Lessons from Chris Bakke

Chris Bakke, a serial entrepreneur known for his candid and often humorous insights into the startup world, has built and sold several companies, including Interviewed to Indeed and Laskie to X (formerly Twitter). Through his prolific presence on social media, particularly X, and his newsletter, Bakke shares a wealth of knowledge on entrepreneurship, marketing, and navigating the tech industry.

On Startups and Entrepreneurship

On Solving Real Problems: "Successful startups often begin by solving the founders' own problems." [1] This approach ensures you're addressing a genuine need in the market.
The Accidental Entrepreneur: Bakke's journey into HR tech was serendipitous, born from a personal need to streamline hiring for non-technical roles. [1]
On the Importance of a Niche: "The more specific that you can be with the type of content you will attract followers that also find that really Niche content interesting." [2]
Founder-Led Sales are Crucial Early On: In the early stages, founders should be deeply involved in sales to understand customer needs and refine the product. [3]
Don't Get Married to Your Original Idea: "Don't get married to your original idea; be open to pivoting throughout your journey." [4]
Passion for the Space Over the Idea: "Having passion for the space and users you are serving is probably more important than passion for the individual idea." [4]
Play Long-Term Games with Long-Term People: Building lasting relationships is a key component of success in the investment and startup world. [5]
The Value of a "Middle-Market" Opportunity: Not every startup needs to be a unicorn. Building a company with a successful exit in the tens of millions can be a fantastic outcome for founders and early investors. [6]
On Company Building Philosophy: Bakke emphasizes a pragmatic approach, suggesting founders should consider smaller, more attainable exits rather than chasing billion-dollar valuations at all costs. [7]
Time in the Market is Underrated: Longevity and persistence in a particular industry can lead to deep expertise and valuable connections. [7]

On Acquisitions

Prepare for Acquisition from the Start: "For most companies, there are only 20 to 30 potential buyers. Keeping them up to date with your business is crucial." [1]
Build Relationships with Potential Acquirers: Before an acquisition, cultivate a relationship. Indeed was an investor and customer before acquiring Interviewed, which made the process smoother. [4]
Post-Acquisition Strategy: After being acquired, don't just stick to your old role. "After the first six months you should basically just...stop working on whatever you were acquired to do and you should go find like the most important problems in the company and go solve those." [8]
Small Exits Can Be Life-Changing: A "$25-100 million" exit can be a massive win for founders and the team, even if it's not a headline-grabbing unicorn acquisition. [7]
How He Sold to Elon Musk: Bakke's acquisition by X started with a series of tweets about how Twitter could get into the recruiting space, which caught Elon Musk's attention and led to a DM. [4][9]

On Fundraising and Investors

Strategic Funding is Key: "We wanted to avoid signaling risks by not relying on just one strategic investor." [10] Diversifying investors can mitigate risk and provide broader strategic advantages.
Be Careful with Raising Too Much Money: "What are the outcomes that get eliminated if we go and raise the next round?" [9] Raising more capital can sometimes limit your exit opportunities.
Angel Investors Can Be a Great Option: Raising smaller rounds from angel investors who are happy with a 10x return can be a smart move for founders who aren't aiming for a billion-dollar company. [6]
VCs Aren't Always Impressed by "Good" Returns: "Nobody gives a shit about 10, 15, 20x returns in VC... if you're not the true outlier in a portfolio, it's a challenge." [6]
The Power of a Strong Founding Team: "I'm investing pre-idea. I like to see some confidence in a direction, but in many cases, I've invested very much pre-revenue... The strategy for me is trying to find, like, who's a founder who I know will just fucking kick-ass?" [3]

On Marketing and Growth

Founder-Led Content Marketing is Powerful: Bakke drove significant revenue for his company Laskie through his personal Twitter account. [2]
Use Humor and Satire to Stand Out: In a noisy sales environment, using humor can be a powerful way to get a customer's attention. [4]
Memes are a Legitimate Marketing Tool: Memes have high share rates and "dwell time," which are heavily weighted on social media platforms. [11]
Constrain Your World to Get Creative: When trying to get your first customers, focusing on a small list of 10-20 companies forces you to get creative with your outreach. [11]
Consistency is Key in Content Creation: "Post consistently. It takes time to build your sense of humor." [12]
Engage with Others to Grow Your Audience: "Replying to other people is the best way to get started... It definitely works right like it helps you attract followers because you don't need to be the one with a viral tweet you just need to be able to like chime in when somebody has one." [8]
"Shitposting" as a Business Strategy: Bakke uses "shitposting" as a way to share sarcastic thoughts and attract customers by grabbing their attention. [12]
Know Your Audience: "Think about who will find your content funny." [12]
Capitalize on "The Current Thing": "It's helpful if you already have strong opinions on the thing... it's hard to manufacture." [13]
Your Personal Brand Can Drive Business: Bakke's active and authentic presence on X has directly led to business opportunities, including the acquisition of his company. [12]

On Work and Life

On Working with Elon Musk: Bakke describes Musk as having "very... good product intuition" and being quick to reverse decisions when he's wrong. [8]
The Importance of Being a Present Dad: Despite his success, Bakke has spoken about prioritizing being a present father over building the next unicorn.
Critically Evaluate Your Life's Work: "Question to consider: ‘Are you working on something valuable to the world?’" [4]
On His Note-Taking System: "I email shit to myself. I have like two systems. I'm in slides, I'm in Excel, I'm in email, and that's basically my day." [13]
On Dealing with Online Arguments: "I made the rookie mistake of giving in and trying to argue with them... your mind is gonna go one of two places after the first time that happens. It's either like this is a terrible place with terrible people." [13]

More Learnings

The Power of Serendipity: Winning a hackathon was a "forcing function" that pushed him and his co-founders to commit full-time to their startup, Interviewed. [10]
Build Opinionated Software: Instead of a blank canvas, create software that guides the user. "It is like do this step then do this and we will kind of take care of the rest." [6]
Don't Underestimate the Power of a Good Story: "Selling requires getting people's attention and telling a good story." [12]
Hyper-Personalized Demos Can Win Deals: A Loom-style voiceover that's custom for a potential buyer can be a very effective sales tactic. [11]
Host Dinners to Build Your Network: Getting 6-10 leaders in your space together for a dinner is a great way to trade notes and be seen as a connector. [11]
Cold Calling Isn't Dead: Bakke knows a startup doing $10M in annual recurring revenue primarily from cold calling in 2024. [11]
Warm Intros at Scale: "The best teams make their network scale." Don't be afraid to ask your investors for introductions. [11]
The Twitter Algorithm Favors "Dwell Time": "If you want your content to perform well in the algorithm, make sure it's something that people spend a lot of time reading or watching." [11]
On Finding Your Niche: "Ask yourself, “What is the thing that I uniquely enjoy?”" [4]
On the Future of Hiring: Bakke sees a huge opportunity for platforms like X to disrupt the traditional hiring duopoly of LinkedIn and Indeed. [7]
The Value of a Co-Founder: Bakke has worked with his co-founder, Daniel, across multiple companies, highlighting the importance of a strong, complementary partnership.
On Being an Operator vs. a Founder: "I like doing both, I certainly like starting companies more." [3]
Embrace the Chaos of a Startup: Early-stage companies are inherently chaotic, and that's part of the journey.
Give Back to the Founder Community: "I love just helping founders, people who are looking to become angel investors, people who are looking to become early employees at companies, all for free. I think that we are very big believers in the power of karma." [5]
Authenticity is a Superpower: Bakke's success with founder-led marketing is rooted in his authentic and often self-deprecating online persona. [12]

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