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💎 10 Frameworks Andrew Wilkinson Wishes He Knew Earlier

💎 10 Frameworks Andrew Wilkinson Wishes He Knew Earlier

Ever wanted to have coffee with Andrew Wilkinson? Well this advice from him is second best.

Joel Hansen
April 05, 2024

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Hey, this is Napkin Notes: the only newsletter founders scroll through when that afternoon Friday zoom call meeting starts losing your attention. Don’t worry, we get it. And your secret’s safe with us 🤫

On deck today is learning about the internet entrepreneur who recently took his company public — Andrew Wilkinson, founder of Tiny (ironically a not-so-tiny collection of internet businesses).

Andrew’s gone from being a barista just over a decade ago, to overseeing a group of companies with more 300+ staff and tens of millions in revenue. And he puts out some damn fine tweets while juggling it all.

And if you didn’t know — he’s also one of the 4 celebrity VCs confirmed to be on our panel at the April 24th virtual Battle Royale Demo Day.

Oh and that demo day?

It’s coming along nicely btw.

We just gained another 200 RSVPs over the last couple days and are in the final stages of picking the founders to pitch 🥁

We’ve had over 100 pitches get submitted so we may be up late tonight 😅

Feeling the FOMO?

So would we if we missed a demo day where:

the founder of Hootsuite,
creator of MetaLab,
a CBC Dragon’s Den investor
and the earliest investor in Liquid Death

Was on a panel together…

Save your seat below to sleep soundly tonight

📰 In Other Tech News:

YC W24 demo day is all the craze. Reddit’s having a tough time in the stock market. CB Insights dropped a list of the top 100 AI startups of 2024. SBF got slammed with 25 years. Tiger Global VC fund raises $2.2B, 63% below its target. Yahoo purchased Artifact, the news startup made by the Instagram co-founders. AI design startup Vizcom raised $20M Series A round.

Time for a little word from our friends at The Rundown AI.

Get smarter on AI.

What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join early adopters reading The Rundown– the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.

Now, let’s hear some founder advice from someone who just took their company public.

💎 10 Gems Wilkinson Wish He Knew Earlier

Last week was Andrew’s 38th birthday 🎈

And instead of hosting a party, he shared a clutch reflection post on 38 lessons he’s learned.

Since 38 is a big number and you’re a busy founder, we boiled it down to 10 so you can swipe through the bangers.

Here they are:

💸 People generally do what they're incentivized to do
💡 Ideas are like tiny embers. They require immediate oxygen to turn into a fire. Take action.
😡 If someone seems upset, repeat back what they just said. They will usually calm down.
🧐 Everyone is too busy thinking about themselves to notice the pimple on your nose.
📣 Every time you say something out loud, your brain pounds it in a little further. Be careful what you say.
🎬 Don't tell, storytell.
🤯 There's no such thing as problems, only people problems.
🚘 You will want the things your ten closest friends want. Choose friends accordingly.
♣️ Humility always wins over extravagance. Don't count your poker chips at the table.
👀 Nobody wants to hear about how bad your day is going.

Bonus Lines of Wisdom:

📉 Be nice to people on your way up. You might meet them again on your way down.
🍷 Want to get invited to cool parties and dinners? Host them.
📲 Email people you admire. Sometimes they'll respond and good things will happen.
😴 Bad sleep, bad life.
💻 When writing emails, less is always more. Most people don't read past the first sentence. If worried about appearing too brusque, use a smiley face :-)

Liked these knowledge bombs?

Wait till you hear Andrew on a VC panel.

Michele, Ryan, Peter and Andrew are ready to rumble in a couple weeks and they can’t wait to see ya.

Are you gonna be there?