Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr

Jeff Morris Jr., a prominent figure in the tech and venture capital world, is known for his insightful perspectives on product management, startup building, and career growth. As the founder of Chapter One and former VP of Product at Tinder, his experiences have shaped a wealth of knowledge that he frequently shares through various platforms.

On Product Management and Strategy

On the importance of focus: "Product Managers need conviction and focus... In my career, I have observed that the Product Managers who succeed are those who stick with one idea for an unreasonable period of time." [1]
- Source: Building Products & The Importance of Focus, Medium [1]
The real MVP: "The real MVP is writing a blog post or tweeting something and saying 'Hey like I'm thinking about building this' and seeing if people respond."
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
On user feedback: "One of the most important lessons I've learned in my product career is that when getting user feedback — people's words rarely match their actions." [3]
- Source: Chapter One Team Bio [3]
The personality of a product: "What Is The Personality of Your Product?" [4] This question encourages builders to think beyond features and consider the emotional connection users have with what they've created.
- Source: What Is The Personality of Your Product?, Medium [4]
On monetization: "I care deeply about monetization and this is more than just wanting to make returns as an investor, but it's because it's what I obsessed about for four and a half years at Tinder and I love that part of product building." [5]
- Source: TCT Exclusive: Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One, Sacra [5]
Understanding founder metrics: "I like to start by asking the founders what metrics they care about because that's really revealing about how they think about product and their overall product strategy." [5]
- Source: TCT Exclusive: Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One, Sacra [5]
On conviction: "Conviction is a balance between intuition and data. Sure, data can inform your intuition, but ultimately intuition and empathy should be behind conviction."
- Source: Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr., former VP of Product at Tinder, Medium
Finding the 'aha' moment: "Every product has an aha moment. Find yours. Facebook's aha moment was, according to Chamath, getting someone to add 7 friends in 10 days. Tinder's was getting a match and starting a conversation. The sooner you find yours, the easier it is to optimize for it."
- Source: Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr., former VP of Product at Tinder, Medium
Product distribution in social apps: "Within social it's always been about creating experiences that are incrementally better for each additional user you invite to the network." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
The danger of optionality: "Optionality can be positive, but the underlying attitude is often a dangerous path for product leaders who are selling their products." [1]
- Source: Building Products & The Importance of Focus, Medium [1]

On Venture Capital and Investing

Investing in people: "I wasn't investing in their first idea... I was investing in the idea that they might pivot. They were just that good." [3]
- Source: Chapter One Team Bio [3]
The mission of Chapter One: "I started Chapter One with a very simple mission — there should be a venture fund that focuses exclusively on helping..." [4] founders with product.
- Source: Jeff Morris Jr. – Medium [4]
The role of a VC: "A lot of VCS kind of think that they're the ones who are building the companies when in reality like the founders are the ones who are doing the real hard work." [6]
- Source: Starting an Early Stage Venture Capital Fund: Insights from Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One, YouTube [6]
On staying relevant as a VC: "It's really hard to stay relevant in our industry for multiple funds and multiple vintages because the founder community gets continues to get younger and younger." [7]
- Source: No one talks about this in venture capital | Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One | 1947 VC, YouTube [7]
The importance of a fund's mission: "You should kind of take a minute take some period of time to really figure out what you want to do because once you raise your first fund it's such a long commitment... answering the hard questions like why do you exist what's your mission why will founders want to work with you." [7]
- Source: No one talks about this in venture capital | Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One | 1947 VC, YouTube [7]
Founder-market fit: "I look a lot at at kind of founder market fit. So um you know what's unique in your background to solve a problem better than anybody else in the world really." [6]
- Source: Starting an Early Stage Venture Capital Fund: Insights from Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One, YouTube [6]
The value of an operator-investor: "When I first started investing, I actually, frankly, didn't know, but over time it became clear to me that people want me on their cap table because of my product background."
- Source: Jeff Morris Jr. (Edition # 15) - by Gaby Goldberg, The Takeoff [8]
On pivoting: "It's okay to pivot... In 2023, as early-stage startups grapple with tough decisions, founders and investors should prioritize having hard conversations if needed in Q4. This starts with having the 'should we pivot' talk, and not viewing those conversations as a sign of weakness." [9]
- Source: Should We Pivot?, New Internet, by Jeff Morris Jr. [9]
Angel investing is addictive: "Angel investing becomes addicting." [5]
- Source: TCT Exclusive: Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One, Sacra [5]
Venture capital as a force for change: "Venture capital for all of its flaws is a really great way to um with your wallet say what where you want the world to go." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]

