Sam’s Newsletter

Sam’s Newsletter

Home
Archive
About
Operating well – what I learned at Stripe
Over the last few years, I’ve grown from a fine to a good operator.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
6
"Founder Mode" in context
Paul Graham has written a great new essay called Founder Mode, which argues, in summary that great founders have hired great executives and it’s not…
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
2
Favorite books on the history of the retail business
I’m a bit… obsessed with business histories.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
5
How many businesses-in-a-box are there?
Every category has a transition point from when the ‘easy’ things get done to when the hard ones remain.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
1
Four sayings that changed how we operate
“The aesthetic of competence”
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
2
Unconventional approaches to conventional markets: what Boulton & Watt looks for
I can describe Boulton & Watt’s process of vetting ideas, but I think in practice that is less interesting than it seems.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
1
The single hardest problem in startups
There’s never a perfect answer for most situations you’ll run into as a founder.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
Don't build for yourself
There’s a startup cliché that you should “build for yourself,” “solve your own problem,” and “work on something you’re passionate about.”
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
What you can do
A few years ago I was at a company where I felt urgent changes needed to be made.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
Analogies create, they don't criticize
Creation happens through analogy and recombination.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
1
Steel threads: the single most important product market fit technique that I use (that no has heard of)
I learned about the engineering concept of ‘steel threads’ about ten years ago from a colleague who had come from Microsoft.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
2
A word on incubators
An incubator - much like a producer - combines ideas, people, and money to create a new company.
 • 
Sam Gerstenzang
© 2025 Sam Gerstenzang
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture