The archive

All Essays & Notes

On building companies, product strategy, fundraising, hiring, and the work of being a founder.

Fundraising

The Series A story starts before the seed metrics look good

The seed round does not fix the company

Go-to-Market

Your ICP is not the customer who likes you most

Your first sales hire should not rescue you

Hiring & Team

Most hiring problems start before the interview

The first ten hires decide everything. Most founders get them wrong.

Leadership

Culture is what happens when the founder is not in the room

The founder bottleneck does not announce itself

Product Strategy

Your metrics dashboard may be hiding the truth

Your product roadmap is probably too polite

Founder Notes — Essays on Product, Fundraising, Hiring, and Building a Startup

Founder Notes is an independent publication for early-stage founders and operators. Long-form thinking on product strategy, fundraising, hiring, and the quieter parts of leadership — written from inside the work, not above it. One carefully edited essay, every Sunday. Browse the full archive.

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About the Editor

Nathan Baugh

Operator. Investor. Writer.

I write about building, scaling, and leading companies. Previously founded an enterprise SaaS company and invested in early-stage startups.

More about Nathan

One founder essay. Every Sunday.

Join thousands of operators reading Founder Notes each week. No threads, no upsells, no sponsored takes — just one carefully written piece on building, hiring, raising, or leading.

Long-form thinking on the decisions that actually shape a company — from the first hire to the Series A and everything that breaks along the way.

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