Allow me to (re)introduce myself.

I’m a native Minnesotan and the Chief of Staff at Astranis, a Silicon Valley startup building next-generation internet satellites to get the world online.

Through these (digital) pages, I write a letter to a younger version of myself every Monday — the kid in Minneapolis who was frustrated by corporate life, who idolized Steve Jobs, and who found it hard to learn about startups because he didn’t speak the lingo.

The goal of this newsletter is to teach folks who live outside Silicon Valley what startup life is really like.

So far, it’s going much better than planned. Over 400 of you have entrusted your inbox to me each Monday (!!) and, in my most impressive win, I got my first hate mail last week! (It was for “Best Silicon Valley Books,” of all pieces…)

Magdalena the Wig @migmoranus

@cdkeil Goading people into reading propaganda written by billionaires

June 12th 2021

1 Like

In honor of crossing the Internet Hate Rubicon, I thought a reset and an announcement were warranted.

✋ Reset

If you’re a new Outsider, you might wonder what, exactly, is going on here. Fair question.

Silicon Valley Outsider focuses on teaching people about startups using simple words and personal stories. I usually talk about joining startups more than founding them, and I write with a prospective and/or young businessperson in mind. But, honestly, all of that is subject to change.

This newsletter is a work in progress, and there’s a lesson to learn here: one about building in public.

About five years ago, I wrote a book entirely in private. Only after literal years of research did I share what I wrote with my best buddy from college… and he correctly told me that it stunk. My draft was bad, and I realized it only after exposing what I had written to the outside world.

Nowadays, I publish weekly, which gives me a gift: constant feedback. Some weeks, this newsletter falls flat; other weeks, an edition will take off and lead to dozens of new subscribers. And it’s surprisingly hard to predict whether an article will succeed or fail before it ships!

Christian Keil @cdkeil

Something appears to have worked this week. svoutsider.substack.com

January 5th 2021

8 Likes

That’s why building in public rocks, and why I don’t know where Outsider is headed: I’m just doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

I would strongly encourage you to start shipping stuff if you want to be a startup person — we love seeing “side hustles” when interviewing at Astranis, and you’ll never know if your idea is a great one before you give it a try.

🌟 Here are the Silicon Valley Outsider editions you’ve liked best:

• 💼 How to find a business role at a startup

• 👩‍✈️ Here Comes the Boom: Supersonic Startups

• 😱 Don’t be afraid of working at a startup

• 🚀 What startups want from business hires

• 📚 The best Silicon Valley books

🌳 Announcement

One thing I’ve learned for certain: Outsiders want to know what it takes to get a job at a startup, and how to excel once you’re there.

Luckily, that’s a topic I know a thing or two about that — so I’ve decided to start a longer-term project.

The idea: startup skills are a little bit like video game abilities.

In the beginning, you don’t have much choice: everyone has to learn the basics. But then things get more interesting. Which skill tower is most interesting to you? What skills are prerequisites to others? What kind of person will you be if you focus on skills X, Y, and Z, or P, Q, and R? These decisions, and more, await you as a Silicon Valley Outsider subscriber.

Over the next few months, I’ll dive deep into each skill — everything from recruiting, to fundraising, to culture-building — using my personal experience and the collective wisdom of Silicon Valley. We’ll start with the skill that is a prerequisite to all of the others: drive.

So far, I have 16 skills lined up, and I’m sure I’ll think of more (and delete some of the ones I have now) as the weeks pass.

For now, though, I’ll just pray that you’re all as excited about this as I am! (And if not, I’m sure I’ll hear about it.)

📢 Before I say goodbye, a shoutout is due!

John Garry, a venture associate from South Bend, Indiana, gave a really thoughtful response to my post last week about startup culture vs. Midwest culture. Click below to read his tweetstorm.

John Garry @jpatrickgarry

Interesting post from for your weekend, and one that has been and will continue to be an important question in the Midwest -- can entrepreneurial ecosystems take off here? cc: @cdkeil and @justinehong would love your thoughts here.

Christian Keil @cdkeil

I want to be wrong about this, but I fear I'm not: There are some real cultural barriers that limit the Midwest's entrepreneurial potential. https://t.co/7IjLmBzbTW

June 19th 2021

1 Retweet2 Likes

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this piece and want to join 400 folks in getting an email from me every Monday, I’ll help you understand Silicon Valley using normal-human words.