Non‑AI Ideas Are the Hidden Goldmine for Founders
The biggest opportunity for would-be startup founders is AI. But the most underpriced opportunity is probably non-AI ideas. So if you have a good non-AI idea, go for it, because everyone else is going to overlook it.
Never Skip Founder Vesting: Avoid Costly Legal Traps
A SaaS founder paid $60,000 out of pocket to remove a co-founder who barely showed up to meetings. The sad truth? The co-founder was legally entitled to every dollar. This is why you never skip a vesting agreement with your co-founder. Here's...
From Funding Fears to Unsolicited Share Offers
Boom always used to have hard time raising money. Investors are terrified of funding anything that's not like existing hot startups. And now, after 10 years of lean times, I'm getting unsolicited offers to buy Boom shares. It's so great.
AI Becomes the Operating System of Companies
AI isn't just making teams more productive. It's changing how companies should be built. In this episode of Startup School, YC Partner @sdianahu explains what it means to build an AI-native company, where AI isn't just a tool but the operating...
If You Can't Explain Value, Don't Fund Tech
Many tech companies have real difficulty describing what their technology does. If we can't explain value clearly, why should the business fund it? #CIO #ITValue https://t.co/qPKuOVY8TH
Aim for 10x‑100x Breakthroughs, Not Incremental Gains
We just had the ex-President of Tesla on MFM. This guy joined when Tesla was 4 employees, and left when it was 4,000. One of the things he told Shaan was that at Tesla, the goal was never "make it 20%...
Earn 99% Margins by Building a Simple Digital Business
My little writing business has made over $20,000,000. But the problem? It's VERY expensive to run. At this point, we have a team of about 30 all-stars with a 7-figure payroll. If I wanted to maximize the money flowing into my bank account, I...
Focus on One Lane: Choose What Not to Do
Strategy without focus isn't strategy. It's a wish list. Real strategy is about what you choose NOT to do. You cannot be all things to all people and be excellent at anything. Pick your lane. Go deep. Win there first.
Snapchat’s Ideas Thrive While Its
Snapchat shaped the way millions communicate. Its ideas were copied by every major platform. Yet the company behind those ideas has barely made a profit. Something in the business never grew as fast as the product:
AI Boom Drives Q1 2026 Venture Funding to $300 B
Q1 2026 Shatters Venture Funding Records As AI Boom Pushes Startup Investment To $300B https://t.co/qwiRvHD7SJ
Join a Google Meet to Pitch, Validate Ideas
Planning a google meet …for every passionate person.. if u are creating something , building any startup , even u have an idea… let’s share it … in this meet .. we Gota chance to meet amazing people ….. Better...
Peruvian Entrepreneur Profits From Drone Facade Cleaning
Peruvian Entrepreneur Earns Big with #Drone-Powered Building Facade Cleaning by @Arcfunmi #EmergingTech #Technology #Innovation https://t.co/ZJN9uY5jTG
Create Experiences that Inspire Unprompted Referrals
Referral customers: higher lifetime value, lower churn, faster sales cycles. Yet most businesses treat referrals as something that happens to them — not something they create. What would your customer experience have to look like for people to bring it up unprompted? Answer...
Founders Build Markets, Investors Embrace Early Failure, Engineering Evolves
Greeted a packed session of great founders at Google Next today reinforcing: - Founders are capable of creating any market they can attract talent to build for, dispelling the myth of “founder market fit” - Investors expect early attempts at solving...
Self‑Reflection, Not Empire‑Building, Drives True Success
Incredibly interesting interview with Frank Wang, founder and CEO of DJI "He said that after 20 years of entrepreneurship, what he is most satisfied with is not building a world-class company, but learning to reflect" Basically the opposite of retardmaxxing. While...
Leaving a Military Leadership Role for Private Practice
Ten years ago, I made one of the scariest decisions of my life. After 10 years, I left my GS position as an Assistant Chief, Fellowship Training Director, and Pediatric Psychologist at a military hospital to start my private practice...
