founder & ceo
@salleyinc
. 3x founder, building the future of leadership growth. 🔥insights on startups, AI, & human progress. 💙✈️. Optimist. CAB
@brexHQ
A top-rated VC firm invited me to the Hamptons yesterday, along with other AI founders and engineers based in New York.
Even though I've lived in New York for more than 2 years now, I've never really had any reason to spend some time in the Hamptons.
After visiting yesterday, I
haha, YC looking to get in early on a legit billion dollar opportunity.
apart from the community and bookface what other tangible benefits does it provide?
@adamguild
Sam actually responded to me when I reached out about an important topic even though he was super busy
I’ve spoken to a number of founders who’ve highlighted how helpful he is over the last couple of months.
He’s incredibly kind and honest.
Can’t wait to see what he does
thinking of hosting the first NYC founders dinner for this year :)
the last one I hosted had a DJ, a Michelin star chef and awesome NYC founders from pre-seed though series A
who's down?
@paulg
exactly how it should be done! too many companies accelerate their demise by raising VC too early.
VC works best as rocket fuel once things are working. It’s not ideal in the ideation stages
Personal update: My EB1A - extraordinary ability green card was approved!!
A little over 5 years ago, I left my life in Ghana to move to the US for grad school. I was anxious and excited about starting from scratch in another country away from my family and friends.
I had
Earlier this week, I hosted a private dinner for some of New York's finest founders
As usual, we had a Michelin star chef cook for us!
For those who could not make it / get in, I'll keep you posted about the next one :)
Most people are terrified about moving to a new country.
But it’s not as bad as it seems
On this day 4 years ago, I came to the US from Ghana.
I’m now building a startup that I’m super passionate about while on an O1 visa
Here are 7 lessons learned from building in the US:
Had a great time tonight hosting other NYC founders for dinner
We got treated to amazing food cooked by a Michelin star chef :)
A special thank you to
@RHouseNYC
for opening up their lovely space to us.
Hey folks, I'm hosting a mixer and fireside chat with
@andruyeung
in a few weeks!
Andrew is the mastermind behind some of NYC's most epic tech parties, and he's built a following of almost 40,000 people across Twitter and Linkedin in the process.
RSVP in the comments below 👇🏽
Last week, we hosted yet another epic mixer for the NYC tech community.
The five star reviews keep coming in :)
If you're in New York and want to join a future event, hit me up!
@callmehouck
Have so many lol
A great idea with poor execution is just a hobby.
The market dictates what you build.
if your passions align with the market, great keep building, if not be adaptable and keep building
Distribution separates good companies from great ones
NYC needs an
@thesfcommons
place for tech folks.
Came there this morning and I’m brainstorming mental models with a bunch of super smart folks.
Serendipitous deep conversations are the best :)
thinking of hosting a private dinner for NYC founders later this month
the last one I hosted this year was in an exclusive location in the Hudson Yards.
we had a Michelin star chef and an awesome group of NYC founders from pre-seed though series A
who's down?
@alexisohanian
We are better off without Ads. Companies are beginning to realize that they need to create an authentic brand to win the in the long run.
craziest thing happened today:
i introduced myself at a VC event as the founder of Salley and the other person already had our website open and was looking to sign up
feels good knowing others love what we’re building :)
Last week we hosted 40+ tech folks for a happy hour in NYC :)
Had a couple of attendees reach out about how much they enjoyed it
The NYC tech scene is 🔥
got invited to visit the
@LinkedIn
NYC office today in the empire state building.
it's great to see various teams there are excited about what we're building at
@salleyinc
:)
@agazdecki
the best known product wins
if your target audience doesn’t know your product exists, they’ll not use it
doesn’t matter how much effort you put into building it
Huge turnout today for the
@salleyinc
#NYTechWeek
mixer and fireside chat with Ellen Brandenberger - the Director of Product Innovation at
@StackOverflow
🔥
We dove deep into building generative AI products. Awesome partnering with
@lennysan
’s community for this :)
Great
Hey friends, allow me to re-introduce myself!
I'm Richard, the Founder & CEO at
@salleyinc
- a personalized skill coach for professionals and teams. As the workplace evolves due to automation and AI, Salley helps you to easily master only skills that help you stay relevant in
@paulg
The most ambitious first time founders are usually not credential-seeking. Unfortunately, they are underestimated by many as a result of the lack of credentials.
Great fireside chat today with
@Alfred_Lin
from
@sequoia
on diversity in VC and the "and" mindset. Thanks a ton to
@ljin18
from
@a16z
for moderating and highlighting how constraints breed creativity.
Organized by
@lunchclubai
Introducing Salley Sessions.
