Uri Levine: Why startups are a journey from crisis to crisis

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

February 16, 2025

Duration

1h 23m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Uri Levine is a co-founder of Waze (which was acquired by Google for $1.3 billion in 2013), along with nine other companies (including another company he sold for over $1 billion). He’s also been on 20 boards and has been an advisor to over 50 startups. He recently released a new chapter of his best-selling book Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, which provides a guide to surviving crises at your company. In this episode, we cover:

• The two types of startup crisis and how to handle them
• Why speed of action is the most important thing
• How to keep your team motivated when things look dire
• A framework for deciding whether or not to pivot
• What to do when product-market fit disappears
• How to approach raising money during a crisis
• More

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• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-founders-guide-to-crisis-management-uri-levine Where to find Uri Levine:

• X: https://twitter.com/urilevine1
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uri-levine
• Website: https://urilevine.com
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Love-Problem-Solution-Entrepreneurs/dp/1637746601/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Welcome back, Uri! (05:10) The new chapter: navigating crises (08:15) Types of crises founders face (29:10) Navigating cash crises (38:31) The importance of never giving up (46:26) How to keep people engaged through a crises (47:59) Transparency in crisis management (56:58) Navigating product-market-fit challenges (59:27) Deciding when to pivot or shut down (01:13:34) Real-life startup survival stories (01:17:06) Avoiding and preparing for crises (01:21:21) Final thoughts and book promotion Referenced:

• Waze: https://www.waze.com/
• Moovit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moovit
• Order Chat: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/order-chat
• Fibo: https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/fibo
• Behind the founder: Drew Houston (Dropbox): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-drew-houston-dropbox
• TomTom: https://www.tomtom.com/
• Khosla Ventures: https://www.khoslaventures.com/
• WeSki: https://www.weski.com/
• Larry Silverstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Silverstein
• Oversee: https://oversee.biz/
• Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups
• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook
• Harley Finkelstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harleyf/
• Zip: https://zip.co/us
• Qualcomm: https://www.qualcomm.com/
• Einstein quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_einstein_148788

Recommended book:

• Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs (updated 2025 version): https://urilevine.com/book/#Pre-orde Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Uri Levine

  guest

• Narrator

  other

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Uri Levine, Uri Levine: Why startups are a journey from crisis to crisis explores Waze co-founder explains surviving startup crises, from cash to pivoting Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze and serial entrepreneur, breaks down startup crises into two existential types: cash crises and loss-of–product-market-fit crises.

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