Faceless Social Media Accounts: AI-Generated Content, Scalable Revenue, Content Flywheels

“Content is fire. Social media is gasoline.” — Jay Baer

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❓ What You’ll Learn

Why will big media companies acquire faceless social media accounts?
What makes a faceless social media account valued at $85,000,000?
Why will media studios make faceless social media accounts?
How to save time publishing content?
How to make faceless visuals with AI?
What to do when you are low on content ideas?
How to build a content flywheel?
How to scale your revenue?
How to monetize your traffic?
How to offer tangible value to your fans?
How to make it harder to copy your faceless content?
How to monetize content created by others?
Who made $60,000 in 6 months with a faceless TikTok account?
How to build a consistent faceless brand?

💎 Why It Matters

You can build viral brands without key-person risk.

🔍 Problem

We want to be inspired, educated and entertained.

💡 Solution

Faceless social media accounts fulfill our need for useful, interesting and amusing content.

🏁 Players

Faceless Social Media Accounts

VC Brags • Memes on venture capital
How They Make Movies • Behind-the-scenes of making movies
Nature Is Metal • The brutal nature of wildlife
Satisfying Videos • Videos to please your mood
Hidden Tips • The best tips, tricks and life hacks
Its Wood Working • The art of woodworking
MATH TRICK • Tricks to get better at math

🔮 Predictions

Big media companies will acquire faceless social media accounts to reach new audiences.
- LabX Media Group acquired IFLScience in 2020.
- Warner Music Group acquired Daquan for $85,000,000.

Media studios will manage many accounts to boost their reach with diversified content.
- Complex Networks runs Complex and Complex Music.
- Vox Media runs NowThis, Thrillist, The Dodo and Seeker.
- Hive Media Group runs Bleacher Breaker, BUZZNET, Past Factory and Quizscape.

We’ll see marketplaces for buying and selling social media accounts. They will foster transactions with verification and escrow services.
- Social Tradia lets you buy and sell Instagram accounts.
- FameSwap lets you buy and sell Instagram, YouTube and TikTok accounts.
- Accs-Market.com lets you flip channels on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and more.

🛠 How to Build Faceless Social Media Accounts

Build bots to save time publishing content.
- ChatGPT Bot replies to comments that tag its profile.
- Odd Steam Reviews is a bot that posts game reviews.
- WhaleCalls is a bot that shares Bitcoin market reports.
- DSCOVR:EPIC is a bot that shares pictures of Earth from a DSCOVR satellite.
- Indian Sharemarket Updates is a bot that posts updates on the Indian stock market.
- Danganronpa Anything Bot shares posts about Danganronpa video game series every 30 minutes.

Use AI to make visuals fast. ChatGPT can write posts and video scripts. AI image generators can make themed graphics.
- AI Hustlewise shows how to make viral talking AI avatars.
- Max Jones shows how to make 100 TikTok videos in 1 hour with AI.
- Lori Ballen shows how to make 50 social media posts in 5 minutes using ChatGPT and Canva.
- Revenue Rebels shows how to make explainer videos using AI-generated scripts, voices and visuals.

Curate content from other creators. This can help you fill your release cadence when you’re low on content ideas.
- Diply aggregates conversations from the internet.
- images_ai shares images generated by AI artists.
- Foodie shares content made by other food bloggers.

🌱 How to Grow Faceless Social Media Accounts

Build a content flywheel by posting on many social media platforms. This helps to boost your reach.
- The Tiny Chef Show posts clips on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
- FailArmy shares funny fail videos on Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
- Futurism shares science, technology and medicine news on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Post daily to boost your visibility.
- Past Factory shares daily history and nostalgic posts.
- Meaning in picture shares daily stories in the pictures.
- Learn Something shares daily posts on science, mechanisms and more.

Collaborate with others to reach audiences with aligned interests.
- lil miquela is a virtual influencer who met Saweetie in public.
- Nature Is Metal collaborated with ECO DEFENSE GROUP to support the defense of wildlife.
- Ironmouse and Mori Calliope had a live stream on video games, plans for future collabs and what it’s like to be a VTuber.

💰 How to Monetize Faceless Social Media Accounts

Sell digital products to earn scalable revenue.
- Easlo sells productivity templates for Notion.
- Pikuma sells courses on game development.
- Good Minds Quote™ sells an e-book on self-discipline.
- Cheap Houses Japan sells access to a paid newsletter.

Use affiliate marketing to monetize your traffic.
- CheatSheets shares affiliate links to Miss Excel’s courses.
- Nature Predators and Scary Sea share links to Tactical Blades.
- Adobe Premiere Pro – Tips, Tricks & Tutorials shares links to Procreate Dreams.

Sell physical products to offer tangible value to your fans.
- VC Brags sells hats.
- Classical Art Memes sells Facemask Van Gogh.
- Gators Daily sells flags, merch and accessories.
- Menwiththepot sells knives, seasoning and more.
- Compound Interest sells posters, mugs, pillows and more.

😠 Haters

“Some faceless social media accounts mention the people behind them.”
There’s always someone who runs the account. The key is to focus on the content, not your personality.

“Faceless social media accounts are less defensible. Anybody can copy what I’m doing.”
Make a virtual avatar or move to the real world without showing your face to boost your defense.

“It’s harder to build personal connections without showing my face.”
This is a tradeoff of lower key-person risk.

“How do I monetize content created by others? It’s copyrighted.”
See Fair Use if you’re in the US. See Fair Dealing if you’re in the UK, Canada or India. Your country has similar laws. In short, you might be able to use a small amount of copyrighted content in your work. But it’s best to ask for permission. This is not legal advice.

🔗 Links

250,000+ followers by sharing weird game reviews? • The thread for this report.
Building a Report on Faceless Social Media Accounts • The tweet behind this report.
I Made a Faceless TikTok Account • How to make $60,000 in 6 months with a faceless TikTok account.
Brand Consistency on Social Media • Tips on building a consistent brand on social media.

📁 Related Reports

Faceless YouTube Channels • Express your creativity without worrying about your looks, status or reputation.
The Creator Economy • The ability to create and distribute work is being democratized.
AI-Generated Content • AI-generated content takes us from the era of limited to infinite leverage.
Influencer Marketing • Build awareness and find customers.
Virtual Influencers • Make an ideal brand ambassador from scratch.

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Prabhjot Singh Lamba, Tony Tong, Stewart Townsend and Justin Brooke. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Emin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.

📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0132 — Faceless Social Media Accounts has more insights.

