Wall Street Darling Struggles With Supply Chain, Ops, Digital
Scott Boatwright: "I thought I was joining this darling of Wall Street that had it all figured out... That's not what I found at all. In the first 12-18 months, we were struggling: supply chain challenges, operational challenges, and trying to stand up this digital business." https://t.co/oTVdVycqzf
Ignoring Insider Feedback Guarantees Fundraising Rejection
It’s rough when founders don’t listen to insiders during fundraising prep then go to raise only to find out external investors pass exactly because of the questions insiders raised. But it basically happens every single time when founders fail to do...
Founders Who Shun Investor Scr
When founder is annoying that investors are asking questions and doing due dilligence there is a very high chance this founder will not succeed. Building companies is a collaborative marathon where investors aren’t just dumb money and nuance. Best investors engage in...
Scale Fast, but only when Your Business Is Ready
One of the hardest things a founder has to deal with is moving as fast as possible without rushing. Trying to grow a business that isn't ready for it is pushing on a string and will lead to burnout.
Inside Lenny's Life: Unfiltered Talk with First Round
I rarely do interviews or talk about my personal life, but I made an exception for the team at @firstround. Their writer spent hours at my house. We talked about why I started Lenny's Newsletter, what motivates me to keep...
Cloud Exit Slashes Hosting Costs by $3M Annually
In 2023, we spent $3,934,099 on AWS + other hosting. In 2026, our hosting + support bill is down to ~$1m/year due to the cloud exit. Even including all the hardware buying, we will already have saved ~$4m by the...
Rapid Development Outpaces Adoption; Marketing Becomes Critical
I was a guest on a podcast recently and we got into something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Building is faster than ever, but customers can’t absorb change at the same pace. That gap is where adoption breaks, and it’s...
Turning Consulting Into a Product Determines Startup Success
His biggest risk wasn't demand. It was whether a consulting service could become a real product. If it couldn't be productized, the whole company would be wrong. https://t.co/ijwnhg6MLr
Matium Seeds Efficiency in Trillion‑dollar US Plastics Market
the U.S. plastics market moves a trillion dollars a year on phone calls and spreadsheets. excited to lead Matium's seed round to bring structure, financing, managed logistics, and quality guarantees to this market. ~10% of the industry is already using...
Stop Building Products No One Wants, Grow Your SME
SME owners – are you pouring time and money into your business but not seeing the growth you need? You might be building something no one actually wants…
Likes Don't Equal Sales: Separate Launch Strategy Required
Just because people are liking your tweets (or whatever they are) doesn’t mean they will buy your product when you launch. A launch plan is completely different. I didn’t realize this at first: https://t.co/gJaBCH5BWr
Serial SaaS Founder Shares Secrets in Upcoming Book
My buddy Jason Cohen has built not one but two companies worth over a billion dollars (we met in Hampton). - First he founded SmartBear. Grew it, sold it. - Then he starts WP Engine, a managed WordPress hosting platform. - Bootstrapped the...
DIY Car Passion Fuels Career, Empowers Women
I’m so impressed by how Christina Roki turned a DIY car project into a successful career. As an engineering major she taught herself how to fix cars and evolved it into a platform where she uses her passion and creativity...
Six Mental Hacks Turned My Writing Into $20M Business
Writing online is one of the best habits you can build. But in my first 9 months: • I had under 100 followers • I wrote blogs no one read • I was ready to quit entirely So I found 6 mental hacks to keep...
Feeling Uncertain? That’s Proof You’re Taking Risks
If you feel like you’re behind in your career. If you feel like you’re losing. If you’re not sure if it’s going to work. There’s nothing wrong with you. Entrepreneurship is not clarity. It’s uncertainty repeated daily. Most people quit...
Make Your Pitch Simple, Not Complicated
Your pitch isn't too long. It's too complicated. Dumbed down removes the intelligence. Simple removes everything that isn't essential. Can you explain what you do, who it's for, and why it matters in 30 seconds? If not — that's an unfinished thinking problem....
AI Code Generators Cost Millions without Validation
"Vibecoding ruined me. I spent $560k... and no tool can tell me if it's actually functional." This founder believed AI would teach him to code. Now he's bankrupt. AI doesn't validate. It generates. Know what you have before you spend another dollar. DM 'audit' for...
