Omer Goren’s Post

If you’re scared of failure, you're going to have a rough time as a founder. Failing fast is actually a win. When your MVP isn’t working, it’s telling you something valuable before you’ve invested too much time or money. I’ve seen founders spend months polishing an idea without ever showing it to a single user. By the time they launch, they realise the market doesn’t want it. Test early, test often, and don’t be afraid of getting it wrong. It’s how you avoid getting it really wrong later. At Verticode, we believe in building, testing, and iterating fast. The sooner you find out what’s broken, the quicker you can fix it.

One of the best metrics most early stage founders don’t track? Hint: it’s not revenue. How many sales or customer calls does the founder do per week? If you aren’t talking to current or potential users of your product, you’re building in a silo. Revenue is a lagging indicator. User calls are leading.

Here's a simple growth hack that got us to revenue faster in the early days of Flowla: ❌ After every demo, we’d ask the prospect: “Would you like to try it out for free in exchange for feedback?” They’d usually say, “Sure.” But weeks would go by, and… nothing. No traction, no feedback, no movement. 👇So we changed the game: ✅ Instead of waiting for them to get started, we asked at the end of every demo to create a Slack channel with every prospect to share hacks two-ways: Here’s what happened next: 1- Faster communication: Fewer chasing messages. Two-way communication, and faster! was no longer a sales pitch, but genuine convos! 2- Built trust & authority: we not only talked product, but exchanged sales advice, hiring advice etc. which got us closer faster! 3- Quicker troubleshooting: Problems that would’ve killed momentum got solved more quickly. I shared this hack with a founder a few weeks ago, and today, they messaged me to say, “This helped a lot. I’ve been stuck on this for months!” 👉 Please share: "what's the 1 thing that helped you to get to revenue faster?

REMINDER: Early-stage founders, you can’t be everything to everyone. When you're starting out, it's tempting to say yes to every paying customer. You're desperate for revenue and validation, so you shape-shift to close each deal. But building a mediocre product for 100 different users won’t lead you where you want to go. You'll be pulled in so many directions that you can't excel at anything. Instead, pick one user persona and go all in. Obsess over serving that core customer better than anyone else possibly could. Build a product so indispensable, they can't imagine their lives without it. Then - and only then - should you expand to new user segments. It may feel painful to turn down revenue in the short term. But you can't build an enduring business if you're spread too thin. Hyperfocus is the key to crafting a world-class product that can scale. It's not about making a quick buck; it's about playing the long game.

Ever noticed how the magic happens when the right founder, a killer product, and a hungry market collide? It’s not just about having a great idea; it’s about the founder who gets the problem inside out and crafts a product that screams, "I'm the solution you've been waiting for!" When this trifecta aligns, you’ve hit the jackpot—founder-product-market fit. Think of it as a dance where the founder leads, the product follows with grace, and the market is the enthusiastic partner ready to groove. This isn’t just business jargon; it’s the secret sauce to scaling heights and not just scraping by. The real challenge? It’s keeping this trio in sync as you scale. That’s where the real game begins.