What you’ll get:

20 Faceless Social Media Accounts (186% More)
7 Predictions (133% More)
8 Ways to build Faceless Social Media Accounts (167% More)
9 Ways to grow Faceless Social Media Accounts (200% More)
7 Ways to monetize Faceless Social Media Accounts (133% More)
10 Links (233% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

(📈 Pro) How to make content without restrictions?
(📈 Pro) Who runs million-dollar, one-person faceless social media accounts?
(📈 Pro) What will faceless social media accounts evolve into?
(📈 Pro) How to automate content creation?
(📈 Pro) How to piggyback on the attention paid to famous people?
(📈 Pro) How to stand out from competitors?
(📈 Pro) How to lower competition?
(📈 Pro) How to use extreme content to boost engagement?
(📈 Pro) How to accommodate shorter attention spans?
(📈 Pro) How to stay top of mind?
(📈 Pro) How to boost your chances of success?
(📈 Pro) How to lower platform risk?
(📈 Pro) How to take a cut of ad revenue?
(📈 Pro) How to reward fans with exclusive content?
(📈 Pro) What is the best way to go viral?
(📈 Pro) What are 17 profitable faceless niches?
And much more…

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Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

🤖 AI Email Marketing 💎 Positioning Value 📌 Reddit Startup Ideas

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🤝 27 places to find co-founders
🌞 The importance of compliments
💬 A transcription app for meetings
📌 Generating startup ideas from Reddit
🤖 How to use ChatGPT for email marketing
💎 How to find the real value of your product
⚙️ Setting up a life operating system in Notion
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🤖 Email Marketing with ChatGPT written by Renae Gregoire
A guide on using ChatGPT to build an email marketing campaign

⚙️ Notion Life Operating System shared by Eren Suzer
A Notion setup to maximize clarity and focus across all aspects of life

🤝 27 Places to Find Co-Founders shared by Royce Johnson
A list of places to meet potential co-founders

📘 Read This

Unbundling Reddit

Reddit has 138,000 subreddits. Each with its own set of users, rituals and problems.

Learn how to build a startup by serving the needs of users of an individual subreddit.

Find • Look for active subreddits with lots of followers.
Join • Ask questions, give answers, share resources.
See • Find patterns, repeated problems and hot topics.
Connect • Build a closer community outside of Reddit.
Build • Build a product that serves the needs of the community.
Improve • Iterate on your product to better serve the community.

🌟 Founder of the Week

Karthik Vijayakumar

“I’m glad I discovered Trends Pro. I really like standups. At first, I wondered what the point was. Every time I posted, some members would “like” my standup notes. But recently, I realized that reading other people’s updates can teach me a lot. They help me build my one-person business.”

Karthik helps one-person businesses and early-stage startups define value propositions, positioning and nail messaging across different forms of media.

What’s your most important habit?
Short HIIT workouts, 30 minutes of running and drinking 3 liters of water every day.

What are you reading right now?
Finished reading $100M Leads by Alex Hormozi. Started re-reading There’s a Customer Born Every Minute by Joe Vitale. It’s a great book about a man called P. T. Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey Circus) and his entrepreneurial genius.

What product are you obsessively using right now?
Claude for my writing and Tactiq for meetings. I love both.

What are you bullish on?
AI-powered learning. AI tools help me learn skills and topics faster than ever. What took me months to read and revise now takes minutes or hours.

What are you bearish on?
Unregulated AI. We need a master switch to prevent things such as a class action from the Authors Guild against ChatGPT. We need good policy-making to keep AI from becoming a bull in a china shop.

What’s your favorite Trends Report?
🤑 Million-Dollar, One-Person Businesses

It helped make a decision to start one myself.

What else?
I’m writing a book on finding your value proposition, nailing your positioning and crafting your messaging. If you have an experience with any of these, I’d love to hear what you know. I’m looking for founder stories to feature in the book. Stories help readers understand ideas better. If you have one, please send me an email. Mention “Trends.vc” in your email subject so I know where you come from.

Exclusive Deal: Karthik is offering the first 20 Trends.vc readers free two-month access to his No Excuses copywriting membership. Additionally, all Trends.vc readers get a free 30-day trial and 50% off the first year using the code TRENDS50.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

(📈 Pro) What is the best CRM?
(📈 Pro) Hiring a marketing agency
(📈 Pro) What to expect from influencer marketing

🔧 Try This

Thinking Something Nice About Someone?

People don’t hear enough compliments.

Even famous people say the thanks from the public is the best part of the job.

The happiness of making a difference in people’s lives is a motivation to keep going.

The next time someone makes a positive impact on your life, tell them your kind words of appreciation.

👀 Watch This

You Don’t Sell What You Think You Sell

The right positioning helps people understand what your product does and why they need it.

To find the right positioning, you need to identify the value of what you sell.

Josh Spector shares a few tips on how to find the real value of your product:

What are the alternatives?
What’s their value proposition?
Why should customers choose you over them?

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Paris OG, Sandeeip Chincholkar and Ivan Zografski unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

✍️ Renae Gregoire launched the Beyond Copy newsletter

🎥 Errol Tiozon reached 100,000 total views on YouTube

🧠 Bernardt J. Vogel wrote a book review of Building a Second Brain

🏄 Jesper Delporte launched The Surf Scout newsletter

🔮 Tony Tong was accepted into a local incubator with Mindreader

📝 Mehmet Gonullu signed a long-term consultancy contract

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Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

Live Streamers: Building Communities, Paid Subscriptions, Voice Cloning

“Content is king, but engagement is queen, and the lady rules the house.” – Mari Smith

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❓ What You’ll Learn

Why should you become a virtual streamer?
How to stream content without restrictions?
Why are streamers using voice cloning?
How to boost your brand awareness?
How to keep your audience engaged when you’re offline?
How to tap into new audiences?
How to boost your reach?
How to find the best viewer acquisition channel?
How to diversify your revenue?
How to use live donations to boost engagement?

💎 Why It Matters

Live streamers can attract hundreds of thousands of real-time viewers.

Which is more than most niche TV shows.

🔍 Problem

We all need a break from reality sometimes.

Where routine is replaced with unpredictable outcomes.

We want to see what you see, hear what you hear and feel what you feel.

💡 Solution

Live streaming gives us unscripted moments, raw emotions and genuine interactions.

You become a part of a tribe that escapes reality with a live, shared experience.

🏁 Players

Live Streamers

Tablestory • Plays board games
Miranda Quesnel • Makes animated films
Domo Stanton • Draws sketches, paintings and more
Christopher Notbusch • Makes sculptures from clay
BrickinNick • Builds things with LEGO

Live Streaming Platforms

Twitch • Live streaming service focused on video games, e-sports and more
YouTube • Live stream to the world’s most popular video hosting platform
Facebook Live Launch live chats, workshops, Q&As and other online events
Kick • The most rewarding gaming and live-streaming platform
Crowdcast • Reach, engage and grow your community with live streams
Castr Platform for live streaming with video hosting

Live Streaming Tools

OBS • Free and open-source tool for live streaming
StreamBeats • Copyright-free music for live streams
DonationAlerts • Interactive monetization tools
Printful • Make custom print-on-demand products

🔮 Predictions

We’ll see more virtual influencers. Streamers will use virtual avatars to lower key-person risk.
- WoodyDev had live streams in a motion capture suit.
- Gawr Gura live streams gameplays, song covers and chats.
- Projekt Melody hosts live gaming sessions as an anime-styled avatar.
- CodeMiko appears as a virtual and human streamer. She shows how her AR setup works.

Uncensored streaming platforms will let streamers create content without restrictions.
- Livepeer is a video protocol for live and on-demand streaming.
- Owncast is a free and open-source live video and web chat server.
- PeerTube is a tool for building private video hosting and live-streaming networks.

Live streamers will clone their voices for text-to-speech donation alerts. Fans will become the source of entertainment for the whole stream by mocking streamers with hilarious messages.
- Quin69 is a gamer. Fans mock his angry voice when he loses boss fights.
- nutty cloned the voice of Charles White Jr. for a text-to-speech donation alert.

🛠 How to Build a Live Streaming Business

Pick a niche to lower competition.
- cakez77 builds games in public.
- TabetaiCooking does live cooking.
- JinDao Tai does stock market analysis.
- Taeha Types builds custom mechanical keyboards.
- Mr_Horologist deconstructs, fixes and rebuilds watches.
- History of Westeros dive deep into the lore of Westeros by George R. R. Martin.

Do faceless live streaming to lower key-person risk.
- LIRIK streams video games.
- ironmouse streams gameplays, live chats and more.
- BRIGHT SIDE streams animations on science, discoveries and more.

Use branded graphics to boost the recognition of your channel.
- Banners help you brand your stream’s web page.
- Panels share important details about your stream.
- Emotes let viewers express their feelings and reactions.
- Overlays give a consistent look to on-screen elements, transitions and more.
- Alert boxes and sounds draw attention to new subscribers, milestones and more.

🌱 How to Grow as a Live Streamer

Build a community to boost engagement with off-stream chats, events and more.
- Hydrasung has a Discord channel with giveaways, merch drops and more.
- frogcrafting has a Discord channel with updates, fan artwork, movie nights and more.
- Benda42 has a Discord channel with promotions, collaboration opportunities and more.

Collaborate with streamers with aligned audiences. Get more subscribers by borrowing their attention.
- Quin69 and Mathil went rock climbing.
- CYR, PeachJars and RLrunescapeGF partnered for a Pizza Friday stream.
- SypherPK and CouRage invited the world’s Fortnite champion Khanada to a gameplay session.

Use multistreaming to boost your reach and find the best platform for your content early on.
- GRIDLIFE streamed a car festival Circuit Legends on 3 platforms.
- Speedify streamed the building of a budget gaming PC on 3 platforms.
- VR Master League streamed The Blaston Championship on 4 platforms.
- KaptainSputnik says they’ll be streaming on 4 platforms for 1 month to see which works best.

💰 How to Monetize as a Live Streamer

Offer paid subscriptions with exclusive content, paid communities and more. This can help you diversify your revenue.
- Taeha Types has a private community.
- falsesymmetry gives access to exclusive in-game and community events.
- DiceLegenz lets paid subscribers join a private community, build plots for upcoming streams and more.

Use interactive donations to make your streams more fun and engaging. Let viewers attach text and video messages to their donations.
- Orchlon lets viewers send media clips with donations.
- AverageJonas lets viewers play sound effects for donations.
- CurtisRyan lets viewers send a text-to-speech message with donations.

Sell merch to boost your brand recognition. This is free marketing.
- TeePee sells stickers, shirts, joggers and more.
- TimTheTatman sells slides, shirts, hats and more.
- Lost in House sells mugs, bags, hoodies and more.

😠 Haters

“Live streaming has a lot of key-person risk. The business stops if I stop streaming.”
Faceless streams and virtual avatars can help you offset this risk. Another option is to run streams that are not focused on you and your voice as the creator. BRIGHT SIDE streams animations that don’t need the live presence of the host.

“There is less ability to edit myself. I might get banned or canceled for doing something live.”
Community guidelines can help you avoid streaming inappropriate content. Be mindful about what you’re saying or doing.

“I can expose my private data while sharing my screen.”
Remember to switch scenes or pause screen sharing when entering sensitive data.

“Multistreaming is dividing the community and hurts engagement.”
You can use multistreaming to see what channel performs best for your content. Then pick this channel and drop the rest.

🔗 Links

Building a Report on How To Grow and Monetize as a Live Streamer • The Tweet behind this report.
Guide on Video Lighting • How to set up quality lighting for video production.
How to Grow an Audience • Tips on getting views, virtual gifts and loyal fans.

📁 Related Reports

Online Events • A cost-effective and scalable way to spread your message
Virtual Influencers • Create the ideal brand ambassador from scratch
Personal Brands • You need to show why you are worth trust and attention
The Creator Economy • Democratized code and distribution help you focus on what you’re good at
Audience-First Products • Build trust before building products

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Stewart Townsend. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Emin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.

📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0131 — Live Streamers has more insights.

What you’ll get:

11 Live Streamers (120% More)
12 Live Streaming Platforms (100% More)
8 Live Streaming Tools (100% More)
7 Predictions (133% More)
6 Ways to build as a Live Streamer (100% More)
8 Ways to grow as a Live Streamer (167% More)
6 Ways to monetize as a Live Streamer (100% More)
9 Links (200% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

(📈 Pro) How will decentralized streaming platforms attract users?
(📈 Pro) How to boost engagement with interactive streams?
(📈 Pro) Who raised $43,000,000 for charity?
(📈 Pro) How to pick the right hardware?
(📈 Pro) How to host adventure streams?
(📈 Pro) How can traditional video makers tap into live streaming?
(📈 Pro) Where to connect with your fans?
(📈 Pro) How to run “endless” streams?
(📈 Pro) How can you boost your reach with on-demand videos?
(📈 Pro) How can you monetize your traffic?
(📈 Pro) How to get a cut of ad revenue?
(📈 Pro) How to make a living as a full-time streamer?
(📈 Pro) What are 38 fun ways to liven up your stream?
(📈 Pro) How to set up text-to-speech alerts for donations?
And much more…

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📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

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📈 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

🎯 Scientific Goal Setting 🤝 Negotiation Tips ⚡ Fast Startup Validation

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🎯 A goal setting guide
🏋️ A workout tracker app
🤝 How to negotiate with clients
✨ How to rebrand your company
0️⃣ What is zeroth principles thinking
⚡ The fastest way to validate a SaaS
🧰 Resources to learn entrepreneurship
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Don’t be afraid to give up good to go for great.

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

⚡ Fast SaaS Validation shared by Elie Steinbock
A short video on how to validate your idea fast

🧰 Techstars Entrepreneur’s Toolkit shared by Royce Johnson
Resources to learn the basics of entrepreneurship

0️⃣ Zeroth Principles Thinking shared by Prabhjot Singh Lamba
A video on challenging fundamental assumptions. Read more about it here

📘 Read This

Behind the Rebrand

Jay Clouse just rebranded his business and newsletter.

