examiner-trained AI Patent Examiners with Kathryn’s own human review. Unlike conventional tools, it doesn’t just search faster—it “thinks like an examiner,” offering inventors and startups clarity, precision, and strategy.

MyKidVentors™, a STEM-inspired children’s book series born from her seven children’s real “What if?” questions. Through these imaginative stories, she nurtures curiosity in the next generation, showing that every big invention begins with a single question.

For Kathryn, the same motherly instinct that guides her family fuels her professional mission: to protect, guide, and nurture startups with care, strategy, foresight, and integrity. She believes innovation doesn’t just start in labs or boardrooms—it starts in the curious minds of those brave enough to ask, “What if?”

Kathryn V.

FALL IN LOVE...

with the process.

If you’re building something right now,
here’s the shift that changes everything:
Fall in love with the process, not the results.

Results are unpredictable.
They’re delayed.
They show up on their own timeline.

The process is what you live in every day.
Consistency isn’t about intensity.
It’s about showing up when it’s boring.
When it’s quiet.
When no one is watching or applauding.

Founders don’t burn out because they’re doing too much.
They burn out when all their hope is tied to an outcome
instead of the work itself.

When you love the process,
progress stops feeling fragile.
Missing a day doesn’t feel like failure...
it feels like life.
And you simply come back the next day.

Consistency compounds.
Small steps add up.
And over time, the work begins to shape you
as much as you shape it.

So if today feels slow,
if momentum feels distant,
if the results aren’t there yet...
stay.

Keep building.
Keep learning.
Keep becoming.

Fall in love with the process.
The results will meet you there. 💛

Founder Friday 💫

Some founders build with brilliance.
Some build with courage.
And every once in a while, you meet someone who builds with both brilliance and heart.

Rachel Buchanan is one of those people.

Rachel has been working in blockchain since 2017...long before trust, verification, and integrity became buzzwords or regulatory requirements. 

She didn’t wait for permission. She didn’t chase what was fashionable. She stayed true to what she knew mattered.

That clarity is why she’s now building IntegraLayer, focused on certificate integrity, verification, and trust. Not because it’s trendy. But because it’s necessary.

But here’s what I want people to really know about Rachel.
She is not just thoughtful and brilliant...she is kind.
She is steady.
She leads with integrity in how she builds and how she shows up for others.

That’s why it meant so much that she entrusted the protection of her intellectual property to me. That kind of trust is never taken lightly. 

I’m truly honored and so happy to welcome her as part of the moatly Crew™ 😊 .

And this moment is also a reminder of how meaningful real connections are.
Thank you to my beautiful friend, Bettina Briz, for introducing us, and to founders Kevin Jurovich and Timo Gehrke of Hubble, for introducing Bettina to me in the first place. 

The ripple effect Hubble creates through authentic human connection is genuinely life-changing. One introduction can change the entire trajectory of a founder’s journey.

Rachel, I’m cheering you on!! Not just as a founder, but as a human.
The world needs more builders like you.

#founderfriday #womenfounders #kindnessinleadership #trustbydesign #moatlycrew™ #moatly™ #hubble #buildingwithheart

One of the things I respect most about thoughtful investors
is when they’re honest about what they’re really looking for.
David Y.’s post is spot on.

At the very earliest stages, investors aren’t betting on a polished product.
They’re not betting on traction, revenue, or perfect data.
They’re betting on the person.

Because at pre-seed, almost everything is unfinished.
The product will change.
The strategy will evolve.
The plan will break...more than once.

What doesn’t change as easily is the founder’s ability to keep going
when nothing is guaranteed.

And here’s the part I love most:
The kind of “swagger” that actually matters isn’t loud.
It isn’t hype.
It isn’t performative confidence.

It’s quieter than that.
It’s the steadiness of someone who is aligned with a purpose bigger than their pitch deck.

Someone who, “treats the company as a vehicle, not an identity.”
Someone who keeps building when no one is clapping yet.

As a former patent examiner and now someone who works closely with founders, I see this same pattern over and over again.

The founders who endure aren’t the ones chasing validation.
They’re the ones making progress in silence.
Learning.
Adapting.
Following up with substance.
Showing up again after the fifth setback.

So if you’re a founder feeling discouraged by a slow response, a long diligence cycle, or a quiet room...
this may not be rejection.
It may be observation.

And sometimes, the most important thing you can do
is exactly what you’re already doing:
keep going.

That kind of inevitability?
It can’t be faked.
And the right people notice.

I’m a VC who hates most VCs. I live to help people identify and scale their gifts.

A pre-seed truth most founders miss:
Investors aren’t betting on your product or idea.

