hey friends 👋
I’m JDM (aka Josh David Miller) and I’m a venture scientist — I partner with pre-seed and seed-stage startups to turn assumptions into data, and data into traction. I run design sprints at The Right Box , I’m co-founder of the Traction Lab incubator, and I’m a content creator.
Check out my recent content below, or read more about me .
Upcoming Events
Every week, I host live office hours to help early-stage founders cut through the noise and get real traction. It’s fast, practical, and occasionally a little spicy — and I’m often joined by smart friends who bring their own sharp takes to your startup questions.
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Instagram Live AMA
Join me on Instagram Thursdays at 9am PDT to take your startup questions. Join live, or "@" me in advance, and I'll take it live.If you can't join live, you can submit a question in advance here. -
LinkedIn Office Hours
Every week, Cameron Law and I go live on the Traction Lab page for a robust "ask us anything" office hours format. It's a lively discussion with a live audience. Come join the fun!If you can't join live, you can submit a question in advance here. -
Substack Live AMA
Substack currently does not allow scheduling the livestream in advance, but all my followers are notified when I go live — so give me a follow!If you can't join live, you can submit a question in advance here. -
Instagram Live AMA
Join me on Instagram Thursdays at 9am PDT to take your startup questions. Join live, or "@" me in advance, and I'll take it live.If you can't join live, you can submit a question in advance here.
Recent Content
I write two weekly newsletters, co-host a podcast, and create content on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and other places — all based around helping first-time founders launch sooner and scale faster with venture science.
These are four of my most recent pieces:
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Replay: free users, flimsy pilots, and the fantasy of readiness
Office Hours ·Startups don’t fail because they build the wrong thing—they fail because they launch too late, believe every soft “yes,” and can’t tell the difference between pull and push. Let’s fix that.
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All Roads Lead to Distribution
Zero to Traction Podcast ·If your go-to-market plan starts with “we’re planning to launch…” you don’t have a distribution strategy — you’ve just built a lonely product waiting for customers who will never arrive.
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🧠 Stop betting the house on a maybe
Traction Thinking ·Too many founders bet the whole roadmap on a compliment. Here’s how to size your startup bets to match the evidence — and avoid building a mansion on a maybe.
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Replay: founder flakiness, feature overlap, and... a rock emoji?
Office Hours ·Your co-founder vanishes, users ghost, and a competitor just shipped your roadmap — it’s been a week. We tackled the founder drama, market panic, and waitlist woes that give teams nightmares.