Talk More, Code Less: Users Shape Your Roadmap
Unpopular opinion. Most indie hackers spend too much time building and not enough time talking. I spent 3 hours last week on calls with 4 users. Zero lines of code written. It was the most productive week I've had in months. The roadmap wrote itself after those conversations.
Focus on Product and Users; Cut All Distractions
Most founders fail for one reason: lack of focus. The best ones obsess over product and users while others chase coffee with investors, conferences, PR, partnerships, and social media debates. If it does not improve your product or help you...
Live User Onboarding Reveals Real‑time Usability Insights
Releasing a new SaaS? Onboard new users in live visio corresponding to your persona. Let them try it in live without guidance and watch their reactions. Where they click. What confuses them. Often difficult exercise, but best way to learn.
Test Succession to Build a Self‑Running Business
My cohost Jack talking about how to Build a Business That Runs Itself: Test Succession. Don’t miss the relentless growth podcast.
Two Demo Slots Open for AI Founders at LAUNCH Festival
We have two more slots for exceptional demos at LAUNCH Festival for founders building OpenClaw / AI based projects. Apply at https://t.co/5SLgdRzHdo"
Risk‑averse Culture May Be Stifling Canadian Entrepreneurship
I wonder if a culture that reminds people to be risk-averse leads to Canada underperforming in entrepreneurship. (Of course I agree that designing bridges that don't fall down is a good thing)
Growth Stalls without Structure; Time to Build Foundations
You only just started😁 The real work begins when you realize the business you built can’t grow without structure.
A New Mathematical Renaissance Fuels Scientific Breakthroughs
"We are on the threshold of a mathematical renaissance and massive scientific discoveries" - @CarinaLHong, CEO of @axiommathai, which just announced their $200M Series A Full episode 👇 https://t.co/26VUb0Cuqx
Clients Deserve Full Code Ownership, Not Just Deployed Apps
I just want to gut-check - when people are ai-coding apps for a paying customer (or their startup) - you guys are handing over the code, right? Not just standing it up on vercel/supabase/whatever and saying "look it's done you can...
Even Pay‑to‑Pitch Events Can Land Billionaire Investors
I met my first billionaire investor through a pay-to-pitch event in NYC. There are exceptions to every rule.
Don’t Chase Enterprise Just because some Teams Buy
So many startups erroneously think they should “go upmarket to the Enterprise” just because some teams at large companies bought their software. 50% of people work at big companies, and they’re already buying. Here’s more blunders to avoid: https://t.co/cE9pImYPyy
Series A Funds Performance, Not Just Promise
Series A is not seed. Seed investors fund promise. Series A investors fund performance. Running out of cash is not a plan. If growth stalls and costs rise, they walk away. Show numbers or change course.
Slack Survived when Its Game Didn't
Slack wasn’t supposed to be Slack. It started as an internal tool while building a video game. The game failed. The tool didn’t.
Entrepreneurs Often Postpone Painful Layoffs Until Confidence Builds
Chatting with an entrepreneur friend yesterday. Three weeks into his Open Claw experimentation. He’s preparing to cut the first 3 of his 15 person team in the next few weeks. Hasn’t actually pulled the trigger yet, will be fascinating to...
Tech Enables Independents to Match Franchise Consistency
"I also believe that, with the power of the internet and computers, it is possible to deliver the same experience, consistency, and sophisticated decor in an independent business [as in a franchise]" ¬#Franchise Warnings (2015) https://t.co/l2EObkfURN https://t.co/p3i2cgIxKK
Scaling People Beats Scaling Tech—Hire First
As difficult as it is to scale infrastructure… …the hardest thing is to scale people. Yet technical founders spend most of their time on tech, because it’s interesting. Exactly wrong. That’s what you’re good at hiring for. Go solve the more important, harder problem.
