5 Things Every Founder Must Do Before Launch

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Hot Takes Big Stakes

Natalie Holloway and Lana Elie

18 episodes

5 days ago

The real-world highs and lows of building a business—from early ideas scribbled on napkins to multimillion-dollar raises and the pivotal moments in between. Hosted by serial founders Natalie Holloway (Bala) and Lana Elie (Floom). We explore the unfiltered truths most founders are too polished (or too cautious) to say out loud. No hype, no jargon—just honest conversations about what actually works, what doesn’t, and what it really takes to grow something from nothing. Each week, Natalie and Lana sit down founder-to-founder to share sharp insights, fresh perspectives, and the kind of candor you rarely hear in the boardroom. Build your dream. Burn the playbook.

Entrepreneurship

Business

RSS

All content for Hot Takes Big Stakes is the property of Natalie Holloway and Lana Elie and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Entrepreneurship

Business

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5 Things Every Founder Must Do Before Launch | #15

Hot Takes Big Stakes

17 minutes 48 seconds

3 weeks ago

5 Things Every Founder Must Do Before Launch | #15

Before you build, pressure-test your idea the smart way. In this episode, we cover validating the problem, sizing the market, unit economics, stress-testing your time and finances, running a minimum-effort MVP, and checking competitors. You will hear practical tactics like using Reddit to find real pain, building a waitlist and pre-selling with Stripe, and plotting a quick competitor map. We wrap with two hot takes, be naive enough to start, and plan enough to execute.

More Hot Takes Big StakesInstagram: www.instagram.com/hottakesbigstakes/TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@hottakesbigstakes/More on Natalie Holloway:Personal Instagram: www.instagram.com/natalieholloway/“Bala” Instagram: www.instagram.com/bala/“Balacize” Instagram: www.instagram.com/balacize/Substack,“Working Out in Heels”: natalieholloway.substack.comBook a 1-on-1 Call: intro.co/NatalieHollowayMore on Lana Elie-Meyers:Personal Instagram: www.instagram.com/lanaelie/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lana-elie-875b383a/

00:00 Intro, why this matters for new founders

 00:32 Tip 1, Validate the problem, not the idea

 01:16 Signals that the problem is real, emotion and willingness to pay

 02:48 Tip 2, Size the market, top-down vs bottoms-up

 04:26 Unit economics sense check and payback logic

 05:26 Tip 3, Stress-test your time and finances

 07:18 Support systems, partners, housing, and tradeoffs  

08:22 Tip 4, Run a minimum-effort test, landing page and list  09:23 Pre-selling with Stripe, early prototypes, and social proof  11:18 Start socials early and build with your audience  

12:15 Tip 5, Pressure-check the competition and find your moat  14:44 Hot takes, be naive enough to start vs plan enough to execute  

15:36 Closing thoughts and next steps