Valuation Hype Blinds Investors; Fundamentals Still Matter
Startuping is hard. Bolt, the one-click checkout turned financial “super app," raised nearly $1B, and hit an $11B valuation. Now it's cut a third of its staff, struggling to pay contractors, and its app has 5,000 downloads with mostly one-star reviews. Capital markets funded the narrative. Unit economics never showed up.
Building AI Tools for Viral UGC Marketing
As you know, coding now is not a problem. So... I'm going deep into UGC and MARKETING. Build tools to help me build viral content for Instagram/TikTok. Showing progress on real use-cases, what works and what doesn’t. The project is a...
Voice AI Secures Over $1B Funding in January
Voice AI had a stellar first quarter, with startups getting more than $1.88 million in funding in voice and voice-related startups. January was the biggest month with over $1 billion in funding My story in the newsletter: https://t.co/xanR263SOd
Katzenberg’s Pixar Expertise Fuels Nova’s Growth
After getting to know Jeffrey Katzenberg as a friend and advisor to Nova, I learned that he had helped Pixar, another storytelling+tech startup, take their films to the world. I worked hard to get him to join as an investor...
Focus Over Quantity: Why Companies Fail When Overextended
So many companies fail due to a lack of focus. Not from lack of ideas. Not from lack of talent. Not from lack of capital. From trying to do too many things at once.
Disruption Thrives on Teams, Not Lone Genius Myths
The idea of a lone genius having a eureka moment makes for a great story—but it’s mostly a myth. Scott Anthony explains that real disruption comes from teams, long timelines, and messy experimentation. It’s not magic—it’s human 🚀 👌Tune in: https://bit.ly/epicdisruptions
Skip Ads, Knock Doors: Build Pipeline Faster
Most founders burn cash on ads before they knock on 10 doors. I tested a 6-step door strategy and booked more meetings in a week than a month of paid clicks. Lead with a question, map the right streets, track every talk,...
Lean Tools Thrive without Niche Constraints, Handling Any Data
Parseur ignored "pick a niche" advice. One tool now parses 10,000 utility bills and pigeon genealogy PDFs. "There is a beauty in building a product so lean it doesn't care what data it receives." https://t.co/9Dt7qXY0ky
Female Founders Risk Buyer Betrayal in M&A Deals
I've talked to a number of female founders who've sold their co & had buyer refuse payments after taking control, strategic buyers backing out of m&a and then releasing a copy of the product and hiring a leader who works...
Creating Unseen Futures in a Jungle Retreat
Five days in the jungle with three agency owners, building futures that don’t exist yet.
From Prenatal DNA Test to $4B Cancer Detection Promise
1 in 11 babies born in America this year will be screened by a genetic test that didn't exist a decade ago. Biotech startup @BillionToOneInc turned a simple but radical idea—detecting rare fragments of fetal DNA in a mother's blood—into one...
Launch a Revenue‑generating SaaS with 0.001% Effort
A few months ago, a SaaS idea got into my head and it simply wouldn't leave me alone. So I made a "dangerous" decision. I decided to allocate just 0.001% of my time to see if I could take that idea...
Call Founders Directly to Master Niche Industries Quickly
I still think one of the best ways to understand traditional niche businesses and industries is by picking up the phone book and calling founders. With every founder you meet and every company you visit, you can soak in so much...
A Better Twitter: Curated Stories, Trends, Voices, No Ragebait
Business idea: A Twitter where interesting stories, global trends, new discoveries, and famous voices get promoted -- and political ragebaiters get thrown into the void.
What to Ask 100 $500M+ Founders?
Question: I'm getting to sit in a room with about 100 founders who have build $500M+ companies for about 3 days. If you were me, what questions would you ask them?
5K/Mo Buys Full AI‑powered Dev Studio
QuantFlow Studio is open for subscriptions 🎉 $5K/mo — one EU dev's cost — buys a whole studio's output. Engineering, design, AI integrations. 2 engineers orchestrating self-made agents, end-to-end. Proof we're not LARPing: • Pilot — 82% on Terminal Bench 2.0 (built in...
