In the early days of Pardot, I regularly read two startup blogs:

• Mark Suster

• David Cummings

David was the CEO and co-founder of Pardot. (But that wasn’t the only reason I read his blog, okay??!!!)

The dude was building multiple successful startups and ALSO blogging every single day including weekends.

Also, his posts are like 100 words so if you find my style a tiny bit too verbose, you’re in for a (short) treat!

He still posts every Saturday so if you’re not subscribed, fix that (bottom right corner)!

David’s blog is thousands of posts of startup gems that I still reference regularly.

Want the Cliff Notes AI summary?

Here are the topics and specific posts that I share most often with founders!

1. Partnerships

Will that partnership unlock millions of revenue for your startup?

Here are the posts I send founders who are excited about a possible partnership.

(Sorry in advance for the buzzkill! 😬 Paul Graham says the same thing in the “Big” section here.)

Read one:

• Startups Should Say No to 99% of Partnership Opportunities

Read more:

• Walk, Jog, Run Approach to Partnerships

• 4 Reasons for Startups to Avoid Big Partnerships

• Purposefully Adding Friction to a Process

2. Rule of 40

If you don’t know the Rule of 40, you should! And here’s your chance to learn.

It’s a great way to answer the question: what’s more important — growth or profitability?

Read one:

• Rule of 40 and Startups (Dec 2019)

Read more:

• SaaS Valuations as a Rule of 40 Multiple (Jul 2020)

• Back to the Rule of 40 for Startups (Jun 2022)

• Startup Valuations as Rule of 40 and Market Sentiment Multiples (Jan 2023)

• Rule of 40 Growth Multiplier (Feb 2023)

3. Culture

Culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage that’s completely within the entrepreneur’s control. - David Cummings

^^Can confirm! I saw it first hand at Pardot.

Our culture directly impacted our successful outcome. Customers felt it and it created loyalty. It also made us an attractive acquisition target. Exact Target and Salesforce both mentioned it in the acquisition process!

Read one:

• 12 Ideas To Strengthen Culture (👈 includes links to posts about each idea)

Read more:

• Core Values for Atlanta Tech Village

• Culture Deck in Time of Crisis

4. Origin Stories

Get inspired and see behind the scenes how a legendary entrepreneur thinks about business ideas and tells the stories!

Read one:

• Intown Golf Club’s Origin Story (Aug 2024)

Read more:

• The Perlant Grand Opening (Jan 2025)

• From Historic Neighborhood to Startup District in Downtown Atlanta (Aug 2024)

• New Atlanta Tech Village in Downtown Atlanta (Jul 2024)

• Salesloft Partnered With Vista Equity (Dec 2021)

5. Find New Business Ideas

How do you find a great business idea?

Listen to the person who is great at coming up with billion dollar business ideas!

For example, David wrote the original post on Authentic Demand which I’ve talked about here, here, and here.

And that’s just the beginning. I share these tips on finding ideas every week!

Read one:

• 5 Favorite General Tips For Founders

Read more:

• The 1 Question to Ask When Looking for a Startup Idea

• 4 Quick Ways to Evaluate a Startup Idea as an Investor

• Get Started on an Idea

• Finding a Startup Idea

• Seeking Startup Ideas

If you’re a David Cummings blog reader, what’s your favorite post or topic? Do you have blog posts that you regularly reference or share?