Hey, A-A-Ron 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 -

(un)conventional Update:

What’s new with me and (un)conventional

Those who have been following closely may have noticed I’ve been quiet the last few months. Following several successes in 2024, I was able to devote more time to doing what I enjoy most: providing education content, supporting ventures in which I’m personally invested, and providing ad hoc consulting on a case-by-case basis. 

Most importantly, this change has allowed me to move back home to Phoenix and be closer to my friends and family. I’ve been enjoying some quiet time with them during the holidays while also working behind the scenes to refocus (un)conventional and make it more impactful for the community. 

As always, I remain engaged in the startup ecosystem and am committed to providing the best quality education and mentorship to founders that I can. Cheers to 2025! 

Featured Resource:

Check out my refreshed website!

One of the biggest projects I’ve been working on in the background was updating the (un)conventional website. My goal this year is to expand the startup resources provided on the site even further, so stay tuned for announcements on new additions in this newsletter!  

For now, you can check out the improved site to learn more about my mission and explore current resources, including video education and templates designed to make certain founder tasks easier.

Opinion:

What does a new year mean for startups?

As we enter 2025, startups face many considerations, including changes in the political landscape, economic uncertainty, regulatory changes, and shifts in consumer preferences, to name a few.

Regardless of who wins, every election seems to have the energy of “the biggest election of our lifetime,” and while that can for sure draw attention — I believe founders, especially those of early-stage companies, are far better served using the opportunity to re-assess the needs of the present time vs. being overly concerned about political changes which they have such limited control over. For some founders this change may mean their solution is in more demand than ever, for others, it could mean that the problem they were solving isn’t as much of a problem anymore.

To me, the question isn’t “why did things change?” but “how should I react and adapt to this change?” I wish I could tell founders it’s all going to stay the same, and we could plan for years and years in advance with the utmost confidence. But we can’t. This means that founders who truly want to win must learn how to effectively adapt to change — especially when it isn’t in their favor.

A brutal (but also positive) truth that I learned through the study of historically successful startups is that even in times of widespread uncertainty or recession, consumers and businesses face problems that founders can work to solve. There is always an opportunity to build. In good times and bad, people have needs and wants for themselves and their businesses. Their needs and wants may change, but there is always a demand for solutions in the market. While I’ve never seen someone start a long-term successful company easily, I have seen them accomplish it if they just refuse to give up regardless of the circumstances. This doesn’t mean if you work 100 hours a week, you’ll automatically eventually win; it just means that good work on the right tasks, regardless of circumstance, can lead to a successful company.

• Airbnb was founded in 2008 during the Great Recession and capitalized on the need for affordable travel accommodations by allowing homeowners to rent out spare rooms or properties, revolutionizing the hospitality industry. 

• Uber launched in 2009 and introduced a cost-effective and convenient ride-sharing service, transforming urban transportation and creating new employment opportunities. 

Above, you see two clear examples of founders who solved problems hyper-relevant to their time, as the ability to either travel for cheaper/monetize the existing asset of your house for extra cash was a perfect offering from Airbnb. When it comes to Uber, I mean, can short-term travel get any cheaper/more convenient? Listen, I know we are all used to being angry about surge pricing in present times, but I want you to think back to the early days of Uber and how much cheaper, easier, and more efficient the world became overnight. I won’t go into the others that are included in this list, but to name a few, WhatsApp, Slack, Square, Pinterest, Groupon, Venmo, Cloudera, and Instagram were all created during some very rough times.

As we kick off the new year, my #1 recommendation for founders for 2025 is to prioritize these pillars: tasks, team, and operations. Most companies take 12 months to accomplish goals that could easily be accomplished in a quarter if they only had these things in order. And to be clear, I am not saying this is easy, I am saying it is possible and it doesn’t cost millions of dollars. A friend / partner of mine that we work with was able to more than double his monthly revenue after ~3 months of focusing on his team, tasks, and operations. He decided that he wanted to make progress towards his goals more than he wanted to keep doing things the way he was comfortable — then he put in the work.

1. Tasks: Determine your “real” work list - the things you absolutely need to have done or nothing else can realistically move forward. Founders, myself included, always want to do what they enjoy doing vs. what the real work is. Yes, unfortunately, that legal or financial or HR or compliance thing you’re putting off actually has to get done. I wish it didn’t either, I like building businesses because of the product and the sales, not because of HR (as an example - no hate for HR, just not my favorite), but if doing an HR task enables me to build more and sell more then it’s worth it to knock out and move forward.

2. Team: Identify team members who are trustworthy and competent - as in they can do their tasks actually well. Lots of founders, unfortunately, hire people who “do” tasks, but we don’t need tasks “done.” We need them “done well.” For example, a lawyer drafting your bylaws is a task that’s done. However, if that lawyer forgot to include nine critical clauses that any other lawyer would have known to include, you are in a bad position. We all need to have competent and trustworthy people who understand what needs to be done and can effectively execute on the “real” work list. Also, I don’t enjoy including this part, but it’s important to note it’s equally important to remove people who are not trustworthy or competent. It does the team or the future of the company no favors to keep around people who are not adding value. This is a lesson most founders don’t appreciate until they conclude their first startup (be it success or failure) — it’s always the people.

3. Operations: Establish systems and processes that enable the trustworthy and competent people to effectively execute on the “real” work list. It’s easy to go into operations mode and just keep building but I find it best to drive system and process development by the real work list so you don’t waste time working on things not necessary for near-term progress. Also, I tend to let the people who use the tool decide on the tool (within reason, of course). For example, when upgrading the internal system my team uses for day-to-day operations, I called my Director of IT and said, “what do you like / think is appropriate for our size / budget?” He said, “Wrike.” and I said, “ok.”

Happy New Year 😊

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That’s It For Today!

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Written By Aaron @(un)conventional Team