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Tyler Richards

@t_rich

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Helping founders & entrepreneurs
🚀 Startup mentor + VC investor
🧱 Building @startupignition 🎙️ @si_pod
👇 Learn how real startups get built

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New achievement unlocked: jumping into a Cenote 🇲🇽💧

This time vacationing in Cancun, our family decided to do a few things differently. One of which was to explore a Cenote. The verdict is we’d highly recommend it!

We went to Cenote La Noria, along Puerto Morelos’s famous Ruta de los Cenotes, just south of Cancún.

A cavern-style open cenote 47 meters wide featuring crystal-clear freshwater, rock formations, and stalactites.

It was amazing. Our fam spent hours here! Next time you visit the Yucatán Peninsula, come check out one of the cenote caves anywhere across the sprawling river system underneath the ground.

#cenote #cancun #RutaDeLosCenotes #PuertoMorelos #cancún by @t_rich

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2 days ago

New podcast episode featuring @bubbapage who raised $1.25M, went through Techstars, and built his whole startup on LinkedIn's data. Then LinkedIn shut it off 👇

→ listen to his story about paying out investors in office chairs
→ he says "don't tie your business to someone else's platform"
→ having success and then failure, he said he lost myself
→ what one investor told him after it all fell apart
→ the only thing he wants to talk about on his deathbed

Full episode out now · link in bio
🔊 sound on

#StartupIgnition #BubbaPage #Techstars #StartupFailure #FounderStory #Entrepreneur #StartupStory #Bootstrapping #AngelInvesting #VentureCapital #LinkedIn #StartupAdvice #UtahTech #SiliconSlopes #FaithAndBusiness by @t_rich

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4 days ago

The decline needs to be studied. 🧐

HYROX running is not the same as just running.

You think, “oh, it’s just 1km, about half a mile” but it’s eight of them. A few 1K runs sounds simple until every kilometer comes after another station and your running is comprised.

This is what my runs looked like at HYROX Salt Lake City, from Run 1 to Run 8.

The goal is to still be able to run when your legs are gone.

#HYROX #HYROXSLC #HYROXRunning #HYROXTraining by @t_rich

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15 days ago

SLC HYROX recap. Just two hungry savages trying to get better. 😜

We finished in 1:09:03, about 90 seconds off our PR.

Not the result we trained for, but that’s part of it. You put in the work, show up, give what you have that day, and then get back to work.

The clock didn’t give us a PR, but I walked away more motivated and more impressed with my doubles partner and wifey, @_nicolerichards_ , than ever.

For six months, Nicole trained not only me, but nearly 30 others for this race. She wrote the workouts, woke up early, kept everyone motivated, and never looked for an excuse, even when the gym was roasting in the summer or when it was raining during our outdoor laps.

Most people only see race day. But all the prep was also part of it. And it continues whether our group likes it or not. Trainer Nicole’s gonna make sure of that.

Still hungry. Still chasing. Still tryin to get better. Especially together. by @t_rich

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13 days ago

The goal of an early-stage startup isn’t to prove the founder right. It’s to find the truth fast.

The whole customer development framework treats your first product, customer, pricing, and go-to-market assumptions as hypotheses to test, not facts to defend.

@johnstartup and @t_rich say founders who win usually aren’t the ones who cling hardest to version one. They’re the ones who learn, adapt, and pivot before they burn through their time and capital.

Be stubborn about the problem. Flexible about the solution. by @t_rich

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13 days ago

Played Marcella today out by Park City, Tiger Woods’ course in the Utah mountains.

The setting is ridiculous. Huge views, dramatic elevation, pure conditions, and a course that feels like it was carved into the landscape.

One of those rounds where the golf is great, but the experience is even better. Huge shout out to my buddy Evan because @marcellaclub is special. by @t_rich

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19 days ago

Arian Lewis (@lewis.arian) bet on a coworking company right as the most famous one in the world was imploding.

