No One Will Write About You, and That’s Great News

Press is distracting, it leads to unpredictable events and sales cycles. In my last company, we got a feature on the cover of AOL, and it led to thousands of emails and hundreds of new customers. One problem! We didn't even have a product yet, and we had all of these new customers who urgently needed our help. With the press, my ego inflated and I started receiving all sorts of congratulatory messages. The team was so excited, we were close to feeling like a real company. It should be of no surprise that we didn't end up helping many people at all.

After that experience, I began to be repulsed with the award frenzy among founders, the search for recognition, especially among founders that hadn't even built anything yet. For my next entrepreneurial experience, I decided to just go do, under the radar. While it’s natural that once a company is successful, people become interested in the founder, but I truly believe that premature press-related marketing is just not as sustainable as getting referred by customers who you have actually helped.