The start of us
Introducing Push to Start – A podcast & newsletter to help early stage startup founders focus on what matters.
Hi 👋 I’m Tim James, an entrepreneur and startup founder out of Brisbane, Australia. I’m passionate about building product, helping people, and sharing knowledge. Which ultimately led me to start this newsletter. To help new founders navigate the difficult task of building and launching a startup, avoid critical mistakes, and provide insight into the road ahead.
So, what is PTS?
Firstly, let’s be real… your first (sometimes few, sometimes none) startup is a major f*ck up. Why is that? Well because there’s no ‘playbook’ to building one. It’s trial and error by fire and terror. By the second, third, or fourth time you do it, you come equipped with a toolkit of valuable lessons that provide a super-highway to the sh*t that really matters.
This is fundamentally why I started Push to Start – to provide those lessons to new founders in a way that educates and inspires the next generation to cut through the noise and get to what matters sooner. That, and most don’t have the luxury of paying squillions for advice from seasoned gurus.
What’s with the name?
I’m big on brands. They need to have meaning – if not for anyone else, for me. It helps me stay motivated on the ‘why’ and ultimately fall in love with my creation.
Push to Start pays homage to the ‘push start’ car button. I loved this for 2 key reasons:
It’s all above providing a definitive, simple, and easy-to-understand guide to building a startup. So the simplicity of the ‘push start’ engine button worked beautifully.
It’s an adage to the journey – the most important part of building a startup.
The first vehicle engine was started by hand. Using a crank. Now we push a button. A f*cking button… The same goes for startups. Decades ago it was a difficult and daunting task to launch a startup. Today, we have so much information and incredibly valuable tools at our fingertips which transform that complex task, into a much simpler one.
The nature of incremental improvements, the evolution of technology, and the journey of growth. Everything a startup is about. *chefs kiss*
Speaking of brand, let me tell you a secret only a few know… one of my favorite books is Think And Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. The company I recently built and raised millions with is called TAGR. I’ll let you put two and two together.
What you can expect from PTS…
Newsletters and podcast episodes break down the critical parts of a startup, including brand, mindset, team, product, sales & marketing, go-to-market, and finance.
Guest episodes from successful founders talking on specific topics (e.g. building a sales playbook).
Useful resources to help you go from zero to one.
One of the first episodes is with Richard Dufty, on go-to-market. Richard is a multiple-time founder, and recently responsible for growing Arkose Labs to a staggering $500 million valuation, snagging customers such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Snapchat, and more. It’s not to be missed.
If you’ve already subscribed, thank you. If you’re reading this thinking of subscribing… this is the very beginning. Join us.
Just started? Haven’t started? In over your head? Don’t know where to start? Push to Start is for you.
For the love of startups,
Tim