He dives deep into the rebranding process and its challenges:

When to rebrand?
What makes a good brand?
How to find flaws in your current brand?
How to lower the rebranding risks by talking to your audience?

🌟 Founder of the Week

Tony Tong

“Trends Pro has been keeping me disciplined in updating my daily progress. As a founder, having an accountability group is quite important. It’s a whole different identity and mentality to be your own boss.“

Tony is building Mindreader. It helps salespeople in high-ticket industries (insurance, real estate, consulting) boost sales by 10-50% using their AI profiling system. Which was trained in the leading banks, insurance and real estate companies in Asia.

What’s your most important habit?
Taking notes. It helps me learn new things and remember important decisions I have already made. As a CTO, it helps me track my tasks across management, design and AI research.

What are you reading right now?
I’ve just read The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick to learn how to talk to users and understand their needs. This book uncovered some poor Biz Dev practices that were causing zombie leads.

What product or service do you wish existed?
A device that could read our mind and generate images or videos to help others understand what we are talking about. It does sound quite apocalyptic though. This would rewrite so many social norms.

What product are you obsessively using right now?
Hevy to track my weights and exercises. It has a cool feature that lets me see when my friends track their workout. It is a good motivation to go to the gym more often.

What are you bullish on?
I’m bullish on my success as long as I keep iterating and getting better.

What are you bearish on?
I’m bearish on getting people to change. I focus on my life instead and let people do what they want. This is great for my inner peace.

What’s your favorite Trends Report?
🖍️ Chrome Extensions as I want to build one for Mindreader.

What else?
I’m happy to connect with founders in the sales or lead generation space.

I’m shipping 3 AI chatbot features this year. Let’s chat if this interests you!

Exclusive Deal: Tony if offering Trends.vc readers 75% off any Mindreader plan with the code “CRAZY75”.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

(📈 Pro) Which is the best CRM?
(📈 Pro) Hiring a marketing agency
(📈 Pro) What to expect from influencer marketing

👀 Watch This

When Client Says “Your Price Is Too High”

Chris Do and Mo Ismail act out a role play scenario where Mo is the vendor and needs a video for $1,000. While Chris navigates this obstacle knowing his minimum level of engagement is $4,000.

🔧 Try This

How to Set Goals (Backed by Science)

Goals are a great source of satisfaction and purpose in our lives.

There are 2 types of goals:

Specific goals • Lose 20 pounds of weight.
General goals • Be a healthy human being.

Specific goals help you achieve tangible outcomes. General goals keep you motivated and honest.

You should balance specific and general goals to prevent negative outcomes from pursuing your dreams.

You don’t want to lose 20 pounds by living off pretzels and carrot juice for 1 year.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Rishabh Singh, Mike Giannakopoulos and Aurélien Vasinis unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

✍️ Renae Gregoire launched a column on Forbes

🩺 Bernardt J. Vogel wrote about generative AI in healthcare

👨‍💻 Elie Steinbock launched the Open Source Explored newsletter

💡 Mehmet Gonullu launched the waitlist for Ventures Fabrika

💬 Maisha Cannon wrote about chatbots on Poe

💰 Abhishek Kumar signed $8,000 worth of market research projects and was invited to a podcast

🧠 Eren Suzer unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak

Get Weekly Reports

Join 54,000+ founders and investors

📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

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Niche AI Models: No-Code, Open-Source, Communities

“It is difficult to think of a major industry that AI will not transform.” – Andrew Ng

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❓ What You’ll Learn

How can niche AI models make you more productive?
Who is crowdsourcing niche AI data?
Why should you customize existing AI models?
How to build niche AI models by solving your own problems?
How to get early customers and feedback?
Who is building niche AI models in public?
Why should you open-source your AI model?
Who built 700+ models with no-code tools?
How to build an AI clone of yourself?
Why do tech giants acquire niche AI startups?

💎 Why It Matters

Niche AI models do some tasks better and faster than humans.

🔍 Problem

You want to do specific tasks more accurately and efficiently.

💡 Solution

Niche AI models are fine-tuned to perform well on domain-specific tasks.

🏁 Players

Niche AI Models

Pi • AI personal assistant
Runway • AI for video production
GitHub Copilot • AI for programmers
Krisp • AI to make meetings more productive
Character AI • AI to create interactive characters
Ada • AI for customer support
Chirp • AI for analyzing speech

AI Model Directories

Hugging Face • Marketplace for open-source AI models
Gravity AI • Catalog of free and paid AI models
Modelplace • Marketplace for image-detection models

AI Modeling Tools

Amazon SageMaker • Build AI models on Amazon Web Services
Microsoft AI Builder • Build AI models for Microsoft applications
Vertex AI • Build AI models on Google Cloud
Cogniflow • Build AI models with no-code tools
Replicate • Build open-source models that run in the cloud
Personal AI • Build an AI model that mirrors you
Scale Spellbook • Customize existing AI models with your data

🔮 Predictions

Established companies will acquire niche AI startups to serve specific industries better.
- Microsoft acquired Nuance to automate tasks for healthcare providers.
- Thomson Reuters acquired Casetext to help law firms review documents.
- Accenture acquired Flutura to offer better AI services for clients in the energy, chemicals, metals, mining and pharmaceutical industries.

Companies with unique user-generated data will look for ways to monetize it.
- Reddit will charge developers to access its API.
- Twitter announced new API pricing which cuts off free access to tweets.
- Stack Overflow plans to charge large tech companies for accessing its answers.

SaaS companies will build their own niche AI models to improve their core features.
- DocuSign built DocuSign Insight which analyzes contracts.
- Crowdstrike built Charlotte AI which detects cloud security issues.
- Loom built Loom AI which automates video summaries and editing.
- Adobe built Adobe Firefly which generates images and visual effects.

🛠 How to Build Niche AI Models

Solve your own problems. Chances are others have them too.
- Greg Kamradt built an AI to respond to Twitter replies.
- Dan Shipper built Lennybot to summarize ideas from Lenny’s Newsletter.
- Susan Koch built an AI to help her write a wedding toast for her daughter.

Use no-code tools to save time, money and energy building your own AI models.
- Hear.com used Levity to build AI models that categorize PDFs.
- ILLA Cloud used My AskAI to build a customer support chatbot.
- LifePack used Obviously AI to build 700+ AI models that forecast their inventory.

Customize existing AI models to save time and money training your own models from scratch.
- Cohere lets you use your data to customize their pre-built models.
- Generative AI Studio lets you customize and test generative AI models.
- TensorFlow has a tutorial on how to customize pre-built models using your data.

🌱 How to Grow Niche AI Models

Join relevant communities to get early customers and feedback.
- Alon Talmor launched My AskAI on Product Hunt.
- Jijo John launched TextCraft AI on Indie Hackers.
- Ardy Naghshineh launched Browse AI on Indie Hackers.

