Building Two Trillion‑Dollar Companies Shows Rare Success
Given that I have built two companies in widely different fields to trillion dollar plus valuations simultaneously, I am might be getting a few things right once in a while
Boost Growth by Prioritizing Service and Operational Efficiency
Most founders chase growth the wrong way. They add products, hire fast, and enter new markets without a plan. There are 15 proven paths: organic growth, market penetration, product development, outsourcing, acquisitions, and more. The fastest wins often come from two moves: improve...
Funding $20‑50K for Startups Boosting American Dynamism
I'm writing $20-$50k checks into American Dynamism startups. If you're working on something important that helps America and its allies, lmk.
Launch an AI Bedtime Story App in 24 Minutes
✨ To prove my friend @StevieZollo (who's visiting me in Brazil) you don't need an idea, or even a lot of time these days to ship a little app that might make money I took the top idea from https://t.co/WNLj4eGmaq: "A startup...
Direct-First Founders Also Excel at Earned Media
Founders who are great at going direct tend to also be great at earned media…. it’s a complement, not a trade-off
Growth Outpaces Structure; Build Systems Before Scaling
I’ve seen founders cross $100K months and feel more trapped than they did at $20K. Revenue scales faster than structure if you’re not building systems that can run without you.
Experience + AI = Exponential Business Growth
People assume younger founders have an AI advantage. They don’t. Experience is the multiplier. When you pair 20+ years of business judgment with AI’s speed and scale, the result isn’t incremental. It’s exponential. I started at 68. The AI Business Lab® Mastermind...
Profit for Customers = a Thriving Business
If you can save people money or make them money, you’re going to have a great business.
From Family Office Advisor to Founder: Raising $25M
An important reminder if you work for a family office or just a HNWI and you've done a wonderful job allocating their capital across various asset classes: fixed income, real estate, public equities, PE, venture capital, private credit, commodities, and traditional...
Don't Overvalue Revenue‑less Startups; VCs Won’t Buy
Entrepreneurs: STOP valuing your company at $10M+ with $0 in revenue. VCs aren’t buying this sh*t 🥱
Midjourney's Profitability Faces Google Rivalry and VC Pressure
Midjourney Is Profitable and Chasing Hardware Dreams. But Can It Survive Google? The competition around founder David Holz has intensified, and his plans greatly exceed his initial creation, an AI image-making tool beloved by artists. He may even have to do...
Real-Time User Feedback Drives Instant Feature Updates
I am proud to publish my personal stack but the coolest thing I have enjoyed so far is getting direct feedback from thousands of others who tell me what they want And I can launch a fix that same day. Or...
Iterate Your Pitch With Real Audiences, Not Solo
Practicing your sales pitch is excellent. (Raising money is a sales pitch too.) But, if done in isolation, you end up with a compact and complete case… that might not resonate with actual customers. Expositions must be iterated with the audience, not...
Spot Real Growth vs Hidden Distractions in Business
#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
AI‑Built Healthcare Platform Wins Real Paying Users
A founder shipped a healthcare platform - 400 users, 50 paying customers, 100% built with AI. Engineers keep telling her it's not possible. I've heard this one before. Four times, actually. https://t.co/M3jJ1HZ9e6
Structured Pilot-to-Paid Framework Drives 80% Conversion
Founders: Pilot-to-paid conversion framework: 1. Weekly success metric reviews 2. Bi-weekly stakeholder updates 3. End-user feedback collection 4. ROI calculation at day 20 5. Transition meeting day 25 Structure = 80% conversion.
System‑Designing Founders Build Lasting Freedom, Not Busywork
A pattern I’ve noticed: there are founders who push vs founders who design systems. The first group stays busy. the second group builds something that survives them and creates true freedom.
Approach
Spending today walking up to people coding in coffee shops to ask why they’re by themselves maxxing in case they turn out to be founders
Early-Stage Startups Gain Credibility by Embracing Uncertainty
Another storytelling advantage for early stage startups: they can afford to embrace the inherent uncertainty of this era (and become more credible in the process). https://t.co/uT6MxANvWJ
AI Observability Turns Hours of Debugging Into Simple Queries
Sherwood Callaway (@shcallaway) is a second-time YC founder building @sazabi, an AI-native observability platform that helps engineers understand and fix production issues using AI. After years debugging production systems at companies like Brex, and building and exiting his first startup, he...
Great Product Fails without Clear Onboarding Path
I watched hundreds of people sign up for my product and then completely disappear. It was entirely my fault. Let me back up. I read 10x is Easier Than 2x and decided that software would be my growth strategy. So I built NoteGo. And...
Rehearse with Friendly Investors to Sharpen Your Pitch
Do you practice your pitch with friendlies first? Practice your pitch rigorously, rehearsing it multiple times in early meetings with friendly investors. This not only boosts your confidence but also allows you to fine-tune your delivery for maximum impact.
Fixed Costs Exist Whether You Buy or Start
Most businesses feature fixed expenses that need to be paid whether or not they serve a customer. Buying vs Starting a Business https://t.co/W5E0qQGk0q https://t.co/aAKERkVobl
Leaving HuffPost to Build Thrive: Leap of Microsteps
How do you know when it's time to take a leap? I did exactly that when I left The Huffington Post (@HuffPost) in 2016 to found @Thrive Global, helping people adopt healthy habits that drive better health outcomes, engagement, and productivity — one...
Podscan Finally Mentioned Alongside Apple After Two Years
Obviously, I have set up alerting for "Podscan" on Podscan itself. And I love how podcasters are starting to mention the platform along with the massive incumbents like Apple. This one just came in. Took 2 years to get to this...
Haidt’s Blueprint: Teach Kids to Thrive in AI Era
Jonathan Haidt gave us a blueprint for equipping children to thrive in the Age of Intelligence and it’s going to mean learning lessons from the “social media childhoods” the previous generation had. I want to build companies+ back founders solving...
Startup Evaluation Metrics Shifting Beyond Headcount and Capital
What’s changing is how we evaluate startups. The old metrics around headcount and capital are being rewritten in real time. https://t.co/ZtzGkZRjgM
Self‑taught Coder & Wife Launch $5M AI Tax Startup
A guy in Hampton built a $5M/year tax software company with his wife as co-founder. @ChKashifAli studied accounting and worked as a journalist for 6 years (including at the WSJ). Then he taught himself to code and worked at Adobe for 3...
Wish’s $10B Amazon Offer Rejection Fueled Its Collapse
In the 2010s, Wish took over the internet. Its founder turned down a ten billion offer from Amazon at the peak of the hype. Then the strange ads kept growing while the losses buried the company. Now the stock is...
AI Agent Builds Agents: Introducing Agents-as-a-Service
this guy rebuilt Google Maps in a weekend without AI. Now he's showing us what's possible *with* AI. Bret dropped Ghostwriter, an AI agent that builds other agents 🔥 He also coined a new term: Agents-as-a-Service.. which I'm not going to abbreviate :) https://t.co/QPbDmqHyQ0
LA Founders: How Much Funding Really Launches a Startup
Los Angeles founders how much investment do you need to get your startup off the ground?
Shopify Gives Students 4 Free Months, Seeding Loyalty
JUST IN: Shopify Student Discount: 4 Free Months for Eligible Schools - The discount lowers the barrier to entry for budding e‑commerce entrepreneurs, expanding Shopify’s future customer base and fostering early brand loyalty. https://www.pulse.bot/ecommerce/blogs/shopify-student-discount-4-free-months-for-eligible-schools-b9240613-bb58-43eb-9b3d-cf0b7d7cfbd7/ SaaS
Growth Hype Is Liability Without Proven Unit Economics
Banks, not approved. Investors, hmmm, still thinking. Many SME business owner face that. Are you doing it wrong? Or did you missed some steps? I’m starting a 10-lesson micro-lessons to make SMEs be capital ready. (Save this bit for later.) Lesson 1: Kill the...
Founder Friends Returns to Seoul with Seongjun Kim
We're bringing Founder Friends back to Seoul on April 9, 2026! Join Seongjun Kim for a fireside chat where he'll share his journey and lessons learned. More >> https://t.co/mj1zvs6L8D
Reflection AI Seeks $2.5B to Build Sovereign AI Hub
I got to reflect on @reflection_ai 😉 Reflection AI aims to counter Chinese AI systems by promoting freely available, high-performance U.S. AI models. As of March 25, 2026, Reflection AI is in talks to raise $2.5 billion at a $25 billion...
New Investor Council to Review Next‑Gen Entrepreneurs' Applications
Welcome @stevewoz, @JoeMontana, and @thefriley to the Investor Council of @America250 ! I am so excited for them to join @RosieRios @andytangvc and me to review submissions from the next generation of American entrepreneurs. apply here. ...
Principled Firms Reject Money that Clashes with Values
The prominence of the recent Anthropic story prompts us to think hard about our own clear red lines. Principled companies walk away from money that conflict with their values. That's happening all the time, just not in the headlines. https://t.co/5qPIx5XxA2
AI Coaching Democratizes Continuous, Data‑Driven Talent Development
JUST IN: Democratizing access to professional coaching could alter the talent development paradigm, shifting the focus from occasional, high‑cost interventions to continuous, data‑driven support. https://www.pulse.bot/human-potential/news/huckleberry-rolls-out-20permonth-ai-coach-to-democratize-employee-development-bea5b053-5434-4aeb-a827-679e88ecd41c/ SaaS
Startups Need Labs Teams or Risk Becoming Enterprise SaaS
if you’re a startup in 2026 and you don’t have a “labs” group, you might as well be enterprise SaaS
Big Businesses Thrive without VC; Raises Often Unnecessary
This is what most people don't realize - you can actually build big businesses without VC dollars. Moreover, a lot of the big raises happen BECAUSE the company didn't need money:
Fiction Newsletter Scales to $13k ARR, Targets $100k
My fiction paid newsletter on Substack, Commercial Fiction Club, is up to $13k ARR. Goal is to hit $100k ARR by end of the year. Subscribe here: https://nicolascolefiction.substack.com
Ask Your Scaling Questions for Rapid Fire Answers
On a previous #TeawithGaryVee I was asked "I just wanted some advice on scaling the unscalable" If you have a question for me, drop it here https://t.co/Z96WkBZkB1 so my team can add it to the next Rapid Fire Q&A and follow...
New AI Platform Uncovers Hidden Cancer Targets, Raises $10M
Most cancer drugs go after the same targets: EGFR. PD-L1. HER2. Not because they’re the best targets. Because they’re the only ones we’ve been able to see. RyboDyn Inc. is going after what’s been invisible. The San Diego team, led by Imad Ajjawi, PhD,...
Essential 80/20
Your $200K/year survival kit. Don't have time to read them all? Here's the 80/20 concepts (a thread🧵):
Budderfly Secures $550M to Expand Energy-as-a-Service
Budderfly raises $550 million to scale its Energy-as-a-Service platform #energysky -- via pv magazine usa: https://t.co/mVu3KQ8ZPN
From Near-Shutdown to $40M: Bolt's Rapid AI Pivot
On April 16, I'm sitting down with Eric Simons, co-founder & CEO of @boltdotnet, for an in-depth chat on how @boltdotnew went from near-shutdown to $40M in 5 months. We're gonna go deep on the pivot, the decisions, and how...
Choose Freedom over Unicorns: Bootstrap Your Tech Lifestyle
The advice I give is NOT for founders who think they're creating unicorns, decacorns, or the next Anthropic. What I care about is showing that beautiful tech lifestyle businesses can be built outside the VC ecosystem. I'd rather...
Growth Requires New Strategies, Not Past Success Playbooks
It doesn’t matter if you’ve scaled past $5M, $10M, or $20M. You’ll fail if you think the same strategies will get you to your next milestone. • The offer • Creative approach • Targeting • Product lineup • The team All can change at each...
AI Is Redefining Hiring: Hire Engineers Already Obsessed
A candidate used AI to ace the coding test. The team couldn't tell the difference. This is the new hiring reality for SaaS founders 👇 On this week's SaasRise Mastermind, we broke down the biggest challenges SaaS CEOs are facing...
Agentic Commerce Cuts Startup Costs, Reshapes VC Strategy
Agentic commerce could lower the cost of building companies. What does that mean for VCs? https://t.co/meE1SvxnF0