Category: Uncategorized

📈 Why Shut Down a Growing Product?


This week’s Founder Finds includes:

✂️ How to avoid feature bloat
🤖 A context engineering guide
📈 Shutting down a $1.5M product
🎨 An AI UI and wireframe generator
🛠️ Should we say goodbye to startups?
➡️ And more…



🪶 Remember This

Momentum is easier to maintain than to build.



🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


🤖 Context Engineering Guide shared by Eddie Forson
Anthropic’s guide to effective context engineering for AI agents


🎨 UX Pilot shred by Alper Tunga
A tool to build UI designs and wireframes with AI


📈 Shutting Down a $1.5M Product shared by Elie Steinbock
How Fiscal.ai prioritized long-term vision over short-term revenue



🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

🧿 Dru Riley added an onboarding video to HeadsUp


💻 Jd Fiscus made a video on Claude Code custom status lines


🤝 Mike Williams is organizing an LA meetup on AI-powered marketplaces


🎨 Wojtek Wozniak is hosting a workshop on vibe coding websites with Relume


✔️ Sam McKay wrote about validating AI output



📘 Read This

Should We Say Goodbye to Startups?

Check out the three shifts reshaping tech business:

  • Expect multi-product makers running 10+ tools for the same audience
  • Use “influencer + maker” collaborations to get shared distribution and cross-promotion
  • Make friends now as solo makers will struggle vs organized groups with combined audiences



🐦 Tweet of the Week



🛠️ Tools of the Week

💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



🎧 Listen To

What Will Happen If You Start Removing Features?

64% of features are rarely used and actively slow down both development and user experience.

Here’s what you can do to avoid feature bloat:

  • Frame feature removal as improvement, not loss: Slack celebrated removal of Stories
  • Analyze usage frequency, user impact, maintenance cost, strategic alignment and opportunity cost
  • Recognize zombie features draining dev time, confusing users and stealing focus from what matters



🍢 Trends Tribe

1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

  • Make real connections
  • Solve problems faster
  • Help each other grow

Next meetup: October 20



The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
☁️ Cloudflare’s AI Coding Platform


Get Weekly Reports

Join 54,000+ founders and investors


    📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

    Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

    🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

    📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

    💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

    🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

    💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


    Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

    💰 How Did Justin Welsh Build a $10M+ Solo Business?


    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

    💰 An interview with Justin Welsh
    ☁️ Cloudflare’s AI coding platform
    🚀 Why ignore common VC advice
    ⚖️ How not to be defined by your job
    💡 Disruption vs. incremental progress
    ➡️ And more…



    🪶 Remember This

    Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.



    🤓 Fav Finds

    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


    💰 $10M+ Solo Business shared by Paul Metcalfe
    An interview with Justin Welsh about building a million-dollar one-person business


    ☁️ VibeSDK shared by Elia Zane
    Cloudflare’s AI coding tool that lets you deploy your own vibe coding platform


    🚀 Ignoring Common VC Advice shared by Shushant Lakhyani
    How Gamma reached $50M ARR by raising little and staying lean



    🧿 HeadsUp of the Week

    Pipedrive is split testing their CTA from ‘Try it free’ to ‘Try 14 days free.’

    Small change, massive psychology shift.

    Advantages of 14 days?

    Concrete details are more persuasive than abstract promises.

    • ‘Try it free’ = vague commitment, easy to ignore
    • ‘Try 14 days free’ = specific timeframe, creates urgency

    This is conversion optimization 101, but most companies still get it wrong.

    Spotted by HeadsUp competitor monitoring from Trends.vc



    🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

    🧿 Dru Riley added missed alert estimations to HeadsUp


    🎙️ Sam McKay recorded a podcast on Microsoft Fabric


    🦾 Alexandre Kantjas is hosting a workshop on AI agents


    💿 Darren Travel released a new music album


    💻 Elie Steinbock made a tutorial on running multiple coding agents locally



    📘 Read This

    Could “Being Disruptive” Sabotage Your Startup’s Success?

    Don’t try to change the world. Focus on building a profitable business instead:

    • Most people don’t like big changes. Focus on solving their specific problems.
    • It’s okay to have smaller goals. They are easier to reach and can still be very rewarding.
    • Make things that are valuable, not disruptive. It’s okay to make small improvements instead of trying to change the world.