Our firm spoke with 10,000+ founders over the last 3 years.
We invested in 25 of them.

That’s <0.2%.

We’re not unique.
That ratio is normal at the pre-seed stage.

At pre-seed:
- The product is usually incomplete
- Revenue is often $0
- Data is thin or non-existent

So what are investors actually evaluating?
The founder.

More specifically?
Swagger.

Not pitch polish.
Not hype.
Not “founder energy.”

Pre-seed swagger is quieter.

It’s the strength that shows up when a founder is aligned with something bigger than the company...and treats the company as a vehicle, not an identity. 

At pre-seed, investors aren’t really asking:
- “Is this the best idea?”

They’re asking:
- “Is this person inevitable?”

Inevitable doesn’t mean certain.
It means disciplined enough to survive uncertainty.

BUT swagger doesn’t replace execution.
It signals who will still be executing after the first five failures.

And that's why good pre-seed investors take their time.

The delay isn’t always disinterest.
It’s often a test.

At pre-seed, we’re watching:
- Do you keep building without validation?
- Do you follow up with substance, not pressure?
- Do you show progress when no one is watching?
- Do you adapt… or just re-pitch?

What founders experience as “foot-dragging” is often pre-seed diligence in motion.

Early investing isn’t about moving fast.
It’s about identifying who keeps moving when nothing is guaranteed.

That’s who gets funded at pre-seed.
And that’s where real swagger comes from. 

---

If this resonates, Founder Chapel is where we unpack this kind of founder formation.

Link in the comments.

31-27 🐻 

"Good, better, best!
Never let it rest!
Till your good gets better,
And your better gets best!"

Not as pressure.
Not as perfection.
But as a reminder.

This isn’t just a post-game locker room chant. 
It’s something all of us can carry…whether we’re riding a wave of success or sitting quietly in a lull.

Because becoming doesn’t stop when things are going well.
And it doesn’t end when momentum slows.

Good means you’re here.
Better means you’re willing to grow.
Best isn’t a finish line…it’s a direction.

Some seasons are loud with wins.
Others are quiet with reflection.
Both matter.

And in both, the invitation is the same:
keep becoming.

Not by rushing.
Not by burning yourself out.
But by staying open.
By learning.
By choosing to show up again, exactly as you are…still caring, still trying.

Wherever you are right now…
celebrating or recalibrating…
this motto holds true.

Good. Better. Best.
A reminder that growth is ongoing,
and that we are never done becoming. 💛

DON'T WALK THE DESERT ALONE

I am resharing my friend Kevin Jurovich’s post because what he is building is truly invaluable for founders.

What he shares about those early days, learning on the go and wondering whether the struggle meant failure or growth, is a season so many founders live through quietly. It takes courage to speak about that part of the journey with honesty.

What stands out most to me is how he turned that experience into something generous. Instead of keeping those lessons to himself, he is creating space for founders to hear the truth behind building a company. The uncertainty. The doubt. The moments where continuing feels hard.

Founders Uncovered feels like an offering to the people still in it. A reminder that difficulty does not mean you are doing it wrong. Often it means you are doing something that matters.

By sharing real stories from people who have built before us, Kevin is helping founders feel less alone and more capable of staying in the work. That kind of encouragement can change everything.

So proud of you, Kevin. This is going to help a lot of people. Cannot wait for Season 1.

👉 Join the list for Episode 1. https://lnkd.in/gi2NaDMf

Co-founder, CEO at Hubble | Lifelong optimist

Back in 2019, I used to walk around SoMa in San Francisco listening to founder podcasts, trying to figure out if what I was feeling was failure…or just the process.

How I Built This, Masters of Scale, then later Lenny’s Podcast and My First Million. That was my founder education.

I was obsessed with learning from people who came before me.

Because when you’re in the desert as a founder...trying everything, hitting dead end after dead end, it helps to hear that the people you admire went through the exact same thing.

Behind every “overnight success” are years of doubt, false starts, and almost quitting.

That’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of Founders Uncovered.

I’ve teamed up with Drew Glover and Nick Madrid, CFA at Uncovered Media to host a podcast focused on the real stories behind building companies...the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable parts we usually skip.

There are so many incredible founders out there quietly changing the world. Their stories deserve to be told.

Season 1 drops next month. Our hope is that you walk away feeling educated, inspired, and a little more optimistic that you can get it done too.

One conversation can change everything.

👉 Join the list for Episode 1. I’ll send it the moment it drops.
https://lnkd.in/gi2NaDMf

Can’t wait to see more founders win. 🚀

#startups #entrepreneurship

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