Sarvam AI Nears $350M Fundraise to Challenge US, China
ICYMI -0India’s homegrown AI startup, Sarvam AI, is close to raising $300 million to $350 million as it seeks to build a domestic player that can compete with leaders from the US and China. https://t.co/7h7U8WoDWI
Building Is Cheaper; Capturing Attention Remains Costly
The build side of startups is getting cheaper. The ability to shape attention around what you build is not getting cheaper at all.
Marshall Ventures Into Party Speakers, Aiming to Differentiate
Marshall tells me about its decision to enter into the party speaker segment, and how it's attempting to stand out from the crowd. https://t.co/mlitZ6Kgt8
Reinventing at 40: Embrace Failure, Start Fresh
I'm 40. Born in '85. And you won't find this on my resume. 5 AM weekends for 1.5 years. Startup went nowhere. Left my city at 27. Procrastinated my own dreams for 6 straight years. Built a SaaS to €3K MRR. Elon's API pricing killed...
Indie Success Demands Daily Commitment, Not Just Skills
The hardest part of being indie isn't the tech, the marketing, or the sales. It's waking up every single day whether you feel like shit or great and choosing to build anyway.
From $10k Debt to $60B: Remote Work Triumph
These guys used a $10,000 credit card debt to start a business in 2002. That company is now worth $60B. In 2020, they dropped their biggest surprise yet: They told all employees to stop coming to work. Everyone thought it...
Build Businesses by Solving One Paying Person's Painful Problem
Most people start a business with a solution. That’s backwards. Every business is 3 things: a person, a painful problem, and your solution. Talk to people with money and ask about their problems. Solve one painful problem for one specific person, and you have...
Partiful Tackles Loneliness by Linking Users to Local Events
@partiful is betting on connecting people to groups and local live events. This clip is from the newest First Time Founders episode, 'How Partiful Is Fixing the Loneliness Crisis.' Watch ad-free on Substack: bit.ly/3NMMwtD
Napkin Sketches Now Become AI Products—No Pre‑product Excuse
"we pitched investors when it was just a drawing on a napkin" Think we'll be hearing this a lot less if you can draw it on a napkin, you can prompt it into existence. No excuse to be pre-product unless you're building...
SF's NIMBYism Fuels Housing Crisis, Stifles Startups
at what point does SF's NIMBYism make it a hostile and too expensive place for new startups? Certainly makes it hard for the unfunded eventually the California undersupply of housing becomes the primary obstacle to tech and innovation (and thus the...
AI-Powered Demos Attract Cofounders, Customers, Investors Instantly
Before: move to SF. have an idea. look for a tech cofounder. build a deck in the meantime. Months pass... After: codex/claude in one window, X in the other. Build demo. Make a video of the demo. Announce it online, make it go...
Asset‑light Businesses with Moats Are the Ultimate Sweet Spot
Capital-intensive businesses can keep competitors out. But it's even better when a business is asset-light AND protected from competition. That's the real sweet spot. Low capital needs plus a wide moat.
AI‑trained Founders Boost Startup Speed, Reshape Venture Landscape
first wave of non-technical founders who learned to code from AI are now starting companies. their technical ceiling is much lower but their iteration speed is 10x. (or infinity if you consider they couldn't build software before). that trade-off changes...
Tiny Remote Team Builds $350M Company Without Funding
At no other time in history was this possible. Obsidian is a $350M company built by 3 engineers, and their operating system is wildly unconventional: • ~1 million users per employee (7 full-time staff total) • Fully remote with only 1 in-person...
Write Cold Emails for Them, Not About You
I’ve replied to 3 cold emails from aspiring VCs in the last year. But I’ve received hundreds. Here’s what the ones that didn’t get a reply looked like: → “I’m really interested in learning more about VC and would love to pick...
Stop Wasting $50K on Agencies Before Knowing Your Business
Spending $50K on an agency before learning how your own business works is why you can't get past $10M.
Skeptical Mother‑in‑law Turns
When I first started Extra Points, my mother in law asked “why would anybody pay to read what you have to say?”, leading to my wife and other family members constantly trying to tell her that actually, “Matt is a...
