Just don't die. And when you go and buy software, you should be going, 'We're a tiny startup. Can you sell it for half?' Everything you buy, just keep the burn rate as low as possible, because you need as many shots on goal as you can possibly get.
Inside Bolt: From near-death to one of the fastest-growing products in history
March 13, 2025
Featuring: Eric Simons (Founder and CEO, StackBlitz)
4 quotes · 4 insights
Watch Full EpisodeYour first priority is survival, not optimization
Move fastest on what's already working, not what might work
Unless you see pull, just people pulling the product out of your hands, you don't want to be spending money. You should be like, default, no.
AI works best when treated like humans
"This thing" refers to Bolt, the AI coding assistant that Simons' company built.
Talk to this thing like you do a Linear ticket, or a JIRA ticket. Talk to this like you would, like you're talking to one of the developers on your team.
Weekly cadences create momentum
Eric Simons is CEO of StackBlitz, discussing their daily company-wide meetings where "front to back" means comprehensive review of all work and priorities.
We all meet every day. Pretty much the entire team gets on a call, and we just kind of front to back... There's 0% fidelity loss in that. Everything, every day, is being audited front to back.