Dark Side

@amoreynis

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8 Followers

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What Can’t Be Sold Is What’s Not Worth Talking About 1. It’s often said, “The problem isn’t the product; it’s the distribution.” But that’s simply not true. 2. In the past, to sell your product somewhere, you had to get it on store shelves in that location. Now, with the internet, you can sell anything, anywhere, to anyone. So, distribution is no longer an issue. 3. The problem is with the product itself. Maybe it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Maybe it doesn’t evoke emotions that turn users into fans. Maybe it’s not interesting enough for people to talk about. Or maybe nobody hates it enough to complain about it everywhere 😉 and so on.

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Eggs Are Stronger Than Democracy 1. Following the recent clash in the U.S. between Trump and Harris, one guy on Twitter made a valuable point for startup founders: “Your startup slogan should be as simple as possible. Don’t write lofty phrases like ‘Democracy is in danger’; just say something like, ‘Eggs will be cheaper.’” 😉 2. This tweet oddly aligned with my conversation yesterday with a co-founder partner who sent me a list of slogans for ads on our soon-to-launch project. I crossed out most of them with the note “Abstract nonsense.” 3. So, I wonder how many of your own slogans you’d cross out based on the “eggs over democracy” principle? Or have you already got everything strictly focused on the “egg prices”? 😉

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You’re the King. In a Good Way. 1. A contract without penalties is just a piece of paper good for nothing. And when you set a goal for your employee, that’s also a kind of contract. So, shouldn’t there be penalties for not achieving it? 2. No, not just withholding a bonus, which is merely the absence of a reward — but an actual penalty. For instance, are you prepared to fire an employee if they don’t meet the goal? Why not? 3. Probably because, deep down, you’re already sure they won’t succeed ☹️ Either because they’re not capable, or because you called your own wishful thinking a “goal” in the hope that maybe, just maybe, it would work out. 😉

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Your Only Competitive Advantage 1. A small startup has only one advantage over a big competitor—it has nothing to lose. This means you can take bold risks that a large company would never dare to take. 2. But if you’re not willing to take risks, you become just like the big competitor—only with much less money, fewer employees, fewer customers, and far less influence in the market. So how do you expect to beat them? 😉 3. With that in mind, a smart startup should begin its presentation with a slide titled: “What I’m doing that my big competitor would never dare to do.” 😉

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Riding the Wave 1. They say, “A startup is like a long jump where you’re trying to build a parachute before you hit the ground.” That’s a lousy analogy. 2. A startup is more like surfing—you’re out there searching for a big wave, and then you throw yourself into it, trying to craft a board as you ride it. 3. Because if there’s no big wave, there won’t be a successful startup. Your job is to spot that wave while it’s still small. Then, catch it in time, rise on it, and stay balanced. 4. So, what approaching wave do you see right now?

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Kick It — and Watch It Fly 1. Truly successful startups differ from mediocre ones in their approach to advertising. 2. For “mediocre” startups, advertising is a survival tool. Advertising is their only source of new customers. If they stop advertising, new customers essentially stop coming in. 3. Truly successful startups, however, gain customers even without advertising, purely through word of mouth. For them, advertising is just a way to level up—to quickly acquire a lot more new customers, who will then attract more customers through word of mouth.

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You’re Not the Only One Who Wants This 1. If you want fame — solve the problems of the poor. 2. If you want money — solve the problems of the rich. 3. And if you want a lot of money — create tools that help the poor become rich. 😉 4. By the way, even Paul Graham once said, “If you can’t find a good startup idea, just make something that enables one of your friends to make money.”

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1. “A bottle of water costs 50 cents at the supermarket. The same bottle will cost 2 dollars at the gym, 3 dollars at the cinema, and 6 dollars on a plane. The water is the same, but the places are different. Next time you feel like you’re worth nothing, you might just be in the wrong place.” 2. I’d end this phrase differently — next time you feel like your product is worth nothing, it might be because you’re selling it to the wrong people or in the wrong place.

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Can Your Idea Be “Dumbed Down”? 1. I was surprised to learn from the founder’s interview that Tinder wasn’t launched as a dating app. The original idea was for people who already knew each other to discreetly discover if there was mutual interest. But Tinder became popular when it turned into a dating app for strangers who just wanted a quicker, simpler way to end up in bed together. 2. It seems that noble ideas don’t survive when they collide with reality. They either shatter or turn into “dumbed down” versions of themselves — but with far greater success. 😉 Facebook followed a similar path, going from a cozy space for classmates to an almost bare-content platform for self-promotion and more. The same happened with Instagram, VK, Google, TikTok, and many others.

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Does Your Product Have a “Matryoshka of Values”? 1. I heard a very useful definition: “Product marketing is a way of reducing the gap between how users perceive the value of a product and the value the developer intended to create.” Why is this definition useful? 2. The problem is that users might not initially see the full value of a product. And they usually don’t need to. You can’t just dump all the “useful” information on the user right away because they won’t be able to process it. 3. That’s why the product’s value should be revealed to the user gradually. First, one value. Then, once they understand and appreciate it — another. Then the next, and so on.