Your Team Is Your Most Critical Founder Decision
As a founder, your biggest bets are the people you surround yourself with. Here’s why it matters more than any decision you’ll ever make 👇
Anthropic's AI‑Driven Growth Hits $19B ARR in One Year
Anthropic is on an unprecedented growth run. Just in the past year they grew from $1B to $19B ARR. They added $6B in ARR just in *February*. Companies like Palantir and Atlassian took 15-20 years to reach ~$5B ARR. Anthropic is...
Entrepreneurship: Survive the Swings, Win by Staying in Game
One hour you’re getting a $150 million offer. The next? Bankruptcy. That’s the life of an entrepreneur. Ups. Downs. Chaos. The key? Stay in the game long enough to win. https://t.co/Vm8elVYrnT
Prioritize Core Goals While Running Controlled Experiments
How do you balance the need for focus with the necessity to experiment in your startup? https://t.co/gZawrwsXaJ
Build a $100k Solo Business with Six Simple Steps
The journey of a $100k solo creator: 1. Find niche with active demand 2. Craft an offer that satisfies it 3. Content to funnel demand 4. Redirect to your email 5. Make offers daily 6. Learn & scale In that order.
Email Every Customer: The Secret to $100M Growth
Native Deodorant's founder emailed every single customer for 2 years. That feedback loop scaled them to a $100M acquisition. Meanwhile you're afraid to email your first 10 customers because you think you're "bothering" them.
Distribution Beats Product: Sell Before You Perfect
Good product + bad distribution = dead. Bad product + great distribution = a business. Nobody buys what they can't find. Build distribution first. Everything else second.
Human Judgment, Not Speed, Remains Developer's Edge
The part of development AI can't touch (yet): Knowing which problem to solve. AI can write the code. It can suggest the architecture. It can even draft the marketing copy. But deciding "this is the feature that matters, and that one doesn't" still...
Prop Trading Evolves: New Funding, Structures, Transparency
📡 Prop News | What's happening in the industry: Propr has initiated its seed round with Vault #1, introducing innovative models and new capital structures along with assets like Solana spot to the prop trading industry. SharkFunded is set to launch its...
From Garage Partnership to Tech Empire: Microsoft’s Birth
#ThisDayInTechHistory. April 4, 1975. Bill Gates and Paul Allen create a partnership called Microsoft. Later, it grows into one of the largest US corporations and places them among the world’s richest people. https://t.co/W5BQfvWcOE
Success Demands Grind, Not Just Lucky Fame
1/10,000 times someone gets lucky and gets famous with relative ease. We hear that story, then think "that's how it goes, at least if you're successful." No, that's not how it goes. It’s a grind, and with a product, usually you have...
Financial Security Resets Motivation, Lets Bootstrappers Choose Growth
This is true for me I used to be confused why bootstrappers slowed down after hitting revenue milestones like $20,000 a month But I realised that for most of them, they have enough 6-10 months of having 'enough' is a real reset in...
Replace “Soon” With a Date to Make It Real
The most dangerous word in entrepreneurship: “soon.” “I’ll launch soon.” “I’ll start posting soon.” “I’ll reach out to that prospect soon.” Soon is where ambition goes to die quietly. Replace “soon” with a date. Put it on the calendar. Tell someone. Now it’s real.
Transparent ROI Forces Price Wars, Not Value
This is spot on. One downside to business models with extremely transparent roi is that customers can then easily compare vendors and profits get competed away. The fallacy is thinking it's just "deliver customer value." It's really "deliver value...
Cash‑pay GLP‑1 Clinics: Easy to Copy, Unsafe, Unregulated
By now we have all read the piece in @nytimes about MEDVi's $1B+ business selling GLP-1s online with a ton of marketing, and very little ownership of infrastructure. I asked two friends @josh_tauber and @keatonbedell: - Is there any moat? (no) -...
VC Funding Often Traps Founders on a Failure Treadmill
VCs convincing founders to take money with a 90%+ probability they will fail. They call it a treadmill for a reason. The second you take capital, you're on it, and it's set at a speed that works for them, not necessarily...
Open‑source Community Set to Outshine Corporate AI Agents
A lot of the decacorn AI agent cos and labs other than OpenAI are trying to kill OpenClaw or replace it However: I think community and open source is too strong and the Apple II moment will actually happen for OpenClaw...