Startup Simplifies Solar Sign‑Up Like Phone Plans
U.S. startup aims to make signing up for solar as easy as signing up for cell phone service #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/0gRf85CNrZ
Test Stories in Comics, Then Launch AAA Game
Dan Houser's Absurd Ventures has a good model. Test narratives in comics and animated shorts. Then move forward with a triple-A game based on the property. https://t.co/aunkIaaVRD
One‑shot AI App Creation Is a Myth
The idea of "one shotting" an app using AI is a fugazi. If you had to describe my app and all the edge cases I have solved over the years, it would be a prompt the size of a small book,...
From $50 Slack to $15M: Build Your First Digital Product
Ship 30 began as $50 for a Slack channel—and I refunded my first 60 customers. But since then, I've generated $15,000,000 with digital products. And on April 27th, I'm launching a bootcamp to help you build your first digital product. Hop aboard here:...
Turn a Layoff Into Startup Success and Happiness
If you’re laid off, create or join a startup — that’s the best path to unlimited upside and happiness https://t.co/VbsStEV0EN
Two Developers Outpace OpenAI on Product Hunt
Nothing to see here. Just 2 guys who built an app in 10 days casually beating multi-billion dollar @OpenAI on Producthunt. https://t.co/5eFwHLAlpC
Launch Narrow MVP, Scale Vision with Rapid Iterations
Startup TLDRs for AI era: One shot hyper thin wedge, fat vision, hyper fast iteration loop. Use market harnesses.
X Is a Launchpad, Not a Retention Strategy
#buildinpublic is fast food marketing Quick sign ups, high churn There are a lot of smart people marketing their SaaS exclusively on X And they all have one thing in common - disastrously high churn of >20% a month These founders have to replace...
Expand Using Existing Strengths, Not Just More
Product is working, business is cooking, time to 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥! But “more” isn’t always more. What direction should you expand? In a direction that leverages what you already have. Here’s how: https://t.co/PaddbfaVoA
Productivity Boom Stalls without New 10x Opportunities
Betting a technological breakthrough ends in economic collapse is asinine. Never happened once in history. What's actually happening right now is that your workers can do 10x more, but you haven't figured out how to point them at 10x more...
AI Slashes Startup Costs to $110—What Will You Build?
Starting in company is easier than ever... In 2005, starting a business cost ~$40,000. In 2026, it costs $110. AI demolished the barriers. The only question left: What are you going to build?
Move Fast When Mistakes Are Easily Reversible, Think First Otherwise
There's a constant debate about the Silicon Valley adage of "move fast and break things." I really like how the @Mejuri founders think about moving quickly and making fast decisions. If it is an outcome that you can reverse relatively easily,...
Top Large Cities Reveal Geographic Edge for New Restaurants
Aspiring restaurant operators - here is an interesting resource about the best large cities to start a business. Some interesting geographical differences. https://t.co/3JGPaRhc7m
Three Phases to $1M Digital Writing Success
The Path to $1M as a Digital Writer is just 3 phases. Phase 1: Start writing online, gather data, and then double-down on "what's working" Phase 2: Name & Claim your niche, build a Superniche audience, create your 1st digital product Phase 3:...
Mission and Culture: The Core of Successful Startups
Early in my founding journey, I used to think that mission and culture were just a bunch of buzzwords, not substantiated in anything. But now I think that companies are all about mission and culture. It's the only way for...
Plaid Hits $500M ARR, AI‑Powered Growth Surge
We just published @Plaid's 2025 Shareholder Letter. 2025 highlights • >$500M ARR (~40% YoY); profitable; strong margins • >1m new connections every day • New products >20% of revenue growing at >90% • Major progress in Credit Scoring and Fraud Analytics • AI has accelerated...
While You Party, Others Hustle and Pull Ahead
I’m concerned. Today I will drink beer and have fun at the gala. But all the people who didn’t get invited will work on their business plans and cold call all day. They are zigging when we zag and will be so far...
VCs Miss Dual‑Risk Founders; $700M Bet Yields
There's a type of founder most VCs don't know how to evaluate. They carry technical risk and commercial risk simultaneously for years, Even before they know if the market is real. @bznotes spent $700M on those founders. His best seed...