How One Small Team Generates $30M Revenue
There’s a in Hampton who runs a company doing $30m in revenue with very few employees He did a screenshare showing the tools he uses to make it happen. https://t.co/DAT3MWSdKe
Earn $100k by Becoming the $100k Mindset
The first $100k is the hardest Not because of the tactics. Because you have to become someone who: • Believes they're worth $100k • Makes decisions like a $100k earner • Shows up like a $100k business owner You have to become it before you earn...
Own 100% and Profit More than VC Dilution
• Raise money • Hire 50 people in 60 days • Predict you'll triple revenue • Barely grow 40% OR • Bootstrap with 3 people • Own 100% of everything • Get to desired ARR on your terms • Never ask a board for permission You’ll make more money...
19‑Year‑Old Melanie
#WomensHistoryMonth. At just 19, Melanie Perkins began working on her graphics design software company which would later become Canva. (Success People In The World) https://t.co/r9ZlUCBNeN
From Stanford Pizza Nights to Palantir’s Birth
Amazing. In 2006 I went to Stanford with stacks of pizza to the Unix cluster at Sweet Hall with xerox fliers It said: Come join the next Google We were a 12 person startup The name of the startup? Palantir
Remote Global Teams Simplify Scaling Fast‑Growth Companies
The world is flat. Running a fast growing company with a fully remote, global team is easier than ever before. https://t.co/uBNIQekA6e
Design for $10K Days, Not Just $10K Months
A pattern I've noticed: Most founders chase $10K months but very few design for $10K days. The latter comes from systems that sell without emotional or energetic effort.
As Companies Grow, Pay Shifts From Execution to Strategy
0 to $10M you get paid to execute $10M to $50M you get paid to fix $50M+ you get paid to think
Weekly Newsletter Offers Founder Insights on Growth, Hiring, Marketing, Exits
I haven't published new essays in almost 15 years. But I started writing again, and am now sending out a weekly email with new thoughts on topics like: - The 6 stages of SaaS growth, and how to know which you're...
Failure Pinpoints One Dead End, Not the Whole Path
Failure means you’ve identified one very specific way that doesn’t work. Sadly, that leaves almost everything else. That’s why Edison took 1000+ tries. Each failure didn’t confer enough “learning.”
Low Prices Signal Low Self‑Value, Not Customer Care
Low pricing is an execution-heavy signal. It tells people something about your market position and your self-assessment. It does not tell them you care about them. It tells them you don't value yourself, and if you don't value yourself, why...
There’s No Perfect Moment—Just the Decision to Act
Most people are waiting for the perfect moment. The right market. The right team. The right time. There is no perfect moment. There’s just the decision to go. Every company I’ve built started with one thing, the choice to try. Everything else figured...
Kalanick's Resilience: Rebuilt, Returned Stronger After Loss
Travis Kalanick is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. The bad guys took his company. But they never broke his spirit. He rebuilt from scratch. And now he’s back.
Entrepreneurial Pride Must Be Earned, Not Given
I didn't start @ZoomInfo because I had some big entrepreneurial dream. I started it despite being EMBARRASSED that I'd have to tell people I ran my own small business. After college, when I decided to go to Law School, my close...
From Bottleneck to 50% Revenue Surge with Peer Mastermind
Shawn Lemon was doing everything in his business. Every task. Every decision. Every fire drill. He was the bottleneck and he knew it. The AI Business Lab® Mastermind didn’t just hand him tools—it put him in a room with peers who...
Karpathy's Endorsement Sparks NanoClaw Creator's Dream Success
NanoClaw creator is living a dream right now. Such a cool developer success story, in large part because @karpathy took a look and had a convo. We'll see what the future holds. https://t.co/YXBhMn1WpS
Visibility Trumps
The best pitch deck won’t save you if no one knows you exist. Fundraising starts 6+ months before you need the money. Visibility is the strategy.
Profit Over Pride: Control Costs, Outrun Competition
Beyond having to make something you’re proud of, and that the market wants, business at its most essential is simply this: Make more than you spend. Most everything else is a distraction. Your only true competition are your costs.