Have you met Hum’s President and Co-founder, Dustin Smith? Dustin oversees Hum’s product vision, strategy, and development, and he’s the mastermind behind Hum’s AI solutions. (He also moonlights as a marketing pro, sales wizard, and client success champion. A real multi-hyphenate, with a deep passion for using data to solve big challenges.) He’s a master of running up steep mountains – literally and figuratively. When he’s not talking about big ideas or thinking about the latest in AI for Hum, he’s usually talking about big ideas or thinking about the latest in AI for fun. 👨🏻💻 How he got started: “My earliest exposure to building things was Brio trains, K-NEX, and an Erector Set. I’d spend hours in my room building elaborate landscapes and machines.” His job in 3 emojis: 💡🛠️🤝 What he 💜’s most about Hum: “I once met a guy who was moving to Idaho: ‘There’s enough mountains and trails there to last me the rest of my life.’ I feel that way about Hum. There’s enough interesting problems and delightful people to solve them with to last me the rest of my career.” 😎 People might be surprised to know that: “I give tech support to my family members, but occasionally extract a tribute. Back in the mailing DVD days, I cued up 7 consecutive Leprechaun movies in her Netflix queue. My mother was puzzled when the 'wrong DVD' continued to arrive in the mail (she got it after number 3 or 4!) I also set up my sister’s first iPhone, including her school email, just before she went to college. She became a huge iPhone user, including emails to professors, unknowingly signing off as 'Turd Ferguson'. My other sister got a dating profile on Christian Mingle where among limited information, she was noted as a 'diligent chimney sweep', and to her credit attracted serious traffic (without a single photo!)." 💪 What he’s most proud of: “Startups are hard. I’m proud of the people at Hum who are committed to building something improbable, suffering together through the lowest lows, cinematically high-fiving during the highest highs, and exchanging GIFs through the vicissitudes in between.” -- #remotework #remoteteam

Good-bye summer, hello 3volve! Summer's wrapped up, but I'm thrilled to announce the launch of my firm, 3volve! After 20 years in the innovation trenches, I'm packaging my experience to help companies navigate the choppy waters of ops & product changes. Whether it’s new products&ops, back-end process overhaul, client customizations, outcome-based negotiations or AI discovery, I've got a battle-tested playbook to de-risk tech adoption through smart pilots. Test, iterate, 3volve. Curious about AI but not sure where to start? Let's chat! I specialize in designing practical AI pilots using your existing team across all functions. Leverage my insights from evaluating numerous AI vendors to fast-track your path to the most capable tools and dependable long-term partners (based on tech stack, strategy, and ability to deliver value for $). We'll test lightweight tools to find what clicks for your org and craft an AI strategy that actually works. Think of us as your product guru and GM rolled into one - no army of consultants required- only a single senior resource will collaborate with your team! Let's turn AI curiosity into clarity - pilot first, decide with confidence. 🚀

Wanna know what your biggest competitive differentiator you have as a startup competing with enterprise products? Speed. You could make a positioning tweak next week and score large results, but an enterprise doing $20-50M... they would take 7-8 months. You actively have LESS processes and management issues (and bureaucracy) on your plate - which makes it extremely easy for you to: - Study customer data - Make quick and accurate hypotheses - Iterate, test, and launch new/better products, new positioning, messaging that actually resonates with your market An enterprise doing any of this would be a 12-24-month project. You have the luxury of doing it within less than 3 months.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬—𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 👉 Where’s the real opportunity in AI beyond the noise? 👉 Which assumptions need to be challenged? 👉 How do I validate fast without wasting months? These are the questions that define the next generation of AI-driven B2B SaaS companies. But answering them takes more than thinking—it takes action. That’s why we created 𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑: a 4-weekend sprint for experienced founders who don’t just explore ideas—they stress-test them, refine them, and turn them into something real. This isn’t a passive program. It’s a space for those who move fast, challenge convention, and build alongside peers who operate at their level. With guidance from top operators, investors, and proven frameworks, founders leave with clarity, momentum, and an edge. Some will go on to build with us at Builders Studio. Others will take what they’ve learned and carve their own path. What matters is progress—moving with conviction toward something that lasts. We’re excited to kick off the first cohort and see what emerges from these four weekends. If this resonates, reach out. You might just be a fit. 🖖

Dirty Secret of Successful Startups - "we started as mostly an operations company, software was an afterthought, a way to deal with bottlenecks" - Uber, Airbnb, Reddit, Tinder While every single founder sprints towards LLM/AI, Software only, Automated only teams, Learn how an operations focused mindset can lead to explosive network effects based growth while keeping your tech investment low. Join me for a 2 part mental models investigation session where we'll explore underpinnings of the Cold Start Problem and The Mom Test Book https://lu.ma/v97889ig