Patience Beats Premature Labels: Let Time Reveal Outcomes
Good or bad. Win or loss. Promotion or setback. Most people rush to label outcomes too early. "We’ll see.” Because what looks like a loss today can become leverage tomorrow. When you stop judging every moment, you make better decisions....
Free Tool Turned 8‑figure ARR After Pricing Demand
Ev Kontsevoy gave Teleport away free as a lead magnet for his paid product. Customers kept calling asking to pay for the free tool anyway. After five requests he put a price tag on it. Teleport Enterprise had almost no...
How to Leverage Your Sponsored Event
Founders regularly ask me: how do we make the most of this event we’re sponsoring? The thread below is your guide.
Beyond $10K: Mindset, Not Tactics, Limits Success
The gap between: • $0 and $10k is tactics • $10k and $100k is psychology You already know what to do. You just don't believe you deserve it yet.
15-Second Sports League for Addicted Digital Fans
All I need is 15 seconds of your attention. Our athletes will do the rest. We’re building a league to can breakthrough to even the most ADD, doomscrolling, digital-native sports fan 🤪 that’s my vision for @athlos - are you...
Elite Founders Master ROI, Timing, and Rapid Learning
If you're an elite founder, you'll recognise yourself here: - You know when to pivot and when to persevere on an existing concept. - You know how to get the most out of every meeting and every person you meet. - You know...
Revolutionary Ideas Rarely Deliver as Promised
“Every 10 to 20 years someone comes along and says, ‘Oh, I have a brilliant idea. I will revolutionize the industry with these factory-built methods that nobody has ever thought of before.’ And then they...don’t work out the way that...
Entrepreneurs Capture Full Reward, Employees Get Fraction
Most people don't think about risk/reward correctly because they only think about the level of risk and are unable to accurately conceptualize the magnitude of the reward Let’s take two scenarios - one as an employee at a RE firm, one...
From War‑torn Budapest to $80B Automated Trading Empire
Thomas Peterffy is worth $80B and his life reads like the plot of a Christopher Nolan movie: - Born during a Soviet bombing raid, Budapest, 1944 - Sold pieces of gum to kids at age 12 - Organized children to hunt scrap metal...
Underestimating Timelines Kills Startups; Double Your Estimates
The biggest mistake in early-stage businesses isn't the product or the team. It's the timeline. The planning fallacy is real: founders systematically underestimate how long everything takes. Take your honest estimate. Double it. Add contingency. Most ventures that fail would have succeeded with more...
Bluesky’s Lofty Goals Hit Familiar Social Media Woes
Bluesky set out to fix social media. Now it’s running into familiar problems https://t.co/VKwcj7AU75 via @FastCompany Not enough "normies"?
AI Coding Turns Small Teams Into High‑Output Powerhouses
We just kicked off our first AI Coding Bootcamp. And one thing became very clear in week one: This is not a small upgrade to how software gets built. It is a complete shift 👇 We have 42 participants from...
Start Now: Action Beats Waiting for Perfect Timing
Most people wait for the perfect moment to start. A founder I know waited 18 months to leave his job. Better timing. More savings. Less risk. Meanwhile someone with half his skills and twice his urgency built what he kept planning. Markets don't reward...
Investors Fund Proof, Not Pitches—Show Real Customer Data
Investors don't fund ideas. They fund evidence. Customers who paid real money. Problems you describe better than the people experiencing them. Early data from real transactions. The best pitches aren't inspiring — they're reassuring. Build evidence before you build a pitch deck.
Top-Tier Startup Lawyer with Founder Experience and $1B Deals
Top shelf pro for helping startup founders Move fast Respond quickly 10+ years as a startup lawyer 2x software founder, both VC backed and bootstrapped $1B in deal value generated via raises and exits And I’ll bet I’m the coolest attorney you’ve ever met.
BitTensor's Incentive Structure Fuels Constant Exploitation
This is BitTensor’s biggest weakness 👇 Users (miners/validators) are incentivized to compete. This means gaming the system, exploiting every possible advantage. Subnets need to be built assuming people are gonna cut corners. Builders have to assume exploitation is the default....