    🐦 Tweet of the Week



    🛠️ Tools of the Week

    💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


    🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


    📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



    💬 Join the Conversation

    Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



    👀 Watch This

    Does Your Life Have Meaning Outside of Work?

    If you feel like your job defines you, try to find meaning in life beyond your job:

    • Many people tie their identity to their work, often due to a lack of other sources of meaning like religion and community.
    • A “dream job” is not the only path to happiness. A “good enough” job can provide the means and time to pursue other fulfilling activities outside of work.
    • To diversify your identity beyond work, think about your values and how you spend your time. Ask yourself: What would you do if you couldn’t do your current job?



    🍢 Trends Tribe

    1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

    • Make real connections
    • Solve problems faster
    • Help each other grow

    Next meetup: October 20



    The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
    ✨ Awesome Mac Apps


    Get Weekly Reports

    Join 54,000+ founders and investors


      📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

      Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

      🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

      📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

      💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

      🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

      💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


      Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

      💭 What 11 Things Could Have Saved You Years of Struggle?


      This week’s Founder Finds includes:

      🥱 Why you’re so tired
      🔍 An AI SEO playbook
      💭 11 pieces of life advice
      ✨ A curated list of Mac apps
      🤖 Cursor instructions for GPT-5
      ➡️ And more…



      🪶 Remember This

      Each try brings you closer to success.



      🤓 Fav Finds

      Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


      ✨ Awesome Mac Apps shared by Elia Zane
      A curated list of great macOS software


      🔍 AI SEO Playbook shared by Ben Fisher
      How to optimize your content for AI search


      🤖 GPT-5 Cursor Instructions shared by Alper Tunga
      Custom Cursor Agent instructions optimized for GPT-5



      🧿 HeadsUp of the Week

      Notion just quietly launched ‘Agents’ that can actually DO tasks for you.

      This is the first major productivity tool to go fully autonomous.

      Agents can manage your projects, update databases and handle workflows while you sleep.

      The shift from ‘AI assistant’ to ‘AI employee’ is happening faster than we expected.

      Spotted by HeadsUp competitor monitoring from Trends.vc



      🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

      🧿 Dru Riley added backlink, keyword and domain authority tracking for competitors to HeadsUp


      🌱 Jason A Erickson hit 5,000 monthly organic search visits with Simply Lawn Directory


      🎓 Paul Martin collected 50 resources for learning Web3


      🖥️ Yuyu launched What Is My Screen Size on Product Hunt


      🚀 Paul Metcalfe launched Founder



      🔧 Try This

      What 11 Things Could Have Saved You Years of Struggle?

      One bad thing can ruin your entire month. But here’s how good and bad can coexist:

      • Replace perfection with interest
      • Build competence to eliminate fear
      • Remember your choices belong only to you



      🐦 Tweet of the Week



      🛠️ Tools of the Week

      🖼️ Aragon AI — Use AI to do a photo shoot


      🎬 Zebracat — Create marketing videos with AI


      👨‍💻 CodeFast — Learn to code in weeks, not months



      💬 Join the Conversation

      Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



      ❔ Ask Yourself

      Why Are You So Tired?

      Here’s why nowadays everybody’s so tired:

      • Modern life is chemically draining: Screens block sleep chemicals (melatonin), while work demands and decisions build up brain toxins that need proper sleep to clear out.
      • Our brains weren’t built for this: We make lots of decisions daily vs our ancestors’ simple choices. Each decision creates chemical buildup (glutamate) that exhausts us, even without physical work.
      • We fight natural rhythms: Everyone has a natural sleep pattern (chronotype), but modern schedules force a one-size-fits-all approach. Plus, we block tiredness signals with caffeine, leading to harder crashes.



      🍢 Trends Tribe

      1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

      • Make real connections
      • Solve problems faster
      • Help each other grow

      Next meetup: October 20



      👋 New Trends Pro Members



      The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
      🚀 Where to Launch to Get Your First Customers?


      Get Weekly Reports

      Join 54,000+ founders and investors


        📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

        Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

        🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

        📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

        💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

        🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

        💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


        Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

        AI Impact on Work: Most Affected Jobs, AI Tools to Master, Staying Competitive

        “At the heart of capitalism is creative destruction.”  — Joseph A. Schumpeter

        Get Full Access to Trends Pro


        ❓ What You’ll Learn

        • Why is AI more than task automation?
        • What jobs are most affected by AI?
        • How to remain a valuable employee in the AI era?
        • What AI tools to master to stay competitive against AI tools?


