Where do I
start?

Six Tuesdays. Fifteen founders. Today is the map, not the climb.

Jesse Rodgers · September 22, 2026

Built

Made better

01

That's an intentional decision, not a label every new company gets

02

Two requirements: something lots of people want, and a way to reach them at scale

03

Distribution is part of the idea, not an afterthought

04

Consultancies and bakeries are real businesses with linear constraints. Know which game you're playing.

01

Knowing what to build, and being able to build it

02

Live in the future: the best opportunities come from betting on what's about to become possible, not what's possible today

03

Compute costs falling, capability curves rising. Bet on the curve.

04

AI collapses execution time but not judgment. Speed of iteration is the new signal.

01

Founder fallout is one of the most common killers

02

Team dysfunction is one of the five bullets in the chamber

03

Brutal honesty with your cofounder is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy

04

Build with people you can move fast with, and disagree with

01

A sick founder cannot run a healthy company

02

Non-negotiables beat willpower: exercise as a meeting you can't cancel, real sleep, scheduled deep focus, deliberate downtime

03

Burnout isn't caused by hard work. It's effort decoupled from outcome.

04

Watch for the freeze. Watch the crutches: alcohol, stimulants.

01

Founders often aren't ambitious enough, or are too embarrassed to say the big vision out loud

02

The difference between a project and a startup is the North Star: where is this in 5 to 10 years?

03

It's fine to start with a practical basecamp product. Know where the mountain leads.

04

SF founders say the crazy vision first, then explain how. Local founders often only talk about the how.

01

One person must love it despite all its flaws. Not a family member, and not someone who owes you money.

02

Do they miss it when it's gone?

03

Talk to customers. Understand them deeply. Be direct and personable.

04

Early customers buy you, not the perfect product. They need to trust you'll solve their problem.

The how

"We're building a chatbot."

The vision

"We're building the emotional intelligence layer for AI."

01

Not everything needs to be VC backed. A profitable $1M to $10M company is perfectly valid.

02

Don't waste time on startup theatre (pitch competitions, hype cycles) if you're building a solid business

03

Default outcome is failure. Accept it and swing for the fences anyway.

04

You have to climb each basecamp.

01

Build something one person loves.

02

Say the big vision out loud, then climb to the first basecamp.

03

This is a 5 to 10 year run. Look after yourself and your cofounders.

Jesse Rodgers

jesse@buildersclub.ca

x.com/jrodgers · linkedin.com/in/jrodgers

519 722 8535