AI Powers Two‑Person Team to $1.8B Business
How AI helped 1 man (and his brother) build a US$1.8 billion company A US$1.8bil company with just two employees? In the age of AI, it’s increasingly possible https://t.co/j54so7VWd1 https://t.co/5KYMH0MQJM
Build for Need, Not Just Customer Requests
The best business opportunities aren't in new tech or emerging markets. They're in the gap between what customers ask for and what they actually need. What they ask for: faster, cheaper, easier. What they need: confidence, certainty, progress. Build for the need. That's where...
Helium Startups Face Five Key Challenges Amid Middle East Crisis
Top 5 issues for helium startups in Middle East crisis ⚾️Reduced production capacity ⚾️Increased costs ⚾️Strategic adjustments ⚾️Partnerships and logistics ⚾️Leverage government support
Compute Limits Trap AI: Stalling Growth Now and Later
Compute constraints are a double bind: On the inference side you need to either (a) raise prices, (b) ration use, and/or (c) serve worse models. This hurts current growth On the training side, you can't train the next gen of models to...
Invest in Yourself: Entrepreneurship Redefines Life in Your 20s
The best investment I ever made is in myself, to make the decision a long time ago to jump into entrepreneurship, to take the risk, to take the chance. Many people don't do it. Only about a third of the...
Autonomous Construction Firm Secures Real Projects, Massive Revenue
@TerraFirma_Inc is delivering autonomous construction in the field. Real projects and real revenue with major customers and massive revenue streams. Their innovation will change construction forever. @BainCapVC
Choose Deal‑by‑deal for Low‑cost, Flexible REPE Startup
You want to start your own real estate private equity firm but you don’t know how much it’ll cost Here’s how to think about start-up costs: There are basically 2 ways to set up a real estate private equity firm 1. First way...
Sol Reader Shuts Down After Life‑Changing Success
Earlier this year, @bchelf and I made the difficult decision to wind down @solreader, the next-gen e-reader company we founded. I couldn’t be prouder of what we built. The product completely sold out, lots of people have said that it...
Design Becomes the Key Moat in One‑Prompt Apps
Hoping some indie devs will gut check this… I’m building my first app that I plan to possibly sell and I keep coming back to this: When anyone can one-shot an app with a single prompt, what are the moats or diffentiators...
Selling a Startup Redefines Identity, Not Just Business
Selling a startup isn’t just a business transaction. It’s a change of identity. And it can crush people, even if it was the right thing to do. More: https://t.co/p4XhQRkxs1
Tunnel Vision, AI, and Brand-Building in 2026
A very inspiring conversation w/ Blazzy, one of the West Coast's biggest streetwear & product designers, about how to build a brand in 2026, the value of tunnel vision, the rise of AI & what it akes to stand out...
Hire Capacity, Not Just Headcount, to Scale Initiatives
Keith Rabois : Companies hire ammunition when they really need barrels. "Most founders raise money, and then they hire a lot of people. And then the CEO, almost without exception, gets frustrated because they've hired a lot of people, their...
Green Tech Startups Like Monarch Face Commercialization Hurdles
Monarch is one of a growing number of green tech startups running struggling to commercialize their technology. https://t.co/XPdOIfHkDP
Crucible Backs Three College Trading Teams to Launch Startups
random fact - Crucible has backed 3 co-founding teams that bonded over trading in college - @kaledora + @contrarianmarco, Harvard -> @OstiumLabs - @bavaria_kush + @wayne_nelmz, MIT -> @OrnnExchange - @harshavramesh + @cdeshpande17, Vanderbilt -> @PillarHQ LOVE OF THE GAME
Nimble Startups Like DecagonAI Thrive in Wild Market
Often, one of the strongest and only advantages an emerging company has over larger incumbents is its ability to be nimble. The @DecagonAI team has that in spades. Loved sharing the @ForerunnerVC story with them, and how we're approaching this...
Prioritize Internal Strengths, Borrow External Best Practices
For differentiation look inward -- what can 𝘺𝘰𝘶 do ; what do 𝘺𝘰𝘶 have. For everything else you can look outward -- what are the so-called "best practices" you can just steal? All is needed to create a full organization, but spend...