        ⭐ Why does the impact of AI on jobs matter?

        AI tools are “intelligent units” that go beyond task automation. They can create original work: market analysis, risk assessment, investment insights and more. This helps employees focus on more complex and creative aspects of their jobs.

        But people are concerned about job displacement.

        With so much uncertainty, we’re diving into how AI impacts the future of jobs.


        🤖 What jobs are most affected by AI?

        Customer Service Agents
        AI chatbots can resolve standard customer queries and complaints without call center staff.

        Digital Marketers
        AI can create, manage and optimize marketing strategies involving social media, search engines, email, content creation and online advertising.

        Salespeople
        AI can manage customer inquiries through chatbots, analyze consumer behavior, qualify leads, do cold outreach and predict future buying trends to optimize sales strategies.


        🚀 How can you survive the adoption of AI?

        The first thing that you can do is use AI tools. This is the reality. If you rely on yourself only, you may lose to a colleague that knows how to use AI to do tasks faster and better than you.

        But here are other ways to remain valuable and competitive:

        Customer Service Agents

        Learn AI tools to automate routine tasks so you can focus on more complex and high-value customer interactions. Find ways to communicate to offer a personal touch that AI can’t match.

        AI tools for customer service agents:

        • Brainfish is an AI for self-service customer support.
        • Tidio interacts with customers as a real customer support agent.
        • Yuma offers automated AI customer service for Shopify merchants.
        • Balto offers real-time call guidance in customer support call centers.
        • Kustomer is a customer service platform with AI chatbots and assistants.

        Digital Marketers

        Build strategies that resonate with audiences based on your domain expertise and cultural knowledge. Use consumer psychology to adapt your marketing efforts to world events and trending topics.

        AI tools for digital marketers:

        • Fullstory uses AI to analyze customer behaviour.
        • Customers.ai offers in-depth visitor insights and remarketing.
        • Albert.ai is an autonomous AI agent that builds and optimizes marketing campaigns.
        • Surfer SEO uses AI to boost organic traffic, increase visibility and improve your rank in search results.
        • Brand24 uses AI to track mentions across social media, news, blogs, videos, forums, podcasts, reviews and more.

        Salespeople

        Build strong relationships with customers by focusing on trust and a personal touch. Keep in touch with your clients after sales to solve problems and make sure they remain happy with your service. Clients are real people, not mere quotas.

        AI tools for salespeople:

        • Regie.ai is an all-in-one hub for AI sales outreach.
        • Bland AI helps you build, test and scale AI phone agents.
        • Reply.io sets up outreach sequences, handles prospect replies and books meetings.
        • B2B Rocket offers AI agents that can dial your leads, engage them and book meetings.
        • Oliv is an AI sales rep that does pre-meeting research, takes live notes and updates CRM after every call.


        📈 What else?

        Trends PRO #0149 — AI Impact on Work has more insights.

        What you’ll get:

        • 12 Jobs Most Affected by AI (300% More)
        • 12 Ways to Survive The Adoption of AI Tools (300% More)
        • 60 AI Tools to Master to Stay a Valuable (300% More)
        • 12 Expert Opinions on the Future of Jobs (1,200% More)
        • 15 Data Points From AI Industry Impact Reports (1,500% More)

        With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

        • (📈 Pro) Which companies have already replaced workers with AI?
        • (📈 Pro) What do experts say about the future of jobs?
        • (📈 Pro) How is AI taking away your competitive advantage?
        • (📈 Pro) Who’s had their job taken by AI?
        • (📈 Pro) What B2B opportunities does AI open up for entrepreneurs?
        • (📈 Pro) How many employees use AI at work?
        • (📈 Pro) How many organizations have an AI training program?
        • (📈 Pro) What percentage of companies plan to replace jobs with AI?
        • (📈 Pro) What jobs will be “reserved” for humans for a long time?
        • (📈 Pro) How to boost employee morale when adopting AI tools?
        • And much more…

        Get Weekly Reports

        Join 54,000+ founders and investors


          📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

          Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

          🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

          📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

          💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

          🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

          💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


          Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

          🦾 How to Build Better AI Agents?


          This week’s Founder Finds includes:

          🎁 The best AI apps of 2024
          🦾 A guide to building AI agents
          🌐 An AI agent Chrome extension
          💡 Why challenge core assumptions
          🌱 How to improve all aspects of your life
          ➡️ And more…



          🪶 Remember This

          Beginning is always the hardest.