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Your Brain Is Also a Muscle 1. When you’re working out, it’s essential to regularly change up your exercises; otherwise, muscles “plateau” — they stop responding to the load and therefore don’t grow. Your brain is also a muscle. 😉 2. It not only needs training but also a regular change in stimulation. Otherwise, it will “plateau” and stop generating new ideas, without which your startup won’t take off. 3. In other words, you can’t always be focused on your startup and your market. But that doesn’t mean switching your brain to something trivial. 4. During these mental breaks, you can think about other startups and markets. Especially since you might find interesting insights that you can apply to your own market or startup. 5. To do this, however, you need to look at startups that genuinely have something interesting to offer or are based on emerging changes that not everyone has noticed yet.

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It’s Never Too Late for You 1. The average age of a company founder in the United States is 42. The median age of founders of the fastest-growing newly founded companies is 45. 2. A 50-year-old founder is almost twice as likely to succeed with their company as a 30-year-old. Founders in their 20s have the lowest chance of building a fast-growing company or selling it. 3. Despite this, most venture investors prefer to invest in younger startup founders. Perhaps because older founders can rely on their own skills and funds? 😉 4. Nevertheless, there’s definitely a niche in the venture market for working with older founders, something that isn’t usually the norm right now.

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What’s More Expensive: a Worker or a Shovel? 1. When a company pays for standard SaaS, it’s effectively paying for a shovel that its employees use to dig—meaning they still need to put in the effort. 2. When a company invests in an AI platform, it’s not just paying for a tool but almost a fully-fledged “worker” capable of handling tasks autonomously. A worker, naturally, should cost more than a shovel 😉 3. This is the essence of the hype around AI startups. They aim to capture a share of the labor market (salaries), which is far larger than the current IT expenses, including regular SaaS tools. 4. Consequently, AI startups have the potential for revenue growth much faster and greater than traditional SaaS. For investors, this means significantly higher returns by investing in AI.

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You’re Not Selling a Product; You’re Selling a Chance! 1. One major mistake many salespeople make is trying to convert warm leads directly into sales. However, there’s an important stage between receiving a warm lead and making a sale – skipping it can lead to total failure. 2. This stage can be called the “demonstration of opportunity.” Before pushing the customer toward buying, the salesperson should first paint a picture of the chance this product brings for the customer and their company if they decide to implement it. 3. For the individual, this chance could mean gaining points within their company, an easier path to meeting KPIs, or similar benefits. For the company, it might mean boosting revenue, reducing costs, outpacing competitors, entering new markets, or achieving other goals based on their current position and needs. Continuation on my channel.

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The Conclusion is More Important than the Argument! 1. When tempted to argue, first decide: do you want to a) uncover the truth, b) change the other person’s mind, or c) gain personal benefit? 2. If it’s to “change their mind,” ask yourself why. 3. For “uncovering the truth,” stop defending your own opinion. Step into their perspective and jointly explore its strengths and weaknesses. 4. For “personal benefit,” arguing is unnecessary. Just recognize you can learn from opposing views. 5. This is key when engaging with potential users, whose views may differ but can offer valuable insights. 6. Or are you still trying to convert them? 😉

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To Make a Dream Come True, You Need to Try Making the Dream 1. Let’s be honest: the hidden dream is to work as little as possible and earn as much as possible 😉 And a startup should be created to make that dream a reality, right? 2. That’s why I get so frustrated with startups that have been working hard for a year or more on something they haven’t even started selling. 3. How can that be a dream with this kind of approach from the very beginning? 😉 4. To create something that will bring maximum results with minimal effort, you need to immediately aim for minimal effort in the hopes of achieving maximum results.

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How about this, [insert name]? 1. I came across an amazing thought: “You don’t become the person you want to be like… but the person you want to impress.” 2. In other words, it’s pointless to build your business based on “Elon Musk’s recipes” while trying to prove something to a local café owner. As a result, you’ll end up with something no bigger than that café ☹️ 3. You’ll achieve far more if you set out to do something that could impress Elon Musk. And which recipes you follow to do that won’t matter at all. 4. The funny thing about this approach is that even 1% of a big goal will bring you far more money than 150% of a small one. 5. Forget Elon Musk for a moment. Who would you want to impress with your startup?

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The Shortest Road to the Startup Graveyard 1. The quickest way to the startup graveyard is to start “implementing an idea” that popped into the founder’s head 😉 because a startup’s goal is not to “implement an idea”! So what is it? 2. Today, from a long interview with one of Shopify’s directors, I caught an excellent phrase: “Our company is built to search for truth.” What do people actually want? How can we truly help them? What do we really need to do for this? 3. And this truth is still being sought by a highly successful company that was founded 18 years ago. So what can we say about newly established startups? Most of them somehow believe they already know their truth—they just need to implement it.

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The Right Investor is Not Just Big Boobs and Cooking Skills 1. The founder of ServiceTitan, a startup preparing for an IPO next year, shared a funny story about how he got his first investment from a venture fund. 2. After graduating from an accelerator, the founder of ServiceTitan met a guy from a venture fund. After a while, this guy offered the startup some investment. However, the founder was hesitant because the company didn’t really need the money at the time since it had already started generating revenue. Moreover, having an investor from a strong venture fund would mean the investor could start influencing the startup’s decision-making process.

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To Keep a Company Out of Trouble, There Shouldn’t Be Any “Successful” Employees 1. If you want to ensure that your company doesn’t run into problems due to the actions of one employee, you need to make sure that… no single employee can lead your company to success! 2. Because these are two sides of the same coin – if one employee can influence the entire company’s results, it can be either in a positive or a negative way. 3. Success should not be achieved by individual employees, but by the organization as a whole. And the same organization should know how to “absorb” the underperformance of any particular employee.

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