A new way for you to develop as a leader.
Many professionals have to uncover hard lessons in years through experience.
Reading books, going to conferences, signing up for courses and going to business school only takes you so far.
i've met quite a few smart people who are not sharing their ideas and expertise online cause it's hard / they're busy
being able to build a community of advocates on the internet helps you attract new opportunities
if you're struggling with this, lmk!
I'll help out if I can :)
so awesome having Michael Katz - CEO & Founder of
@mParticle
($272M raised) leading at our last Salley Session.
Mike has 20+ years of executive & leadership experience. Before mParticle, He was Founder and CEO of interclick, which he took public in 2009 and sold to Yahoo in 2011
@shl
It's hard because, you are looking in the wrong places. Try hiring people from unconventional backgrounds. You'll thank me later.
Also, a person's motivations and passion > schools and brand names.
Recently joined
@_rachelbraun
on the Ok Boomer segment for
@TWiStartups
had a fun chat about:
- the origins of
@salleyinc
- meeting my co-founder,
@leia_ruseva
- building in the US vs Ghana
- why NYC is the best city for startups
take a listen :)
@HarryStebbings
Lol, they should probably consider moving into private equity instead. Early stage VC is for folks who can bet on companies when the is little to no data. Sad thing is too may early stage VC's are very risk averse.
Definitely not good for the future of innovation.
@satyanadella
Crazy turn of events!
Satya is a next level negotiator.
Excited for
@sama
,
@gdb
and the rest of the
@OpenAI
team leaving to join Microsoft
Bullish 🔥
Bringing in a 2 Michelin star Mixologist for our upcoming mixer and fireside chat :)
If you’re in NYC on July 27, you don’t want to miss this. I’m be hosting Elizabeth of Absence of Proof to chat about how she built an engaged community across 7 cities in less than a year.
if you're in new york next wednesday, you don't what to miss the event I'm hosting with
@chrishlad
.
we'll be chatting about how he built an audience of more than 200k in just 2 years.
lmk if you're down to join and hang with other tech folks :)
On this day 10 years ago, I received my first personal computer. And it changed everything.
Growing up in Ghana, I had always been fascinated by technology from a very young age. However, my biggest constraint at the time was getting access to the tools and devices to experiment
@shl
A CEO's fifth job is to ensure the team is diverse in terms background and mindset so they collectively come up with ideas that are new and unique.
Growing up in Ghana, i always thought being technical was a prerequisite to building a successful startup
I've built software across frontend, backend, DevOps and mobile
However, I've come to realize that storytelling, communication and design are way more valuable
Just had a great chat with
@victorhunt_
:)
His last startup was acquired, and he’s now doing cool things at
@southpkcommons
The NYC tech scene is heating up 🔥
"Our TAM [total addressable market], the way we think about it is, every private and publicly-traded company in the world that has a high degree of predictability in their revenues"
@harryhurst
Now, that's the right way to think about TAM. Congrats to the
@pipe
team!
I'm beyond excited to share that Ellen Brandenberger is part of our Advisory board at
@salleyinc
Ellen has wealth of knowledge and insight from her experience working across startups and large public companies. She's currently the Head of Product Management at
@StackOverflow
,
Earlier this week, I hosted a thought-provoking mixer and dialogue on the art of effective conflict resolution at work.
To bring this event to life, we joined forces with The Inheritance Project and Free Agency to create a truly memorable experience for the attendees.
This was
unpopular opinion: building great software only matters after you’ve built a viable business.
obsessing over software before you’ve identified a working business is usually a waste of time unless it’s just a hobby
A few weeks ago I asked about the best communities for young, ambitions people aside from
@launchhouse
&
@beondeck
Here's the top 16 communities from the responses:
just joined
@getairchat
. who else is there?
love the fact that i can hear what other sound like
would be cool to also clone your voice and have it used for text written there. hard to use voice in noisy areas.
all in all, it feels more like hanging out with friends :)
happy thanksgiving friends!!🍁🦃
this is my 5th thanksgiving since moving to the US. excited cause I finally get to have a proper dinner with my cousins :)
for many solo immigrants without family in the US, it can be a difficult time of the year
go tell your immigrant friends
2023 was challenging but we accomplished a lot in spite of it :)
Even though there was a lot of uncertainty in the beginning, we focused on deeply understanding our users and what they need. I had lot of user interviews, and then we kept on iterating the product and our offering
The ability to build a strong online presence is a skill that many smart people lack. Unfortunately, this limits their ability to attract asymmetric career opportunities for themselves.
I wrote an article on why building an online presence can help future proof your career. 👇🏽