          🤓 Fav Finds

          Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


          🦾 Building Effective Agents shared by Sam McKay
          A guide on building AI agents from Anthropic


          🎁 a16z Apps Unwrapped shared by Grady Laksmono
          The best AI apps of 2024 according to a16z


          🌐 Do Browser shared by Stewart Townsend
          An AI agent Chrome extension to automate complex tasks



          🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

          👁️ Elie Steinbock made a video about app QA with computer vision


          👨‍💻 Sam McKay is open sourcing Prompt Array


          🎨 Yuyu built a color converter


          🖼️ Shushant Lakhyani wrote a Canva guide



          📘 Read This

          How to Improve All Aspects of Your Life?

          Here’s how tiny changes in your day can make a big difference in your life:

          • Start with one good habit and make it a routine. Once that’s easy, add more good habits. Don’t change everything at once.
          • Find a habit that makes it easier to do other good things. If you start exercising, you might also find it easier to eat healthy and sleep better.
          • Instead of forcing yourself to make good choices, let your good habit lead the way. If you drink water when you wake up, let that help you choose a healthy breakfast.



          🐦 Tweet of the Week



          🛠️ Tools of the Week

          🎨 Relume — Use AI for web design


          🔎 Osum — Perform market research with AI


          🎞️ ​Gling.ai​ — Let AI edit your videos



          💬 Join the Conversation

          Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



          🔧 Try This

          Are You Wrong About Your Customers?

          Traditional “best practices” like $.99 pricing aren’t always optimal.

          Canva found charging $15 instead of $14.99 performed better.

          The point is… Challenge your core assumptions by running experiments, as market behaviors and customer preferences often change and defy conventional wisdom.



          🍢 Trends Tribe

          1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

          • Make real connections
          • Solve problems faster
          • Help each other grow

          Next meetup: January 20



          The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
          🛠️ Collection of Custom Cursor Rules


          Get Weekly Reports

          Join 54,000+ founders and investors


            📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

            Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

            🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

            📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

            💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

            🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

            💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


            Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

            AI Search Optimization (AEO): Replacing Google, 13x Conversions, $7.3 billion market

            “The best place to hide a dead body is page two of Google search results.”

            Get Full Access to Trends Pro

            ❓ What You’ll Learn

            • How to transform existing content for AI?
            • How to get 13x better conversion rates?
            • What’s the pay-to-play future of AI search?
            • What will be the role of voice search?
            • How do AI platform preferences differ from traditional search?


            💎 Why It Matters

            AI search is becoming the go-to way for billions of people to shop, learn and more.


            🔍 Problem

            AI searches are on track to overtake traditional search (Google) by 2027.


            💡 Solution

            Answer engine optimization (AEO) makes brands visible in AI-generated responses.


            🏁 Players


            🔮 Predictions

            1. AI search will overtake traditional search by late 2027. Traditional search will drop 25% by 2026.
            2. The AEO market will reach $7.3 billion by 2031. Growing 34% annually from $886 million today.
            3. Voice will become the primary interface. Local searches will shift to voice-first as smart speakers proliferate.
            4. Platforms like ChatGPT and Claude will introduce transaction fees for purchase-intent searches. Pay-to-play for product visibility.


            ☁️ Opportunities

            1. Optimize your own content for AI search. Citations improve visibility up to 40%. Adding statistics boost another 40%.
            2. Build optimized content creation tools. Combine traditional SEO with AEO capabilities. See Frase, Copy.ai and Surfer.
            3. Launch an AEO agency. Only 22% of marketers track AI mentions. Charge $4,000-13,000/month.
            4. Target niche markets with design concessions. Build AEO tools exclusively for Shopify’s 2.3 million stores. Local businesses managing multiple locations is a great niche too. Generic AEO platforms can’t match specific features without degrading the experience for other users.
            5. Build a browser extension showing AI visibility scores. Make the Keywords Everywhere extension for the AEO age.


            🔑 Key Lessons


            😠 Haters

            “AEO is just SEO with a fancy name.”
            Lily Ray argues techniques overlap. But AI synthesis requires different strategic thinking than ranking for keywords. AEO uses different ranking factors than Google. Citation patterns and confidence scores don’t exist in traditional SEO.

            “AI companies will shut down AEO like Google killed link farms.”
            It seems like they are not incentivized. They will most likely get in on the transactional actions. 