Contracted ARR Definitions Vary Wildly Across Startup Pitches
A lot of "Contracted ARR" is being thrown at me in startup pitches these days. And it seems highly inconsistent in definition among founders...
Solve Your Own Problem, Build a Product, Let Customers Market It
How anyone can make $1 million in 12 month (this is what I did): 1. Solve a problem you have 2. Package your solution into a product 3. Put that product for sale on the internet 4. Tweak your solution until it's so good...
Scaling From $100k to $1M Is Simpler Than Starting
Going from $100k to $1M per year is 10x easier than going from $0 to $100k. It will feel like chewing glass, but it gets easier. Just keep going.
Price SaaS for Unpredictable Agent Counts, Not Limits
Take note, SaaS founders. People will run somewhere between 0 and a few dozen agents on your platforms. Per team. Per user. Per project. You won’t know. THEY won’t know. Pricing should facilitate this, not hinder it.
Solo Founders Need One Unified AI Business Brain
I tried running a “solo founder stack” with 13 different tools. It looked productive. It felt chaotic. Content in Notion. Launch plans in ClickUp. Finances in random sheets. AI scattered across 5 apps that all forget context. That experiment is why I’m building Vora IQ as a...
Free Custom Video Ads Skyrocket Cold Outreach Responses
A 19-year-old freelancer scraped 5,000 Shopify stores from his bedroom. No degree. No portfolio. No LinkedIn with 10k followers. Just a spreadsheet, Apollo for contacts, and one weird idea that he tested on a loaf of bread Bakers don't hand out menus. They...
Speed Wins Early, Not a Sustainable Moat
"Speed should get you to somewhere that has more long-term advantages." At $4.5B-valued Decagon, speed is an advantage, not a moat. "If everyone is at the same starting line in the early days, it's just, how fast can you go?"...
Join Koah Labs as Founding Head of AI Ads Sales
Come lead the way for the future of AI ads. We're looking for a founding head of sales at @koahlabs ! https://t.co/CBLnBgueW6
From Consultant to Insider: Landing Major Clients Fast
So I started a social media consultancy. I haven't ~announced~ it yet, but pulled in two pretty cool / major clients right away, and man... I'm having the most fun. Writing & speaking about social are great, but I really missed being...
It’s Never Too Late to Start Something New
it's never as late as you think it is...
Wealth Comes From Boring, Profitable Businesses, Not Trends
You won't get rich from a business that burns money chasing a trend. You get rich with a business that is boring but profitable, and by sticking with it for decades.
Surprising Subscriber Count Needed for a Million‑dollar YouTube Business
I asked @TintinSmith how many subscribers you actually need to build a million-dollar business from YouTube. His answer might surprise you. Search "Nathan Barry Show" to watch the full YouTube masterclass. https://t.co/onYCQZo0yl
Success Isn’t a $1M Target, It’s Personal Goals
Every time a client tells me they want to hit $1M in revenue, I casually ask why. Why THAT number? *Usually* no math was done to get to that number, it just sounded good. Seemed reasonable. Makes them a 7...
SaaS Is Becoming a Family‑run Legacy Business
I just realized that we are probably in the decade when the first meaningful number of long-term SaaS founders will turn their profitable businesses over to their children. It's pretty weird to think of SaaS as a family business. I...
Pitch Crypto Startup at Vegas Conference for $1M
We’re heading to Las Vegas. On April 27, during Bitcoin Conference week, I’ll be filming Meet the Drapers in partnership with BitGo. This is a chance to pitch on a global stage, get in front of top investors, and compete for up...
Validate with Conversations Before Writing Any Code
First startup: 3 years of building things nobody wanted. Second startup: refused to write a single line of code until 15-20 conversations proved the idea was worth building. https://t.co/KFZEp3I3OB
Fluidstack Seeks $1B Raise at $18B Valuation
Fluidstack is in talks to raise about $1B at a target valuation of $18B. Jane Street and former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness in talks about co-leading. SCOOP with @DavidPan_1 @RebeccaTorrenc5 @KatLeighDoherty https://t.co/cNNq2DtVHM