Teach people how your AI model works with blog posts, workshops and short-form videos.
- David Park made a TikTok channel featuring his writing assistant Jenni AI.
- Jasper made The Jasper Blog to help customers use their AI marketing tool.
- Danie Theron published Getting Started with Bloom in the Towards Data Science blog.
- Dan Kulkov wrote about building an AI marketing ideas generator in his Weekly Dan newsletter.

Build an open-source alternative to proprietary AI models to gain recognition and get community contributions.
- OpenBB is an open-source version of BloombergGPT with over 24,000 stars and 2,000 forks on GitHub.
- Stable Diffusion is an open-source version of Midjourney with over 59,000 stars and 3,900 forks on GitHub.
- GPT Engineer is an open-source version of GitHub Copilot with over 49,000 stars and 7,000 forks on GitHub.

💰 How to Monetize Niche AI Models

Use paid plans to build a value ladder.
- Descript offers 10x more cloud storage for Pro customers.
- Casetext charges for each legal task but offers unlimited tasks on paid plans.
- Character AI offers faster character responses to Character AI Plus customers.

Offer enterprise plans for companies that want to access the top features.
- Mem offers more custom-trained models to enterprises.
- Fireflies offers private storage for enterprises with sensitive data.
- Krisp offers dedicated 24/7 customer support for enterprise clients.

😠 Haters

“ChatGPT can already solve niche problems with prompt engineering.”
Sure. But your customers don’t have the time to learn how to prompt ChatGPT. Runway makes high-quality video for creators. Suki automates admin work for doctors. People need tools to solve specific problems without complicated prompts.

“It’s hard to compete with large companies with proprietary data.”
Large companies can’t focus on every niche because they serve the masses. Use open-source AI platforms and access public data directories to solve problems for an underserved niche.

“Building a niche AI model seems hard.”
It depends on what you’re building. You can build useful models by customizing pre-trained models or using no-code tools. Online tutorials and developer communities can help you with anything more complex.

“Niche AI models can still give wrong answers.”
Humans also make mistakes. Keep them focused on the tasks they’re designed for and always verify their output. They’re meant to help you do your job. Not do it for you.

🔗 Links

Building a Report About Creating and Monetizing Niche AI Models • The Tweet behind this report.
Building Domain-Specific LLMs: Examples and Techniques • How to build a niche AI model.
MLOps Landscape in 2023: Top Tools and Platforms • List of tools to help you build your AI model.

📁 Related Reports

AI Agents • Boost your productivity with AI that makes decisions on your behalf
ChatGPT • Boost your productivity with AI that helps you code, write, research and more
Open-Source AI • Build AI faster by learning from each other
AI-Generated Content • Discover AI tools for generating image, voice and video content
Virtual AI Companions • Feel connected when friends and family are not around

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Uwe Dreissigacker, Edward Danilyuk, Harsha MV and Frank Jones. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Phil researched and wrote this report. Dru and Emin edited this report.

📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0130 — Niche AI Models has more insights.

What you’ll get:

21 Niche AI Models (200% More)
6 AI Model Directories (100% More)
14 AI Modeling Tools (100% More)
7 Predictions (133% More)
5 Ways to Build Niche AI Models (67% More)
7 Ways to Grow Niche AI Models (133% More)
4 Ways to Monetize Niche AI Models (100% More)
10 Links (233% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

(📈 Pro) How to improve your niche AI model?
(📈 Pro) How to boost accuracy by combining niche AI models?
(📈 Pro) Where to find high-quality training data?
(📈 Pro) Why should you use AI-generated data instead of real-world data?
(📈 Pro) How to earn commissions from sharing AI models?
(📈 Pro) How to monetize niche AI models?
(📈 Pro) How will blockchain help to manage access to niche AI data?
(📈 Pro) How are AI startups using foundation models?
(📈 Pro) How are YouTubers using niche AI models?
(📈 Pro) When will we run out of publicly available data?
And much more…

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📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

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Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

🪄 AI Screen Capture 📨 1,000 Paid Subscribers 🧲 Lead Magnet Guide

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🧲 A lead magnet guide
🔀 When to switch careers
📨 How to grow a newsletter
🪄 An AI workflow documentation tool
💹 How Loom scaled to a $1.5B valuation
🍬 10 sugar hacks to eat whatever you want
👨‍💻 A list of open-source projects for learning
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Opportunities don’t happen. You make them.

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🪄 guidde shared by Stewart Townsend
An AI screen capture tool for documenting workflows

🧲 Lead Magnet Dos and Don’ts shared by Dru Riley
A short guide on what to offer as lead magnet

💹 Founder Playbook shared by Maisha Cannon
A talk on scaling Loom to a $1.5B valuation

📘 Read This

How to Waste Your Career

A lot of people regret staying in unfulfilling jobs, often motivated by a misplaced sense of loyalty or fear of change.

If you’re not paying attention, you lose precious years stagnating and being unhappy.

Ask these questions about your last 3 months at work to see if it’s time for a change:

Challenge: Have I faced any challenges?
Growth Alignment: Have I gained new skills?
Impact: Would I put my recent work on a resume?
Accomplishment: Have I done anything notable recently?
Community: Am I enthusiastic about my work, team and company?

Be proactive in seeking change. Do not waste your career, one comfortable year at a time.

🌟 Founder of the Week

Giovanni Vanini

“It has been a year since I became a Trends Pro Member. I was motivated to join because of the opportunity to connect with like-minded people and share interests for personal growth.”

Giovanni is building Fides. He is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0007.

What’s your most important habit?
Maintaining a consistent morning routine. This routine is enhanced by reading and disconnecting from online activities until noon.

What are you reading right now?
Learn or Die by Edward D. Hess and Hidden Genius by Polina Marinova Pompliano

Both books share strategies for learning, problem-solving and personal growth. “Learn or Die” shares practical tips for continuous improvement. “Hidden Genius” explores how successful people think when dealing with creative and challenging tasks.

What product or service do you wish existed?
An instant, real-time translator that we could use to eliminate the language barriers.

What product are you obsessively using right now?
Descript. It helps me save a lot of time doing sales calls.

What are you bullish on?
NFTs. I believe that once companies grasp the full potential of this technology, they will unlock countless opportunities.

What’s your favorite Trends Report?
As a management engineer with basic knowledge of computer science, I found the 🧱 No-Code report to be extremely helpful. It opened up numerous doors for me that were previously closed.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

(📈 Pro) Favorite to do list app
(📈 Pro) Hiring a marketing agency
(📈 Pro) Building 30 AI tools in 30 days

🔧 Try This

Do This to Grow Your Newsletter

Polina Pompliano grew The Profile to ~1,000 paid subscribers.

