Why 90% of Founders Burn Out Before Growth [Notes from my latest Q/A]
Hey everyone! 👋
I recently had a great conversation with Maryam Khan (who worked with me back at BIPF) as she wanted to feature me in her newsletter. She peppered me with a bunch of great questions I know many of you have been asking me about too, so I thought I'd share a few teaser Qs here in this post. To read the full interview, subscribe to her newsletter.
Q1: Hi KP, thanks for doing this. I want to start off by sharing an observation that many founders get stuck after launching - growth feels slow. What's the first growth mindset an early-stage founder should adopt?
My answer: Growth isn't a silver bullet - it's a way of life. You have to believe in it, commit to it, and play the long game.
The key is embracing experimentation while being both active AND patient. Most people are either passive expecting miracles, or they're experimenting but get impatient after a week or month.
Think in terms of at least 12 months of effort. Pick the channel you're most comfortable with - for me it's been Twitter for 7 years - and invest in it for the long run.
Here's the truth: "for a long time, your efforts will feel ordinary until one day, they suddenly take off and become extraordinary. But you can't time it." It's like farming - you plant seeds knowing they'll sprout eventually.
Q2: How can founders use building in public to attract real customers, not just followers?
My answer: If you're only optimizing for follower count, you'll do crazy, irrational things. Be obsessed with customers, not followers.
Start by being crystal clear about your ICP. If you're building for B2B account executives, your content should consistently speak to them: "Last week I talked to two AEs at mid-market companies, and here are three patterns they're seeing."
Focus on the pains, dreams, and problems of your ICP. Don't overshare random stuff like "I ate a banana" - that's not building in public, that's just oversharing.
Always ask yourself: if you were on the receiving end of this post, would you even read it?
Q3: How can community actually turn into a growth engine for early-stage startups?
My answer: Community is massively underrated because it's high-effort compared to paid ads. But here's why it's magical: Community builds trust, trust builds brand, and brand is what differentiates you.
Think about 40 toothpastes on a shelf - you pick Colgate because it has a brand. The others only have products. Brand is compound interest on trust.
In the age of AI where features can be copied in 30 minutes, human presence and community can't be replicated. Do things that don't scale early on - the Stripe founders literally went laptop to laptop installing their product.
Q4: You've helped 140+ startups launch on Product Hunt. What separates successful launches from forgettable ones?
My answer: The biggest mistakes I see:
Not giving enough prep time - the great ones spend 2-3 weeks while the poor launches expect crazy results in 2 days
Trying to do everything alone - leverage an experienced Hunter (shameless plug for me) and others who have helpful playbooks
Not being engaged on launch day - it's a party, ping your warm connections and friends in startups, bring the excitement!
Q5: If you were starting a new company today, what would be your first 3 growth moves?
Building in public - Daily content about customer learnings, industry challenges, giving gratitude to early believers
Community - Small Slack channel with early users, frequent Zooms, being genuinely in their corner. Build a reputation that you're on their side.
Prolific content creation - Every piece of content is like a free ad in someone's feed. "Content is the fastest way to stay top of mind, and being top of mind is the fastest way to win market share."
Q6: What's one small but powerful growth habit founders can start this week?
Set a 5-minute daily calendar reminder to ask: "What's one growth move I'm going to do today?"
Most founders treat growth as an afterthought, waking up thinking about what to code or build. But in the age of AI, products are commodities. The final frontier is distribution - getting eyeballs, earning trust, building trust.
That’s all for now. Which of these resonated most with you? Hit reply and let me know what growth challenges you're facing.
Keep building,
KP
P.S. Huge thanks to Maryam for the super thoughtful questions! Here’s a link to her newsletter again!
Originally published on KP's Column · Sep 12, 2025