            “AI won’t overtake Google. It has AI overviews in the search.”
            It will overtake traditional search. What do you picture when you hear “traditional search”? We bet it’s Google.


            🔗 Links

            1. From 2 to $3M ARR • Tally founders explain how ChatGPT became their #1 referral source.
            2. AEO vs SEO Explained • Industry can’t agree on terminology for AI optimization.
            3. Answer Engine Optimization Is The New SEO • Learn how AI chat is converging with search.
            4. Proven AEO Optimization Case Studies • See how AI-sourced visitors convert at 27% compared to just 2.1% from standard search traffic (13x better).
            5. AI Discoverability • Read how you can get ChatGPT to recommend your brand.


            📈 What else?

            Trends PRO #0152 — AI Search Optimization (AEO) has more insights.

            What you’ll get:

            • 15 AEO Tools (150% More)
            • 8 Predictions (100% More)
            • 12 Opportunities (140% More)
            • 5 Key Lessons (150% More)
            • 8 Links (60% More)

            With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

            • (📈 Pro) Which types of search queries get AI visibility?
            • (📈 Pro) How to optimize for regional AI platforms?
            • (📈 Pro) What international markets are wide open?
            • (📈 Pro) What metrics will replace traditional rankings?
            • (📈 Pro) Which SEO giants are making major AEO acquisitions?
            • (📈 Pro) Which industries need vertical AEO?
            • (📈 Pro) How does voice change everything?
            • (📈 Pro) What ranking factors does AEO use?
            • (📈 Pro) What threatens traditional SEO distribution?
            • And much more…

            Get Weekly Reports

            Join 54,000+ founders and investors


              📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

              Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

              🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

              📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

              💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

              🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

              💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


              Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

              🚀 Where to Launch to Get Your First Customers?


              This week’s Founder Finds includes:

              🌱 36 life lessons
              🚀 A list of launch platforms
              💬 An AI voice dictation tool
              ⛰️ How to make better career choices
              🍌 A collection of Nano Banana use cases
              ➡️ And more…



              🪶 Remember This

              Execution is getting easier. Attention is getting harder.



              🤓 Fav Finds

              Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


              💬 Typeless shared by Shushant Lakhyani
              An AI voice dictation tool with real-time editing


              🚀 Launch Platforms List shared by Shivam
              10 launch platforms to get your first SaaS customers


              🍌 Awesome Nano Banana Images shared by Alper Tunga
              A collection of images and prompts made with Nano Banana



              🧿 Guess the Company

              This scheduling platform just replaced “Custom Pricing” on their Enterprise plan with actual numbers. Tiny copy change that sends a big signal about who they want as customers.

              They realized they can save time and energy by filtering out people who won’t pay their minimum rates upfront.

              Can you name the company?

              1. Calendesk
              2. Clockwise
              3. Calendly
              4. Doodle

              Don’t cheat: You can read more about this here.



              🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

              🧿 Dru Riley improved feedback collection for alerts in HeadsUp. 


              ⚙️ Jd Fiscus made a video on building an AI-powered social media scheduler


              📨 Elie Steinbock posted a customer case study for Inbox Zero


              🗣️ Alper Tunga became a representative for Kombai


              ✍️ Knight posted his August recap



              📘 Read This

              What Would You Tell Your Younger Self About Life?

              Sam Altman turned 30 and distilled a decade of experience into 36 life lessons that challenge how most people think about work, relationships and taking risks.

              Here’s what stands out:

              • Take calculated risks, especially early in your career
              • Work extremely hard but not so hard that life passes you by
              • Choose truly close friends over hundreds of acquaintances time is limited
              • Remember that youth is valuable, so don’t waste it overthinking every decision



              🐦 Tweet of the Week



              🛠️ Tools of the Week

              💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


              🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


              📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



              💬 Join the Conversation

              Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



              ❔ Ask Yourself

              How Do You Know If You’re Doing The Wrong Thing?

              Here’s how to not get trapped into optimizing the wrong life path:

              • Add randomness to your career path early on
              • Recognize when you’re climbing a hill you don’t want to reach the top of
              • Resist the lure of immediate upward steps when you can see a better hill in the distance



              🍢 Trends Tribe

              1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

              • Make real connections
              • Solve problems faster
              • Help each other grow

              Next meetup: October 20



              The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
              📊 AI Spreadsheet Tool


              Get Weekly Reports

              Join 54,000+ founders and investors


                📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

                Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

                🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

                📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

                💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

                🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

                💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


                Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

                ⚠️ Could These Seductive AI Ideas Be Why Your Agents Don’t Work in Practice?


