Hey, Aaron here! Welcome to this bi-monthly startup newsletter. In each write-up, I tackle questions about building products, financial planning, growth, and raising capital! Today we dive into -

Education:

Looking for a dev agency? Here’s what to know -

Opinion:

Validation first, team second

In my experience, many founders waste their early momentum trying to build a team when they should be validating their idea in any (and every) way that they can.

It’s not that teams aren’t important — eventually, they’re critical. This isn’t about what’s unimportant — it’s about what’s more important. The problem, the solution, and the demand are critical drivers of the business. They are the nucleus that the team circles around. And, as much as I don’t like to admit it, these problems/solutions/demand efforts last the length of the business, while most teams go through several evolutions.

Most early-stage founders don’t fail because they didn't hire a designer or didn't have a cofounder. They fail because they never proved that the market cared about what they were building. It sounds harsh, but I promise it’s not intended to be. If anything, it’s a plea. A plea for founders to spend time on things that matter vs. knowingly wasting their time on things that don’t.

Why Validation Must Come First

Often, founders convince themselves they "need a team" to move forward. Sometimes that's true — you might need a technical partner to build a working minimum viable product (MVP), or a designer to shape a product into something sellable. But most of the time? It’s just an excuse.

You don’t need a cofounder to:

• Reach out to potential leads and book discovery calls.

• Run basic customer interviews.

• Build a simple landing page.

• Hire a freelance designer to make a logo that looks clean and credible.

• Put up basic content and start testing messaging.

Especially today, with the rise of low-code tools, freelance marketplaces, and a growing number of GPTs, there’s almost nothing stopping founders from making real progress alone.

Speed matters more than perfection. Progress matters more than appearances.

When you focus on validation first — interviews, organic marketing tests, MVP iterations — you do two powerful things at once: You sharpen your own skills, and you make yourself a stronger magnet for the right future teammates.

People want to join motion. Not a Google Drive folder full of ideas.

Quality Over Quantity: Team Building Done Right

There’s another trap early founders fall into: hiring “half-resources” for half-pay.

Two part-time marketers who kind of know what they're doing won't outperform one full-time closer who’s dialed in. Two junior developers won’t out-ship one strong, focused engineer.

Founders stretch their early dollars to build teams that look busy, but real businesses aren't built on appearances. They're built on results.

At pre-seed and seed, every dollar and every hour must move the business closer to validation or cash flow. There’s no room for dead weight hires. No room for "potential" with no results.

The business should pursue validation to earn a great team.

And the team, when it comes, should drive ROI-positive activities to earn their place.

This isn’t about being unfair or being “cold” in business; this is about a fair deal. If you keep people in your business who don’t do valuable work, you signal to everyone who does do valuable work that it’s not necessary. And then, slowly, often silently, the business culture grinds to a halt.

My Takeaways / Next Steps (if I’m a first-time founder)

• Default to validating alone (or with your original small team) unless you hit a true skills wall.

• Validate fast and lean. Interviews, landing pages, MVPs — all doable solo.

• Hire or partner based on immediate needs, not future dreams.

• Prioritize skill and ROI over bodies and titles.

Bottom line:

If you want a real company, validate first. Build second. The best team members aren’t looking for dreams — they’re looking for proof you’re serious.

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That’s It For Today!

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Written By Aaron @(un)conventional Team