Travis May · 8 September 2026 · Operating Insight

Lessons from Shaper’s Third Year

Travis May, GP @ Shaper Capital

Travis May reflects on three years building Shaper, a venture studio, sharing ten lessons on early-stage company building: maximizing surface area for feedback, embracing services businesses, ignoring groupthink, hiring ops early, overdelivering culturally, maintaining low burn, knowing when to pivot, recruiting relentlessly, building strong businesses first, and staying flexible across business models.

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Topics: Venture Capital & Startups

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