Yancey Strickler27 October 2020

330: The 4 Questions You Need To Be Asking To Make Better Decisions: Kickstarter Co-Founder and Author Yancey Strickler

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8Insights

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Strategy5 steps

BENTO Decision Framework

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take18:00

How Financial Maximization Became the Default Answer

Strickler argues that modern culture often treats the option producing the most money as the rational choice, even when other values are at stake. He connects this thesis to observing a local punk bar replaced by another bank branch and cites a long-running UCLA survey as evidence that wealth became a much more prominent stated goal among US college freshmen.

A neighborhood bank branch prompted his investigation
He argues that financial value routinely overrules community and tradition
He says this assumption became culturally dominant relatively recently
The UCLA figures he cites show a large change in students prioritizing wealth
His book challenges money as the only rational decision criterion

“the right choice in any decision is just whichever option makes the most money”
Yancey Strickler · 20:00

“this idea is actually fairly recent”
Yancey Strickler · 21:30

#financialization#values#culture#decision-making

Hot Take31:30

Why Strickler Calls Big VC Rounds a Post-Dated Check

From watching other founders, Strickler describes a large funding round as a commitment that future decisions must repay through expected growth. He says this pressure can turn a restrained product or communication practice into escalating optimization, because every subsequent decision has to support the promised outcome.

A large round creates expectations beyond the cash received
Later decisions can become subordinate to the promised return
Small optimizations may escalate as teams follow performance numbers
The danger is a gradual, justifiable slide rather than one obviously bad choice

“you're just basically signing a post dated check”
Yancey Strickler · 32:00

“every decision from that point had to ladder back to meeting that post dated check”
Yancey Strickler · 32:00

#venture capital#growth pressure#incentives#founders

Explainer· 1

Explainer27:00

Strickler's Account of the Shift to Shareholder Primacy

Strickler traces a major change in business thinking to Milton Friedman's 1970 argument that a company's social responsibility is to maximize profits for shareholders. He claims this narrowed an earlier model that also considered employees, customers, suppliers, and communities, then became embedded in business education and management norms.

Strickler identifies 1970 as a crystallizing moment
He contrasts shareholder primacy with a broader stakeholder model
He argues the newer model treated share-price optimization as public service
He links the idea to later management practices and business-school teaching
These historical and economic links are presented as Strickler's analysis

“the only social responsibility a business has is to maximize its profits”
Yancey Strickler · 28:30

“the business culture before was a quite well-rounded idea”
Yancey Strickler · 30:00

#shareholders#stakeholders#business history#capitalism

Story· 3

Story01:00

Kickstarter Began With a Chance Restaurant Meeting

Yancey Strickler says Kickstarter began after he met Perry Chen in Brooklyn and heard Chen's unrealized idea for funding a New Orleans concert. Strickler was then a music journalist with a record label, not a technical founder looking for a software startup.

Perry Chen had conceived the crowdfunding idea years earlier
The original concert would proceed only if enough people committed
Strickler joined through friendship and shared interest in culture
The founding team did not begin with technical expertise

“kickstarter for me began with with us meeting”
Yancey Strickler · 02:00

#kickstarter#origin story#cofounders

Story03:00

Kickstarter's First Project Failed

The platform's first project, an attempt by Perry Chen to make 100 screen-printed shirts, did not fund. A second project, a 100-page book filled by 100 backers, succeeded, but building the platform itself took more than three years amid poor technical decisions and external development work.

The first Kickstarter project did not reach its goal
The second project gave each backer one page of a shared book
The founders relied on external developers
A clear product vision did not prevent a slow execution process

“the vision was always there but it took almost four years for it to be executed”
Yancey Strickler · 04:00

#mvp#product development#failure

Story09:30

Kickstarter's First Investors Came From Its Community

Early friends-and-family funding largely came from artists and other creative people whom the founders initially approached as potential users. Those conversations sometimes turned into investment offers, financing the company through launch before Union Square Ventures led a sub-$1 million Series A three months later.

Potential users became some of the earliest investors
The pre-launch team received little interest from most venture firms
Union Square Ventures accepted the crowdfunding category thesis
Its key question was why this founding team should win
A respected lead investor helped attract additional angels

“the earliest money came from there”
Yancey Strickler · 10:00

“why are you 12 00 all the ones to do it”
Yancey Strickler · 11:30

#fundraising#investors#community#venture capital

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway04:00

Kickstarter Built Its Culture by Saying No

The founders believed a platform for creative ideas needed enthusiasm, fandom, and community rather than guilt-based fundraising. They made Kickstarter invite-only and barred charitable campaigns, deliberately giving up broader use cases to create a specific culture around creative projects.

The technology could have supported many kinds of fundraising
The founders chose creative projects as the core audience
Invite-only access helped shape the early community
Explicit exclusions protected the intended culture
Serving creative ideas remained the company's north star

“we were trying to build a very specific kind of community”
Yancey Strickler · 05:00

“our goal was to to serve this audience”
Yancey Strickler · 05:30

#positioning#community#focus#marketplace

Takeaway12:30

Kickstarter Used Profitability to Protect Its Decisions

Strickler says Kickstarter told investors it was not built for an exit and instead aimed to become a durable institution. A Series A of less than $1 million helped it reach profitability 14 months after launch, and the company stayed small rather than hiring a large marketing team. He frames operating in the black as a way to reduce existential pressure and preserve room for better decisions.

The founders disclosed their no-exit ambition to investors
Kickstarter reached profitability 14 months after launch
The company stayed small and relied on product and word of mouth
Financial independence reduced pressure on strategic decisions

“we always really focused on on operating in the black”
Yancey Strickler · 14:00

“our independence and our profitability”
Yancey Strickler · 14:30

#profitability#independence#bootstrapping#decision-making