Today @kiln.co serves 3,500 companies a day, from billion-dollar corporations down to the startup looking to leave the garage.

On WeWork, "You can't fill a Ferrari full of tequila and then get mad that the kid who likes tequila drove the Ferrari and wrecked it."

And his advice for founders is the opposite of what you usually hear, he doesn't think you should follow your passion.

Full episode #61 out now. 🎧

#startupignition #entrepreneurship #coworking #founders #utahtech #siliconslopes #smallbusiness #startuppodcast by @t_rich

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18 days ago

There’s no such thing as “just money.” There are two kinds of investors, and the kind you take changes everything.

The unsophisticated ones, friends, family, doctors, dentists, your uncle Harry. They write checks on gut feel and a belief in you. They skip the diligence. And because they skipped the diligence, they show up six months later with expectations you can’t meet: a quick return, a payday, an exit. Software startups average 8+ years to exit.

The sophisticated ones don’t invest in belief and simple “trust” you. They invest in a validated business model and real traction, often looking for months of consistent growth and low churn. The diligence is rigorous, and that’s not them being difficult. That’s how they avoid losing.

Here’s what most founders miss: the stage you’re in determines who will fund you. → Before your business model is proven: only friends and family (prior relationship). → Between business model validation and go-to-market fit: family offices and angels with real domain expertise. → After sustained traction: institutional money shows up.

You don’t graduate from one tier to the next by pitching harder. You graduate by de-risking your business.

Two takeaways: 1️⃣ Don’t raise from unsophisticated money just because it’s available. It’s cheap now and expensive later. 2️⃣ Educate yourself on the financial game. In any negotiation, the side with more knowledge wins, and that side is rarely the founder.

#founders #venturecapital #angelinvestors #entrepreneurship #fundraising by @t_rich

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19 days ago

If you’re going to Yellowstone, my advice is to stay inside the park. It’s worth it.

We stayed at the Old Faithful Inn, and it was such a unique experience. The history, architecture, massive lobby, and location make it feel like part of the park experience, not just a place to sleep.

The best part is that while everyone else is leaving Yellowstone for the night, you’re just settling in. We ate dinner at the Inn, walked around, and watched Old Faithful late in the evening with almost no one around.

After a full day packed with all the sights, it’s so nice, and there’s something special about getting to experience Yellowstone after most of the park has gone home.

Then you wake up already inside Yellowstone, ready to explore before the crowds arrive. Without the “way-too-early” wake up call.

Stay in the park, such a cool experience. And the Old Faithful Inn won’t disappoint. by @t_rich

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a month ago

Just needed to get some steps in… somehow ended up at the Seahawks game.

Season opener. Super Bowl banner. Seahawks football back in Seattle. NFL is back!

Had to make the walk from Utah. 😂

And don’t mind the camo pants.

#Seahawks #SeattleSeahawks #NFL #Seattle #Utah by @t_rich

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25 days ago

More of this. Less of everything else.

The more I work, and whether goals are hit or missed, I always come back to this: I need more meaningful moments with my family, and to take care of my health, so that it creates more time and freedom to be able to be with those that I want to be around.

Yellowstone was a great reminder of this. What a glorious recharge. Here’s what we did and saw:

Fishing Bridge → Mud Volcano → Dragon’s Mouth Spring → Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone → Artist Point → Hayden Valley → Norris Geyser Basin → Fountain Paint Pots → Grand Prismatic Spring (& overlook → Old Faithful (& the Inn) → West Yellowstone

A pretty incredible Yellowstone Labor Day weekend with the family. by @t_rich

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a month ago

AI isn’t killing SaaS. It’s changing who (or what) uses it.

Startup founders need to build software that works for both people and AI agents. That means investing in strong APIs, agent-accessible actions, clean structured data, and critical workflows. Not just another dashboard.

The startups that become the trusted system of record will be increasingly valuable in the agentic era.

Build for the user today, and their agent tomorrow.

Follow @startupignition for more on venture and startups! by @t_rich

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a month ago