                This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                💰 Redefining wealth
                📊 An AI spreadsheet tool
                ⚠️ Common AI agent traps
                📈 Optimization vs. growth
                🏔️ The power of consistency
                ➡️ And more…



                🪶 Remember This

                The fear of something is often worse than the reality.



                🤓 Fav Finds

                Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                📈 Growth vs. Optimization shared by Elia Zane
                A podcast episode on how to avoid optimization creep


                ⚠️ AI Agent Mind Viruses shared by Eddie Forson
                3 common pitfalls in coding AI agents


                📊 Paradigm shared by Hitesh Kar
                An AI spreadsheet tool to automate data collection and research



                🧿 Guess the Company

                This global consulting firm just launched an AI chatbot that can answer questions with decades of consulting insights.

                Imagine having instant access to insights behind some of the world’s biggest business decisions.

                The democratization of knowledge is accelerating.

                Can you name the company?

                1. Accenture
                2. McKinsey
                3. Booz Allen
                4. Deloitte

                Don’t cheat: You can read more about this here.



                🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                🧿 Dru Riley added Slack and webhook integrations to HeadsUp


                🦉 Jakub Nowikowski launched Noic


                🔋 Sofia Vistas launched the beta version of Undodesk


                ⚖️ Josh Kubicki wrote about the implications of AI use in law


                🖥️ Yuyu launched What Is My Screen Size



                🔧 Try This

                Why Do Most People Quit Right Before Their Breakthrough Moment?

                To be great, be consistently good at what you do, day after day:

                • Focus on being predictably decent rather than occasionally spectacular
                • Push through the local minimums where most people quit
                • Take actions that create predictable results



                🐦 Tweet of the Week



                🛠️ Tools of the Week

                💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


                🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


                📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



                💬 Join the Conversation

                Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



                ❔ Ask Yourself

                What If Wealth Has Nothing to Do With Making More Money?

                Derek Sivers breaks down wealth into a simple equation: Wealth = Have/Want:

                • Wealth is about feeling like you have plenty of what you want
                • Play the inner game instead of the outer game — seek ways to want less
                • Lowering your desires instead of boosting your income is a shift that makes you rich immediately



                🍢 Trends Tribe

                1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

                • Make real connections
                • Solve problems faster
                • Help each other grow

                Next meetup: September 15



                The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
                🔧 Claude Code Templates


                Get Weekly Reports

                Join 54,000+ founders and investors


                  📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

                  Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

                  🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

                  📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

                  💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

                  🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

                  💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


                  Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

                  🎰 What Makes TikTok More Addictive Than a Slot Machine?


                  This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                  ✨ The Genie 3 world model
                  🧐 An app for better visual focus
                  🎰 What makes TikTok so addictive?
                  💙 How to support a struggling friend
                  🔧 A template collection for Claude Code
                  ➡️ And more…



                  🪶 Remember This

                  Clarity is an underrated form of leverage.



                  🤓 Fav Finds

                  Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                  🔧 Claude Code Templates shared by Alper Tunga
                  A collection of agents and configurations for Claude Code


                  ✨ Genie 3: An Infinite World Model shared by Eddie Forson
                  An episode of Google DeepMind focusing on Genie 3


                  🧐 FocusDim shared by Shushant Lakhyani
                  A Mac app to improve your visual focus



                  🧿 HeadsUp of the Week

                  Building a course or community platform? Steal this brilliant revenue tactic.

                  What passion.io Just Did: Helped creators clone themselves to serve thousands of students at once. The AI learns each creator’s style and content, then manages unlimited personal chats.

                  Steal This Tactic: Give your users AI that acts like them. When creators charge more for personal attention, you earn more too.

                  Spotted by HeadsUp competitor monitoring from Trends.vc



                  🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                  🧿 Dru Riley extended the HeadsUp free trial to 30 days 


                  💬 Max launched Easy Custdev


                  🛠️ Alexandre Kantjas is hosting a workshop on Airtable Omni


                  🎉 Eddie Forson hosted the AI Mavericks 2025 Summer Party


                  🎙️ Sam McKay hosted a podcast on GPT-5



                  👀 Watch This

                  What Makes TikTok More Addictive Than a Slot Machine?