Former Netflix Exec Backs Studio, Betting on Live Interactive Entertainment
A former Netflix exec is investing into our studio. The future of entertainment is live, and interactive.
Embrace Fluid Roles: Agents Can Be CEO Today
Running a team of agents is interesting because any given agent can be CEO one moment, then the eng manager wagging the finger the next And as the orchestrator, you want this. https://t.co/xjhE4jwiGq
Serial Founder Creates Six Billion‑Dollar Public Giants
Who built eight companies from scratch—and turned six of them into public giants worth billions?
Master Your Metrics: Investor Trust Starts With Data Confidence
Founders, know your numbers inside and out. Be ready to answer detailed questions about your financials. Confidence in your data builds investor trust and shows you have a firm grasp on your business’s metrics.
Stop Faking Success; Focus on Offers and Revenue
Most solopreneurs are cosplaying success. They have the: • Website • Branding • Morning routine • Content calendar But they're missing the: • Offer • Sales • Clients • Revenue You're optimizing for looking successful instead of being profitable.
AI Replaces Infrastructure with Alignment and Judgment
AI is shifting power from infrastructure to alignment. Scale no longer requires layers of management or massive teams; it requires clarity, taste, and strong judgement. Leadership is about directing systems while staying close to the creative core. This shift unlocks a...
Sell Automation Tools Widely; Keep Inventions for Personal Profit
If you build an automation machine, the way to monetize it is to sell it to as many people as possible -- anyone who has tasks to automate. But if what you build is an invention machine, then the best way...
Founders Confuse Sales Gaps with Product Flaws
seeng founders with sales pipeline problems masquerading as product problems you need to be stress testing messaging, positioning, pricing and packaging with the market just as much as you are stress testing the product final validation that the product works happens...
Market‑First Synthetic Biology: Validate Demand Before Scaling Science
When Erum Khan asked me why 80% of biotech companies fail at execution, I replied: "The majority of synthetic biology founders have become enamored with the tool, the technology that they developed and then they went out there with that hammer...
Treat Complaints as Free Feedback, Boost Brand Loyalty
Everyone when they get a customer complaint: Gets defensive. Ecom founders when they get a customer complaint: See it as free feedback to improve their business. Different mindset. Different brand loyalty.
AI Empowers Anyone to Launch Niche Tools Solo
Ant Group's LingGuang is enabling a "Hand-Crafted AI Economy" – and it feels like a pivotal moment for how we build software: Users are already building and selling DIY tools (think productivity trackers, travel planners) on social marketplaces – no coding...
Launch Early, Focus on Ten Loyal Users
Most founders wait too long to launch. YC says launch fast, talk to users, and ship the 90 percent solution instead of chasing perfect. Do things that do not scale, like Airbnb founders who took photos themselves to win early users. Focus on...
Modernizing Kiranas with Optimized Supply Chain and Profit Boost
We are trying to build a startup aimed at modernizing local kirana stores by providing an optimized supply chain, marketing support, and operational efficiency. Our platform enables kiranas to increase margins, streamline inventory, and serve customers better, while creating a...
Invest in People: Small Fast Teams Outperform Giants
i invest in people for the long term. small teams that learn fast can now rival companies with hundreds of people. that’s what we’re building at @getjustpaid, daily iteration, daily launches, daily customer feedback. invest in your team. it always pays off.
Building an AI‑Native Software Company: Insights From Max Junestrand
New episode of Uncapped with Max Junestrand from Legora and my partner Chetan Puttagunta . Every time I'm with Max I come away thinking "this is what it takes to build an AI native software company." He's one of my...
Four Funding Paths Entrepreneurs Use Before Banks
Most entrepreneurs think funding starts with a bank loan. It usually doesn’t. There are 4 ways businesses actually secure funding before they ever walk into a bank.