On Career and Personal Growth

The power of building in public: "While I was at Tinder it was I'm going to share as much as I can without getting in trouble and give you like a really like a really honest perspective on on what we're doing on the product team specifically... and that was people were drawn to that." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
On continuous learning: "If you want to get better at something, I recommend finding time in the morning to learn. It's hard to wake up, but you'll get used to it pretty fast and it's worth it."
- Source: Jeff Morris Jr. – My Morning Routine
Finding your unfair advantage: "Product Managers: What Is Your Unfair Advantage?" [10] This encourages self-reflection on what makes you unique and valuable.
- Source: Product Managers: What Is Your Unfair Advantage?, Medium [10]
The importance of longevity: "One career lesson I learned is just being able to like like evolve with different leadership styles and survive frankly... longevity is always impressive to me." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
On creativity and career paths: "I'm pretty sure that this is a great way to be creative and also probably a better way to make make a living too." [2] (On his transition from screenwriting to tech).
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
Taking control of your destiny: "The only thing I could do to kind of control my destiny was was to start building products myself make real products." [11]
- Source: Becoming The Product Guru | Jeff Morris Jr., YouTube [11]
On self-doubt: "Even when you like, kind of make it, you're still constantly doubting yourself, and you're always kind of questioning how you'll stay relevant, how, you know, how kind of like, you'll evolve, and whether whether what you're doing is, is important or valuable." [12]
- Source: POD OF JAKE #81 - JEFF MORRIS JR. AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT 1, Pod of Jake [12]
The value of being an operator first: "The hardest part about being an angel investor and a full-time operator is that you miss out on deals because you must prioritize work above everything else. And that's how it should be." [10]
- Source: Until The Next Deal, Medium [10]
On building a personal brand: By repeatedly launching successful side projects on Product Hunt, he "began to think myself as a product person because I was able to do it repeatedly." [11]
- Source: Becoming The Product Guru | Jeff Morris Jr., YouTube [11]
On work-life balance: "I love spending time with Simone after work. We usually have a glass of wine and go to bed pretty early, which has been a huge change for me."
- Source: Jeff Morris Jr. – My Morning Routine

On Startups and Entrepreneurship

The importance of a backable founder: "A backable founder is someone who has thought about a problem for a long time... make sure the person you're investing in has the deepest knowledge of a particular problem."
- Source: Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr., former VP of Product at Tinder, Medium
Hype vs. Value: "Hype ≠ value. While it might be possible to raise a Series A with 5,000 sign-ups on your waiting list, sign-ups don't indicate much. It's easy to get people to give you their emails. It's harder to get people to actually use your product — and come back."
- Source: Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr., former VP of Product at Tinder, Medium
The founder's journey: "Founders are asked to build one idea for a unreasonable period of time." [1]
- Source: Building Products & The Importance of Focus, Medium [1]
The reality of competition: "A firsthand perspective on waking up to find out Facebook is your new competitor - and how X must feel right now." [3] This highlights the unpredictable nature of the tech landscape.
- Source: Chapter One Team Bio [3]
The importance of the engineering relationship: "Your relationship with your engineering counterpart as a product person is critical. Treating engineering as a service provider for the roadmap isn't helpful. Have genuine empathy for your peers in engineering."
- Source: Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr., former VP of Product at Tinder, Medium
Adaptability is a survival skill: "At startups, adaptability is not just a trait — it's a survival skill." [9]
- Source: Should We Pivot?, New Internet, by Jeff Morris Jr. [9]
Pivoting is not failure: "Pivoting doesn't mean abandoning a vision; it means refining it. It's an acknowledgment that while the core idea has potential, its current execution isn't resonating with the market." [9]
- Source: Should We Pivot?, New Internet, by Jeff Morris Jr. [9]
The post-funding steps: "If you just like sequence like what you do as a Founder you raise money and you build a team." [6]
- Source: Starting an Early Stage Venture Capital Fund: Insights from Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One, YouTube [6]
Finding early customers: "You want to hire people and you want to go to marketing and and kind of land your first couple customers." [6]
- Source: Starting an Early Stage Venture Capital Fund: Insights from Jeff Morris Jr. of Chapter One, YouTube [6]
The power of a strong team: "I'm passionate about building high performing teams and creating profitable products that delight customers." [13]
- Source: The Open Book Investor with Jeff Morris Junior, Acast [13]

On Technology and the Future

The future of content: "I'm convinced that like 20% of our current Twitter feed is probably chat GPT... or rim by ghostriters." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
The need for human-verified content: "I've had an idea for like a social network that's like all like human verified content because at some point you're going to want I think you're going to want that right." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
On the pace of AI adoption: "The past couple weeks in tech have been probably the most interesting for for me as a consumer just seeing the pace of of consumer adoption in AI." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
The potential of Web3: "I really do love Crypto Web 3 not as philosophical about it as other people but I thought I've always thought the network effects were potentially very interesting." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
Rebuilding trust in crypto: "There's a lot of work to do to repair trust in the ecosystem and everything that happened last year um requires we requires a rebuilding of trust with institutions and users." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
The evolution of software: "Software was built for humans. Now it's being chosen by machines." [3]
- Source: Chapter One Team Bio [3]
The importance of being present: "We need more places where putting your phone away and being present feels like a privilege." [3]
- Source: Chapter One Team Bio [3]
On the creator economy: "You get a flood of of of creators within a space when there's these like kind of macro trends that happen." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
The future of dating apps: "I think you want smaller experiences and you want to know that people intent's a big thing." [2]
- Source: #43 - Jeff Morris Jr: Writing, Venture Capital, and Tinder, YouTube [2]
On the ever-changing tech landscape: "Failure Happens in Technology. Just ask Mark Twain." [4]
- Source: Failure Happens in Technology, Medium [4]

Learn more:

Lessons from Jeff Morris Jr

On Product Management and Strategy

On Venture Capital and Investing

On Career and Personal Growth

On Startups and Entrepreneurship

On Technology and the Future

Written by Antoine Buteau

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