                  Here’s why TikTok is so dangerously engaging:

                  • Habit loop with minimal effort. You swipe just once to start the chain reaction, then each swipe makes the next one more automatic.
                  • Combination of short content with high variability. Short videos with unpredictable rewards form compulsive behavior.
                  • Behavior data over manual preferences. TikTok tracks your reactions in real-time, adapting fast to keep you hooked.



                  🐦 Tweet of the Week



                  🛠️ Tools of the Week

                  💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


                  🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


                  📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



                  💬 Join the Conversation

                  Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



                  ❔ Ask Yourself

                  When Does Helping Actually Hurt Your Friend?

                  Here’s how to give advice to your struggling friend to make things better:

                  • Ask direct questions instead of assuming you know how they feel
                  • Don’t downplay problems or jump straight to solutions
                  • Give emotional support first, then cognitive support
                  • Avoid taking charge or being directive



                  🍢 Trends Tribe

                  1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

                  • Make real connections
                  • Solve problems faster
                  • Help each other grow

                  Next meetup: September 15



                  👋 New Trends Pro Members



                  The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
                  💻 How to Make Cursor Learn From Its Mistakes?


                  Get Weekly Reports

                  Join 54,000+ founders and investors


                    📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

                    Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

                    🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

                    📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

                    💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

                    🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

                    💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


                    Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

                    💻 How to Make Cursor Learn From Its Mistakes?


                    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                    🎯 Why can’t you focus?
                    ⚙️ PostHog’s operating handbook
                    🏃‍♀️ An app for sharing your workouts
                    💬 A deep dive into prompt engineering
                    💻 A compounding AI coding framework
                    ➡️ And more…



                    🪶 Remember This

                    Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.



                    🤓 Fav Finds

                    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                    💻 Compounding Engineering shared by Ben Fisher
                    How to build an AI development system that learns from all mistakes


                    💬 The Prompt Report shared by Devon Artis
                    An in-depth survey of prompt engineering methods


                    🏃‍♀️ Share Aura shared by Paul Metcalfe
                    An iPhone app to share your workouts on social media



                    🧿 HeadsUp of the Week

                    Building a SaaS? Steal this brilliant onboarding tactic.

                    What Glean Did: Built a library of templates based on real customer workflows. Just pick a template, customize and launch.

                    Steal This Tactic: Don’t make users start from scratch. Build templates for the most common use cases.

                    Spotted by HeadsUp competitor monitoring from Trends.vc



                    🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                    🧿 Dru Riley added a way to track multiple markets in HeadsUp


                    🌐 Elie Steinbock made a video on Browser MCP


                    📖 Maciej Cupial made ChatGPT for Kindle


                    🎙️ Andrew Gazdecki was featured in the Fintech Mavericks Podcast


                    👥 Tharindu Madhusanka unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups



                    👀 Watch This

                    Why Can’t You Focus?

                    Here’s how media consumption is destroying your ability to focus:

                    • Reading builds focus, screens kill it: Unlike books that train deep thinking, TV and internet push bite-sized content. Shifting from hour-long debates to 8-minute clips shows how attention spans shrink.
                    • The internet is designed against you: Platforms use psychology and design to steal attention. Even creators who built them (like Jobs and Zuckerberg) limit their kids’ screen time.
                    • You can rewire your brain: Take phone breaks, watch movies without scrolling and practice undistracted walks. Your brain can adapt – make it learn to focus again.



                    🐦 Tweet of the Week



                    🛠️ Tools of the Week

                    💲 Reply.io — Automate sales outreach


                    🎞️ Zubtitle — Edit social media videos fast


                    📊 Julius AI — Analyze your data with computational AI



                    💬 Join the Conversation

                    Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



                    📘 Read This

                    How Do Successful Companies Operate?

                    PostHog is a product analytics tool that we use at Trends.vc to split test copy, track conversions and more.

                    In this handbook, PostHog shares how they work.

                    From how they get users and make them happy, to how they make money and decide what to build.

                    This handbook will help you get a sneak peek into how successful companies operate.



                    🍢 Trends Tribe

                    1-on-1 live meetups for Trends Pro Members.

                    • Make real connections
                    • Solve problems faster
                    • Help each other grow

                    Next meetup: September 15



                    The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
                    🎨 Collection of Newsletter Site Designs


                    Get Weekly Reports

                    Join 54,000+ founders and investors


                      📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

                      Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

                      🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

                      📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

                      💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

                      🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

                      💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.


                      Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp