Your First Non‑paying Users Drive True Product Value
Your first paying customer isn't your most valuable one. Hewitt Tomlin's most valuable early users never paid him. They switched off Excel, climbed his learning curve, and gave him the honest feedback that built a $10M ARR product. https://t.co/jiSjWG9xGw
Scale DTC Faster by Optimizing Creative, Tests, and ROAS
Things that scale DTC brands faster than budget: 1. Faster creative cycles. 2. Cleaner offer tests. 3. Fewer hooks tested cleanly beats more hooks tested dirty. 4. Ad says one thing. Page says another - that's your conversion problem. 5....
Customer Passion Fuels Sustainable Growth, Not Just Speed
Passion for your customer drives growth. Nike sells to you, not athletes, Starbucks sells community, Southwest sells trust and fun. Growth means selling more to more people, faster. You grow organic by hiring and building, or inorganic by acquiring and expanding fast. Pete’s started...
Launching Mars: Natural Testosterone Stack Partners with L Catterton
For the last two years, I’ve been building a project in the shadows with my co-founder @itmebenjamin. Meet @mengotomars, the most potent and natural testosterone stack on earth. Today, I’m excited to share that we partnered with L Catterton to...
Step Back, Teach Thinking, Unlock Team Potential
a lesson I wish I learned earlier: you need to remove yourself from operations. show your team how you think instead of just giving them marching orders. you’ll unlock their full potential and finally find true founder freedom.
19‑Year‑Old Built $8.4B Ride‑Share Empire From Scratch
Markus Villig was 19 when he declared war on Uber and Lyft. Armed with zero experience and a tiny budget, he built Bolt into an $8.4B empire—from his small Estonian hometown. His strategy was so brilliant it left Silicon Valley in awe. Here’s...
Career Paths Aren't Linear: Rebuild After 30
I'm 40. Born in '85. My resume doesn't tell this story. At 25 I woke up at 5 AM on weekends for 1.5 years for a startup. It failed. At 27 I left my city. Nothing left to lose. Procrastinated my dreams for 6...
Private Revenue Disclosures Signal Scale, Not Boast
I rarely get into twitter (X) debates. As a founder I have always wondered how so many outsiders have opinions about a business. With the @emergentlabs revenue rate debate - here are a few points to consider 1. A private...
Ex‑VC Reinvents Bra for Underserved Sizes, Wins Nordstrom
She left a VC job to fix a bra design untouched since 1931. Bree McKeen had no fashion background, filed a utility patent anyway, and built a wire-free replacement now backed by 16 patents. The average U.S. bra size is 34F, yet...
Community Fuels GStack's Rapid PR Progress
So many PR's to land tonight for GStack. The community is amazing and giving me so many good ideas and fixing bugs. Thank you to the #gstackfam https://t.co/88wmNnNrWw
Investors Overlook Series B Failures; Founders Need Reality
Too many investors focus on the "successes" of their Series B companies when advising early stage companies. They don't understand how many of their Series B companies will die. Too few investors have spent time with long term...
Breakthroughs Require Aligned People, Tech, and Mission
Most breakthroughs like age reversal don’t happen in isolation. They happen when the right people, technology & mission align. That’s why I’m building Lifespan Follow the science. Join the community. Shape the future
From $400 to $8M ARR in One Year
Wow — $8m ARR. Jon (@cheneypiano), one of the earliest Replit vibecoding success stories, is on his way to making millions in recurring revenue. Started the business in a week and $400 barely a year ago.
Closed‑Lost Reasons Reveal Your Next Product Roadmap
Founders: Track closed-lost reasons religiously. They're your product roadmap. If you're losing deals to the same competitor feature or pricing tier repeatedly, that's not a sales problem. Feed this data to product & pricing teams weekly.
AI-Native Startups Give Founders Majority, Grant Larger Equity
Old model: Give 20% to VCs at Series A, spread a 10-20% option pool across 30+ heads - each person gets 0.25-1.5%. AI-native model: Skip the round entirely. Founders hold majority. If you need more folks, vest them at 3-5%+ each. Smaller...
One Brand, All In: The Path to Success
“I just need one brand to work to change my life.” That thought is the one thing that beginners and $100M+ operators both agree on. The founders in the middle completely overthink it. When you're just starting out, you need that first...
Massachusetts Boosts Startup Scaling with New Initiatives
A pretty rough article came out today re the Massachusetts economy (see in reply). While I agree with a lot of the problems, a lot of the builders in Massachusetts are working very hard to make it not just...
Online Writing Fueled My Digital Business Exit
Writing online is how I built a digital business and quit my corporate job on Wall Street. This is the roadmap I wish I had when I first got started:
Build Love, Not Just Like, for Viral Growth
Most founders fail for one reason. They build something people like, not something people love. Start with a small group, talk to them daily, fix what hurts, and repeat until they tell their friends. Growth by word of mouth is the only proof...
Founder as Bottleneck: When You're Still the Best Operator
The biggest bottleneck in most founder-led companies: the founder is still the best operator. As long as you’re the sharpest tool in every room nothing evolves past you.
Programmatic AI Content Won’t Give You Competitive Edge
Could not have said this any better myself. I am working with an early stage founder right now that is HUNGRY to scale scale scale with programmatic content -- yet this creates zero competitive advantage if you are just automating...
Brotherly Feud Split Factory, Created Adidas and Puma
In 1924, two brothers built a shoe factory together. By 1948, they hated each other so much they split it in half. One became Adidas and the other Puma. Their feud divided an entire town and changed sports forever. Here’s the full Adidas vs...
Sharp Communication Beats Product Noise in AI Era
Most startups think they have a product problem. A lot of them have a 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. 📡 In a world drowning in AI-generated noise, the companies that win won’t just build better. They’ll 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗿. ⚡ I just ran a demo of...
SaaS Success Hinges on Positioning, Distribution, Communication
90% of SaaS problems are not technical anymore. They’re: → positioning → distribution → clarity / communication
GStack: Multi‑role Partner Accelerates Real Software in One Hour
GStack is not just a YC partner or a CEO vision coach. It’s a UX designer when you need it too. And a VP of Eng, a QA manager, and a release engineer too. It’s oriented around what you need...
Blue‑Collar Founder Leverages AI Agents to Quadruple Revenue
A blue-collar founder used AI to completely change his business trajectory. After shifting from SEO to AI agents, he streamlined quoting, scaled operations and created a growth flywheel that took revenue from $242k to nearly $1M in a short time. AI is...
From Layoff to $200K: Leverage Product Launch Kit
Jack got laid off hours after putting an offer on a house. But today: • He's on track to hit $200K • Works 20-30 hours per week • Takes 1-2 months off each year • Consistently lands $10K-15K deals And he even has this killer Product...
Public Changelogs Lose Value as AI Automates Updates
Something I legit wrestle with… is it worth keeping a public changelog anymore for your SaaS business? Any competitor can basically now automatically ingest the updates and get Claude to make PRs. It only gets them a scrappy level of parity...
AI Tool Pinpoints Ideal Startup Customer
‘This #AI tool helped me define a target customer for my startup’ by Kara Baskin @MITSloan Learn more: https://t.co/66vsUiVaIn #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #ML #DL https://t.co/BFJVZcSL0T
Launch Your Coaching Business in Just 30 Days
Discover the transformative journey of entrepreneurship with the newly released audiobook 'Start A Coaching Business In 30 Days (3rd Ed.)'. This practical guide lays the foundation for aspiring coaches. https://t.co/oLVuRg4oA4
Scale Your Core First, Adjacent Growth Drives Returns
Most companies chase growth in new markets and ignore the core. Top performers do the opposite. They drive 80% of growth from the core, then push 20% into adjacencies one step away, which adds 3–4% excess shareholder return. They shift capital and talent...
AI Clone Lets Founders Delegate Decisions and Scale
Once you clone yourself with AI everything changes Most founders get stuck bc every decision goes through you My Clone Yourself Checklist shows you which decisions to systematize 1st so your team runs without you Comment CLONE and I'll share it. Follow me...
Winning Requires Updating Beliefs with Evidence, Not Ego
Every time you update your beliefs based on evidence, you get closer to reality. The people who consistently win have the ability to change their position when the data changes. Strong opinions, weekly held. Keep your ego in check. Love your efforts,...
Choose Now, Start Doing, Figure It Out Later
Some of the best advise I ever received was “just make a choice” Don’t think if it’s perfect or if there’s better ways to do it. Make the choice - get started and figure the rest out as you go. Too many...
Build Your Own Audience, Bypass Biased Media
NYT proving my point… I invest in 100 amazing startups a year The @nytimes reporting is limited to anti-tech, anti-capitalism content only After 700 startup investments, their coverage is limited to political nonsense and negativity Meanwhile, every week I reach...
Founders Must Confront Hard Truths to Succeed
Founders must seek & accept truth: • some of your assertions are wrong • you're not the target customer • the customer wants something else • competitors aren't dumb • high cancellation means you're doing something wrong • that one person has to be fired https://t.co/wsmjUo9euu
From Founder to CEO: Walsh’s Playbook for Scaling
What Jack Dorsey learned from Bill Walsh (49er’s legend) about going from startup founder to scaleup ceo.
AI Solo SaaS Can Undercut Leaders, Earn $10K+ Monthly
If $10k/mo is life-changing money for you, NOW is your moment. Sam perfectly articulated what we are about to see in EVERY market. For example, the Shopify Reviews space: 2018 - Yotpo = $1,000/mo 2022 - Okendo = $300/mo 2026...
AI-Driven Lettings Roll‑up Scales with $93M Fundraise
. @DanLifshits, co-founder of Dwelly, explains how he and his partners are building an AI-enabled roll-up in the UK lettings market by acquiring independent agencies and modernizing them with software. After completing 9 acquisitions in just 24 months, Dwelly recently announced...
Sustainable Growth Yields Higher Returns and Lower Debt
Only 25% of companies achieve sustainable growth. Those firms deliver 7% higher annual shareholder returns while avoiding debt and cash burn. They fund expansion with profit, control hiring, and focus on efficiency instead of chasing top-line revenue. They retain talent, cut turnover costs...
Fast Execution Demands Crystal‑clear Purpose and Vision
"When execution is so fast, understanding what you're doing becomes more important. You can go in the wrong direction so quickly." I love this reminder from @karrisaarinen (CEO @Linear). It's easy to spin up 10 agents to go in 10 directions....
Many “Businesses” Are Just Owner‑funded Hobby Ventures
"There is a staggering number of businesses that are open and are being subsidized by free labour donated by their owners. These aren’t businesses; they’re hobbies disguised as businesses." –Smarter than a #Startup (2019) https://t.co/l2EObkfURN #smallbiz https://t.co/SXnwrzAOYw
First Million Validates Problem; Growth Comes via Acquisitions
Your first million proves one thing - you solved a real problem. After that? It’s all execution. Then comes the real game: acquisitions. Buy your competitors, integrate, cut costs, and scale. That’s how you build a massive company. https://t.co/e7zJxbusiU
AI Halves Time-to-Value, Redefines Market Competition
Founders think they’re competing against other products. Most are actually competing against a shrinking clock. Every market has an expected Time to Value. And that expectation keeps compressing. I call this The Halving Principle™. The Halving Principle™ is the observation...
Empowering Female Founders to Reach Seven‑Figure Success
Helping female founders grow to 7 figures and that’s the way I like it! 🎶✨
Stop Waiting for Perfection; Start Building with Reasonable Bets
A lot of talented people get stuck because they keep waiting for perfect alignment before they move. Perfect title. Perfect timing. Perfect confidence. Perfect plan. Meanwhile the people passing them are just making reasonable bets and building as they go.
Choosing Purpose Over Funding: Founder Aims $100M Exit
I jumped into the swamp of fundraising. I prepped so good that I had ~100 warm intros lined up ready to fire. And I decided it’s not what I want to do. Had a few calls to warm me up...
Secret Model Boosts Products, Triggers Unfair‑Fast Releases
ok, theory, a frontier model creator lands a real breakthrough, they won’t ship it to the public first - they’ll aim it inward. their own products get supercharged, & suddenly you see a flurry of releases in rapid succession that...
Writing Daily Turned My Wall Street Job Into 8‑Figure Business
One simple daily habit helped me: • Quit my Wall Street job • Become an entrepreneur • And build an 8-figure digital business The habit? Writing online. But when I first started out, I was a horrible writer. So I spent 1,000+ hours studying how to write...
Robust Systems Keep Business Running Without Founder
Two founders. Same revenue. One disappears for three weeks and things keep moving. The other misses four days and Slack starts melting. Systems Design > revenue alone.