Starting a Business Reveals Your Own Growth Bottleneck
One of the most underrated reasons for starting a business is it helps you realize you are the bottleneck to growth
OpenClaw Usage Plummets; Future Uncertain Amid Competition
OpenClaw Google searches have been in free fall since March. Token usage is dropping too. So is OpenClaw dead? It feels like the OpenAI acquisition killed the momentum… What do you think? Is OpenClaw gonna win the race? Or are...
ChatGPT's New Model Brings Personality and Personalization
speaking of things that have gotten over a threshold for me, the combo of the new ChatGPT model, personality, and personalization feels like a new thing
Leave Big AI Firms, Build Your Own High‑Equity Startup
If you are at companies like OpenAI, DeepMind, Palantir, other multi-decacorns…you can also leave now. You will quickly get funded by VCs (I am happy to chat), and you can build a company to maximize value of your own massive...
Get All Your Growth Questions Answered in 24
Since he’s not answering anything. Ask me anything about growing / scaling and I’ll answer everything asked in the next 24 hours. https://t.co/pRcRLvG7VY
Minimal Effort Betrays Your Future Self and Supporters
Entrepreneurs: Bare minimum effort is quiet BETRAYAL to your future self and everyone who believed in you first.
Identify the True Owner, Not Just the CEO
Founders: Be precise about who owns the problem you solve. 'The CEO cares about this' isn't enough. Find the person whose job it is to fix this pain point. That's your buyer.
Funding Favors Pitch That Makes Risk Feel Worthwhile
The pitch that gets funded isn’t always the best idea in the room. It’s usually the one that makes the risk feel like it’s worth taking.
Profit Without Structure Signals Need for Support
Your business making money but still feeling chaotic is actually a very specific phase 😭 It means there is vision , demand and potential for growth …but the infrastructure hasn’t caught up yet. So now every new client, launch, or opportunity...
YouTube Powers Hollywood’s New Creator-Driven Startup Economy
At last week’s @MilkenInstitute’s Global Summit, I joined a panel about the future of the entertainment industry with moderator @JBoorstin. We talked about how @youtube has a unique seat at the intersection of technology, the creative industries, and the largest creator...
Clarity Over Noise Drives Entrepreneurial Revenue
Entrepreneurship will expose every gap in your thinking before it pays you. The shift happens when you stop chasing noise and get clear on the problem you solve and how you communicate it. Clarity creates revenue every time. #EntrepreneurMindset #BusinessClarity #FinancialFancy
Stop Being Your Own Employee to Scale Beyond $1M
The entrepreneurs who plateau at $100K to $1M all have the same problem… … they're still trying to be the best employee in their company.
Join Us Building in Japan This July
Headed back to Japan in July, come build with us https://lnkd.in/eBPs926X
Scale Depends on What Founders Are Willing to Sacrifice
A $500K founder and a $5M founder aren't that different in talent. They're completely different in what they're willing to let go of.
Startup Success Shifts to Capital Efficiency, Not Funding
In 2/3 years, there will be press releases to announce that startups *have not raised money* given the massive gains we're about to see in capital efficiency. It'll be the era of the anti-funding announcement.
Doubters Are Right; Ignoring Them Fuels Innovation
Those that say “it can’t be done” or “it doesn’t make sense” or “but others failed when they tried…” …are usually correct. Also, if we listened, the world would never improve, startups would never form, and even the few successes wouldn’t exist. https://t.co/JqYh0oiGMm
Design Systems, Not Just Firefighting, for Lasting Growth
When you're building a company, fires will always come. Your job isn’t racing between them, it’s mapping the territory, building firebreaks, and designing the whole system so one spark doesn’t burn everything down. "Your team kills today’s flames. You shape the...
Tech Firms Claim Usefulness, Then Crush Competing Good
It’s so exhausting that the business model of every tech business is 1. do something that’s useful for the world, then 2. immediately try to leverage that to exterminate everything else that’s useful to the world and competes with you.
AI Grabs Two‑thirds of $56B April VC Surge
April venture funding hit $56B — up 100% year over year. 🚀 @AnthropicAI and Project Prometheus alone took 45% of it, while AI captured 66% of all global venture dollars. @crunchbasenews has the full breakdown. 🔗: https://t.co/3Lg1sKLDvf https://t.co/JEcYIDH3Vv
Hyper Launches Self‑driving AI Brain that Auto‑enhances Tools
Hyper (@heyhyperai) is building the self-driving brain for companies. Hyper's agents synthesize millions of emails, docs, Slacks, and make everyone's AI tools instantly smarter without anyone doing anything. Congrats on the launch, @kanyesthaker and @_shalinshah_! https://t.co/r40Pn8ksbZ
Pair New Hires with a Buddy for Faster Success
To make a new hire successful and onboard this person properly, I found that it's actually extremely helpful to have a team member work with them side by side (virtually is ok), for a while to make sure that they...
Great Hype, but Hardware Realization Remains a Tough Journey
Cool name and cool concept, but it is a long and difficult road from slick videos to real, functional hardware.
Build Sustainable Competitive Advantage with Proven Moat Strategies
📚2048 Ventures Blog Post: A Complete Guide to Business MOATS https://t.co/tU7FGtyZK2 @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC
Turning Postpartum Skepticism Into Women’s Health Unicorn
Imagine pitching the company that would eventually become the first unicorn in women’s health, only to have investors laugh in your face at the word "postpartum". On the latest Lifers, @_KateRyder and I go deep on what it actually...
True Founder Pride: Building a Self-Sustaining Business
The proudest thing a founder can say isn't "I built this." It's "I built this so well it doesn't need me anymore.”
First Look Inside Cog House: $100B Future Unveiled
the inside story of the legendary Cog House. i believe there have not been any public photos of this place until now (bc we were explicitly not allowed to lol) as an advisor its been awe inspiring to see this company...
OpenAI Deployment Company Launches to Help Businesses Deploy AI
i should start the bens bites ben deployment company to help non-technical people become builders catchy
Promotion Rewards Those Who Scale Beyond Individual Contributions
I have found that the people I've been able to promote over the years have been the ones who are able to scale beyond their own individual contributions. Unfortunately, many people may be great ICs but cannot scale themselves.
AI-Powered OS Modernizes Grocery Stores, Fuels $22M Series B
Grocery stores do more volume than restaurants and hotels, and most of them still run on clipboards. In this episode of Founder Firesides, YC's @aaron_epstein sat down with @IamBrandonHill, the co-founder and CEO of @VoriHQ, a modern operating system for...
Seeking Early Team for Model Optimization Challenge
Mountain: identified. Time to climb. Looking for the early team: low level model optimization and post-training. DM.
Antler Residency Launches Zeya Health Amid Funding Crunch
Raising as a first-time founder isn’t easy—especially in a tight funding market. In Ep. 249, Agastya Samat shares how Zeya Health got started through Antler’s 90-day founder residency program. Listen here 👇 https://t.co/9v8A7YZVAs https://t.co/dEFcCzBRfQ
Allstate Grants Offer Real Capital, Not Just Exposure
Founders keep saying they’re tired of “exposure only” cohorts and accelerator programs with no actual capital attached… Well, I found one that’s putting MONEY on the table. 👀 🧵👇 The 2026 Allstate Main Street Grants Program is officially open through Hello Alice in...
Competing Priorities Stall Growth, Not Talent
Some scaling problems begin when a business loses the ability to focus clearly. (Tech Company) $8M ARR… every team was pushing different priorities at the same time. Product wanted speed. Sales wanted customisation. Marketing wanted expansion. Everything sounded important, so...
Stay Curious: Early Success Can Blind Growth
Early failure is diagnostic. Early success is seductive. The capabilities that get you through the founding phase are frequently the same ones that constrain your growth in the next. Stay genuinely curious about why you're winning — not just that you...
Execution Beats Intelligence: Talent Is Doing, Not Knowing
While building a startup, Action and the ability to get things DONE matter more than anything else, in today’s age of abundant intelligence. Sounds simple. But that’s where talent separates.
Mundane Businesses Can Become Multi‑billion Roll‑up Successes
Did you know that Chicago accountant Larry Gies bought his first company by maxing out 10 credit cards and borrowing $50,000 from a high school friend? He eventually built Madison Industries into a platform generating more than $5B in revenue by...
Acquisition Breaks the Revenue Ceiling and Expands Growth
the single unit ceiling is real: – revenue plateaus at a point – growth requires more personal effort – margins face consistent pressure – exit options remain limited acquisition is one way to address the ceiling structurally
Your 20s Build Foundations, Not Just Growth
If I could sit my younger self down, these would be the 6 things I’d tell a little shark on the rise. Your 20s isn’t about growth. It’s about foundation. Learn from my mistakes use this as building blocks.
Distribution First: The New Path to Business Success
hot take: the next wave of successful businesses won't be won by better products. they'll be built by founders who figured out distribution before they built anything worth distributing.
Live Below Your Means to Preserve True Freedom
As an entrepreneur one of the best things you can do as you start to find success is under-leverage your growth and live under your means. Don’t instantly fall into the trap of earn more —> Spend more. The biggest gift you...
Spot Real Growth, Avoid Disguised Distractions
#TimTalk - How can a founder distinguish between a “growth opportunity” and a “distraction in disguise”? with Jad Atwe https://t.co/qbSSvZj1IH via @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesLeader #Leadership #Culture #Marketing #Success #Mindset #Entrepreneur #Management
VC‑Backed Favorite Secures $22B Valuation Raise
This is the company so many people in tech VC defend — and today it raises at a $22B valuation.
Send Deck First, Talk Naturally, Make Investors Excited
My favorite: 5. Don't pitch. Send the deck before. Have a real conversation. Your only goal: can this investor repeat what you do in a way that's exciting at drinks afterwards?
Today's Biggest Hurdles: Taste, Strategy, and Customer Empathy
modern bottlenecks: taste + discernment, alignment/strategy, empathy with customer no longer bottlenecks: code, and cycles for building and testing
EOS Turns Chaos Into $77M, 15‑Company Portfolio
Sid is a strong believer in EOS and was one of the first people to recommend Traction by Gino Wickman to me. He has effectively integrated EOS across his business, helping him scale the firm into a portfolio of 15 companies...
Founders Beware: 80% Fired After IPO
"A lot of people liked the Lean Startup, but no one ever said it made them cry." In 16 days, Eric Ries 's new book *Incorruptible* comes out. It's about why you can taste it when your favorite restaurant gets...
Scale Prices with Usage, Keep Early Pricing Simple
Founders: Value alignment in pricing is key. If customers get more value as they use more (storage, contacts, etc.), price should scale with usage. But keep it simple early. One clear metric that grows with customer success.
Founders Spark Sales, Then Hire Process Experts
Yes, founder-led class at the beginning is crucial. You sell based on expertise and excitement, and you learn about the market. However also founders are notoriously terrible at building repeatable sales processes for muggles to follow, even if they're wonderful at...
High Talent Density Prevents AI-Driven Missteps
another case for more talent density in teams and FAR MORE alignment than usual in companies: AI’s ability to let you go super duper fast in the total wrong direction. seen this with a few startups - still hard to make...