Phil Libin

Phil Libin at Startup School 2013

Phil Libin

Evernote co-founder Phil Libin outlines the critical importance of selecting long-term co-founders and building products for personal necessity, a philosophy refined through previous ventures like Engine 5 and CoreStreet. Despite surviving a 2008 cash crisis after a legal structure error and a collapsed European investment, the company secured its future through a small emergency loan from an early user and strategic partnerships with investors who were genuine product fans. Libin concludes that the modern app economy validates this approach, where creating an "epic" product for oneself naturally attracts a global audience without requiring traditional market fit validation.