She shares tips on how to build and grow paid newsletters:

Commit to your release cadence to build trust.
Have a content buffer to account for weeks off.
Collaborate with other newsletters via cross-promotions.
Track your retention rate to see how many people come back for your content.

👀 Watch This

10 Sugar Hacks to Eat Whatever You Want

Glucose spikes can make you feel tired, age faster and gain more weight.

Your body does not care whether it’s sugar from fruit or Coca-Cola.

They key to a healthier life is to eat food the right way:

Order Matters: Veggies first, protein second and carbs at the end.
Stop Counting Calories: A yogurt and a donut can have 150 calories each
Move After Eating: A walk or an exercise after a meal will lower the glucose levels.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Vivek Karna, Zac Qi, Tony Tong and Aashish unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

🌱 Yoann Pavy launched a growth marketing podcast

⚔️ Frank Jones built Art Of War Business Advisor

👨‍💻 Elie Steinbock launched the Learn from Open Source GitHub repo

🔮 Bernardt J. Vogel wrote about the future of VC

💼 Uwe Dreissigacker landed a fractional CMO role

🧠 Giovanni Vanini unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak

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.

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Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

Software Development Services: Attracting New Clients, AI Apps, No-Code Tools

“The value of software is not in the lines of code but in the value it creates.” – Unknown

Get Full Access to Trends Pro

❓ What You’ll Learn

How to get new clients?
How to build MVPs fast?
How will dev shops invest in their clients?
Why should you offer recruiting services?
How to help clients automate business tasks?
How to save the client’s money?
How to signal expertise?
How to get predictable revenue?
How to avoid underpricing your work?
How to set clear expectations for clients?
How to lower scope creep?
How to scale your revenue without spending more time?
How to lower market risk?
How to manage multiple projects?

💎 Why It Matters

You can build a software business without technical skills.

🔍 Problem

You’re not a programmer.

You don’t know how to build quality, scalable software.

💡 Solution

Software development services let you focus on your core competency.

Such as brand, sales, distribution, domain expertise and more.

🏁 Players

Software Development Service Providers

Matt Spear • Offers iOS development services
Matt Carden • Builds AI apps with ChatGPT API
ProductCrafters • Builds ideas from scratch
nocode rebels • Builds custom no-code software MVPs
Relevant Software • Builds custom web, mobile and desktop apps
Zeroqode • Builds no-code apps and plugins in Bubble
JetRockets • Builds custom mobile and desktop software

Developer Marketplaces

Skilled • Find top freelance developers from Israel
Codeable • Find expert WordPress developers
Lemon.io • Connects clients with qualified devs on a per-hour basis
Remote Crew • Hire a team of pre-vetted developers
Shepherd • Hire full-time employees from the Philippines and Latin America
CloudDevs • Hire vetted Latin American remote developers
Turing • Find deeply vetted developers and teams matched by AI

🔮 Predictions

Software agencies will use side-project marketing to get new clients.
- Apptension built a SaaS boilerplate.
- Premium Minds built an invoicing engine.
- FullStack Labs built a talent platform with vetted IT professionals.
- The Jed Mahonis Group made a podcast on software development.

Dev shops will build MVPs with no-code and low-code tools to help clients get to market faster.
- nocode rebels builds custom no-code software MVPs.
- code.store builds custom no-code and low-code MVPs.
- havenocode builds no-code mobile and desktop MVPs in 7 weeks.

Agencies will invest in clients with ‘Sweat Equity’ by offering dev hours in exchange for ownership.
- Gravitywell invests sweat equity in clients it admires.
- Global Triangles invested in Aguagente via sweat equity.

🛠 How to build Software Development Services

Build AI apps to help clients automate repetitive and complex business tasks.
- Alpharive builds AI chatbots, analytics apps and more.
- Appinventiv builds AI assistants, recommendation engines and more.
- Helios Solutions builds AI data apps, image recognition tools and more.

Offer no-code development to help clients get to market faster while saving time and money.
- Zeroqode builds web and mobile apps.
- Airdev builds scalable web-based apps.
- 8020 builds websites using no-code tools.
- NoCodeTeam builds web and mobile MVPs.
- Idea Link builds custom software in 4-12 weeks.
- Low/Code builds custom software with no-code and low-code tools.

Offer low-code development to go beyond no-code limitations while keeping faster development cycles.
- Damco builds low-code enterprise apps.
- Netguru does low-code web and mobile app development.
- SunDevs builds low-code apps using Microsoft Power Platform.

🌱 How to grow Software Development Services

Turn projects into case studies to help prospects see your approach to solving their problems.
- Wolfpack Digital shares apps they developed.
- Cuttlesoft shares web and mobile app case studies.

Offer free code audits as lead magnets to attract quality prospects.
- TechGenies offers free code audits.
- Accesto offers free code reviews for PHP apps.
- Alliance Software offers free code reviews across 39 points.

Give talks at conferences to attract new clients. This signals expertise.
- SoftServe talked about building AI apps at GTC NVIDIA.
- BairesDev talked about PHP development at Darkmira PHP Event.
- Kandasoft hosted a session on biotech at the Bio-IT World Conference.

💰 How to monetize Software Development Services

Sell prepaid packages to get a predictable revenue and workload.
- UnlimitedWP sells 40 and 80-hour packages.
- August 99 sells from 20 to 200-hour packages.

Charge per hour to lower the chances of underpricing your work.
- DEVY.io has a pay-as-you-go plan for $35 per hour.
- Gun.io charges $70-$200 per hour for mid, senior and lead developers.

Charge per project to set clear expectations for clients with tight budgets.
- Devlevate charges a custom price per project.
- JetRockets charges $25,000-$1,176,000 per project.
- buildwithflow.io charges $4,000 per landing page and $8,000 for a full website.

🔑 Key Lessons

The recurring revenue of software development services is not scalable. You’re selling hours.
Longer-term projects give you predictability. When a short-term project ends, you may start paying salaries from your pocket while looking for new clients.
Set realistic, measurable goals to lower scope creep. Break down projects into smaller milestones you can measure and add a 50% buffer on top. Do you think it will take 100 hours? Tell your client it will take 150 hours.

😠 Haters

“No-code tools make software development services less relevant.”
Less relevant does not mean irrelevant. No-code development is easier but less powerful. Custom development is more complex but more powerful. One does not exclude the other. They serve different purposes.

“Some clients have unrealistic expectations.”
Explain the project scopes, timelines and limitations early. Educating your clients on the nuance of building their projects can help you deliver products your clients need instead of want.

“Building on top of ecosystems leads to platform risk.”
This also lowers market risk. Bubble, Webflow and Salesforce are not going anywhere soon. What are you afraid of?

“Outsourcing software is dangerous. It’s our key differentiator.”
Many businesses compete on pricing, customer service, distribution or another front. Not software. If software is your trade secret, you should build it yourself. If you’re building common software such as a CRM, it’s more feasible to outsource it.

“If agencies are building and marketing, what is the core competency of the client?”
There’s more to core competencies than building and marketing products. Logistics, sales, customer service and buying power can be part of the client’s core competency.

🔗 Links

Everyone wants to build a SaaS. But not everyone can code • The thread for this report.
Project Management Methodologies • 12 popular frameworks for managing development projects.
MVP vs PoC vs Prototype • Difference between 3 early product stages.
Building a Report on Software Development Services • The tweet behind this report.

📁 Related Reports

Productized Services • Offer service packages instead of hours
Consulting • Guide clients through complex problems
Fractional Executives • Monetize your expertise on an as-needed basis
Micro-Consulting • This is a cost-effective way to get help
Agencies • Help companies solve problems without hiring and managing large teams

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Inaamul Haq Mansoor, Oleg Kalyta, Maciej Cupial, Uwe Dreissigacker, Stewart Townsend, Nirav Multani and Elie Steinbock. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Emin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.

📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0129 — Software Development Services has more insights.

What you’ll get:

16 Software Development Service Providers (129% More)
17 Developer Marketplaces (143% More)
11 Predictions (267% More)
12 Ways to build Software Development Services (300% More)
10 Ways to grow Software Development Services (233% More)
7 Ways to monetize Software Development Services (133% More)
6 Key Lessons (100% More)
13 Links (225% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

(📈 Pro) How to boost productivity with AI coding platforms?
(📈 Pro) How to build products around ChatGPT?
(📈 Pro) Why will dev shops build and promote apps for clients?
(📈 Pro) Why offer DevOps-as-a-Service?
(📈 Pro) Why use AI website builders?
(📈 Pro) How to get high-ticket sales with less mental overhead?
(📈 Pro) How to help clients validate ideas fast?
(📈 Pro) How to lower competitor risk?
(📈 Pro) How to monetize your expertise without building software?
(📈 Pro) How to attract organic leads?
(📈 Pro) Why join expert directories?
(📈 Pro) How to build a client flywheel?
(📈 Pro) How to boost your potential upside?
(📈 Pro) How to get a predictable cash flow?
(📈 Pro) How to stop trading time for money?
(📈 Pro) What are the negative scale effects of agencies?
(📈 Pro) How to start and scale a software agency?
(📈 Pro) How to use SEO to get $100,000 deals?
(📈 Pro) How to protect your interests with legal documents?
And much more…

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📈 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 Playground 🤝 Co-Founder Insights ✅ Cult Of Done

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🤖 An AI chat tool
✅ How to finish anything
📈 A startup growth framework
💸 A book on getting better at sales
🤩 The secrets of irresistible products
💪 How to focus on what you can control
🤝 How to know if you need a co-founder
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🎮 AI Playground shared by Elie Steinbock
A tool to chat with multiple AI models at the same time

✅ Cult of Done shared by Chuck Hardy
A list of principles to help you finish any project

📈 Four Fits Growth Framework shared by Royce Johnson
A framework for startup growth beyond product-market fit

📘 Read This

How to Make Irresistible Products

There are 4 questions that define a valuable product:

Dream Outcome: How will this improve my life?
Likelihood: How likely is this to happen?
Time Delay: How long will this take?
Effort: How much work will this take?

Most products focus on the top 2 questions but the bottom is where the magic is.

If you can lower your customer’s time delay and effort to zero, you’re golden.

🌟 Founder of the Week

Jordon McKoy

”I’m a long-time member and have grown to appreciate not only Trends Pro Reports and the insights they hold, but the community that lives around them. It’s been inspiring to see everyone’s growth, willingness to share and collaborate.”

Jordon is building Benji. A chatbot that helps creators find tax write-offs by automatically sorting through personal and business expenses.

What’s your most important habit?
Regular exercise. It’s great for my mental health and focus. When I feel stronger physically, I feel stronger mentally and more confident in my work. It is also a break from the world and a moment to be with myself, maybe catch up on a podcast. I find it meditative.

What are you reading right now?
Demand-Side Sales 101 by Bob Moesta

I have a story I tell myself that I don’t like sales or can’t be good at it. I’d like to rewire the way I think about sales to improve.

The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

Doing some research for an upcoming podcast episode on Find The In.

What product or service do you wish existed?
A service that would make applying for a Visa as easy as filling out a quick form. It would be cool if we could apply to many places at once. I’m considering moving to Europe next year and I’m currently feeling a bit overwhelmed thinking about the whole process.

What product are you obsessively using right now?
Spotify and the basic iOS Notes app. I’m most creative when I’ve got some music playing in the background and when inspiration hits I’m quickly capturing ideas in my Notes app. I’m also a podcast fan and Spotify has me covered there as well. The seamless experiences they enable make them a must for me.

What are you bullish on?
I like the trend of fractional executives and micro-consultants. I think there is real power in people being able to operate within their “zone of genius”. I believe organizations willing to engage with such individuals will benefit from the agility that project-scoped specialists provide.

What are you bearish on?
Prompt engineering. As the underlying models improve and interfaces become more robust, I doubt that prompt engineers will be needed outside of niche applications.

What’s your favorite Trends Report?
Call me biased but I’ll have to go with the 🔬 Micro-SaaS report because Benji is mentioned!

What else?
I’m in the very early days of building a podcast, Find The In. We’ll be exploring entrepreneurship, technology and business while looking for insights from founder stories.

Exclusive Deal: Jordon is offering Trends.vc readers 70% off of the first Benji paid plan. Sign up for Benji using this link to claim.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

(📈 Pro) Favorite to do list app
(📈 Pro) Hiring a marketing agency
(📈 Pro) Building 30 AI tools in 30 days

🔧 Try This

How to Focus on What You Can Control

You can’t control everything.

You’ll waste your energy trying to change the outcome that won’t change no matter how hard you try.

Build resilience by focusing on what you can control and learn how to accept the rest.

❔ Ask Yourself

Do You Really Need a Co-founder?

You may have heard that having a co-founder can boost your chances of success.

The main reason for having a co-founder is to share key responsibilities.

Sometimes you need another pair of eyes and different opinions to make the right decision.

But there are business advisors that can do the same and 65% of startups fail due to a feud between co-founders.

Do you really need one?

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Atul unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

🏡 Brianna Brazle launched The Village

🥾 Mac Martine reached 1,000 subscribers for the SaaS bootstrapper

⭐ Prabhjot Singh Lamba got a great video review for Craftar

🎮 Yoann Pavy opened the waitlist for his indie game Z-END

🎙️ Mehmet Gonullu reached the global top 10% in Listen Notes with The CTO Show

👨‍💻 Elie Steinbock made a video on the code behind OpenStatus

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Short-Form Videos: Generative AI, Creator Funds, Content-Format Fit

“The play button is the most compelling call to action on the web.” – Michael Litt

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❓ What You’ll Learn

How will short-form video platforms improve the shopping experience?
How to monetize with exclusive videos?
How are short-form video platforms attracting creators?
How to make short-form videos fast?
Why should podcasts use short-form videos?
Why should you start a faceless YouTube channel?
How to monetize your traffic?
How to find the content-format fit?
How to boost retention?
How to tell great stories in shorter formats?

💎 Why It Matters

Short-form videos are easier to consume and share.

🔍 Problem

We have short attention spans.

💡 Solution

Short-form videos let you explore many independent interests in the time it takes to watch one long video.

🏁 Players

Short-Form Video Examples

How to Win on Social Media • Gary Vaynerchuk shares how to make engaging content
Lessons on Money • Ryan Holiday shares 3 lessons on money from the Stoics
The Power of Packaging • Alex Hormozi shares how people perceive information
Gardening Hacks • Sabrina & Andrew Pougnet share how to grow a sunflower fence
Making a Corset Maxi Dress • MissJophiel shares how to make a corset dress
Cheese Sandwich • Bayashi TV shares how to cook a cheese sandwich
Number Your List • Miss Excel shares how to automatically number Excel lists
Little Girl Room Decor • Sophia Lee shares how to design a room for a little girl

🔮 Predictions

Short-form video platforms will embed storefronts into videos to improve the shopping experience.
- YouTube Shopping lets creators tag products in their Shorts.
- TikTok Shopping lets creators add product tags and checkouts to TikTok videos.
- Instagram Shopping lets creators add product tags, waitlists and checkouts to Reels.
- Snapchat’s Public Profile Stores let creators add product tags and checkouts to Spotlights.

Fans will buy paid subscriptions to access exclusive videos.
- TikTok’s LIVE lets viewers watch exclusive videos.
- Instagram Subscriptions let viewers get access to exclusive Reels.
- YouTube’s Channel Memberships let viewers get members-only videos.

New short-form video platforms will launch creator funds to lure creators into using them. This will help them solve the chicken-and-egg problem.
- Snapchat paid creators $1,000,000 per day for making Spotlight videos.
- YouTube had a $100,000,000 Shorts fund paying creators $100-$10,000 per day.
- Instagram had a Reels Play program that paid creators up to $35,000 for Reel performance.
- TikTok had a $200,000,000 creator fund which turned into a Creativity Program Beta with cash rewards.

☁️ Opportunities

Use generative AI to make lots of short-form videos fast.
- Kristian Fagerlie shares how to automate short-form video creation.
- Max Jones shares how to make 100 TikTok videos in 1 hour with AI.
- Think Media shares how to make 30 YouTube Shorts in 1 hour using AI.
- Ryan shares how to make 100 short-form videos with AI and bulk uploading.
- Brandon Washington shares how to make 30 Reels in 24 hours with ChatGPT.

Turn your podcast into short-form videos to pique interest.
- Rich Roll posts clips from Rich Roll Podcast.
- Tim Ferriss posts clips from The Tim Ferriss Show.
- Ali Abdaal posts clips from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal.

Start a faceless YouTube channel. You can build an audience without worrying about how you look, speak and act on camera.
- Kimigami shares origami tutorials.
- Simple Man’s Life shares food recipes.
- Chinese Driver shares street photography videos.

Monetize traffic with affiliate marketing. Help your fans find the best products.
- Rahul Rai has an affiliate link to TurboTax.
- Rachel Meaders has affiliate links to products on Amazon.
- Devan Anderson has shop collections of rings, watches and more.
- Gabby Morrison has a promo code ‘gabbymorr10’ for Roadway Moving.
- Bonnie Rodríguez Krzywicki has affiliate links to beauty products and clothes.

🏔️ Risks

Content-Format Fit • Short-form videos have limited context. This makes it hard to convey complex concepts. Can you teach backend development in 1 minute?
Platform Risk • You’re subject to YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat policies.
Creative Burnout • Short-form videos can quickly become outdated. You may need to produce timely content fast. This can lead to creative burnout.

🔑 Key Lessons

Short-form videos can drive growth for your long-form videos. Using a combination of both formats can boost your reach. Joshua Weissman shares quick cooking tips and food recipes.
Short-form videos are mobile–centric. If you take them from your long-form videos, ensure that the content is optimized for mobile screens.
Short-form videos are great for sharing quick, focused solutions. Learn how to use chopsticks fast.

🔥 Hot Takes

Short-form videos are best for casual content. Longer-form videos are best for serious subjects.
Using clickbait captions will boost retention. “Wait until the end” or “That’s what happens if…” are popular ways to lower the chances of skipping your video.
Captivating short-form videos are hard to make. You need to adapt to new trends and formats to keep your content engaging. People get used to the same narrative fast.

😠 Haters

“It’s harder to tell compelling stories in shorter formats.”
Focus on a single idea, use catchy visuals and add smooth transitions. If this doesn’t work, it can be wise to use long-form videos to tell your stories.

“Saturation makes it harder to stand out.”
Use your personality to stand out. Your character and experiences are unique.

“Attention span is a myth. People may spend more time watching short-form videos than long-form videos.”
You’re talking about watching videos as a process. We’re talking about watching individual videos.

“Short-form videos lack depth. They focus on entertainment instead of meaningful content.”
What is meaningful content? Here’s how to safely walk dogs. Here’s how to help a choking baby. Here’s how to strengthen your wrists.

🔗 Links

How Charli D’Amelio Got Hundreds of Thousands of Followers Per Day • The thread for this report.
Keyword Insights on TikTok • Trending script keywords from voice-overs, captions and ads.
The Best TikTok SEO Strategy • How to optimize TikTok videos for search.
Building a Report on How Create and Monetize Short-Form Videos • The Tweet behind this report.

📁 Related Reports

Micro-Education Businesses • Learn new skills fast
Faceless YouTube Channels • Become a YouTuber without worrying about your looks
Virtual Influencers • Choose how they look, what they do and where they are
Influencer Marketing • Find customers by breaking through the noise
Voice Cloning • Create audio at scale

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Maciej Cupial, Stewart Townsend, Errol Tiozon, Uwe Dreissigacker and Hamed Mohammadpour. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Emin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.

📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0128 — Short-Form Videos has more insights.

What you’ll get:

21 Short-Form Video Examples (163% More)
9 Predictions (200% More)
16 Opportunities (300% More)
5 Risks (67% More)
10 Key Lessons (233% More)
12 Hot Takes (300% More)
9 Links (200% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

(📈 Pro) How to get brand deals?
(📈 Pro) How can teachers use short-form videos?
(📈 Pro) How to use prompt engineering to make short-form videos?
(📈 Pro) How to turn long videos into short clips at scale?
(📈 Pro) How to get user-generated content?
(📈 Pro) How to boost brand awareness?
(📈 Pro) What are hashtag communities?
(📈 Pro) How to lower platform risk?
(📈 Pro) How to build trust?
(📈 Pro) Why should you use cliffhangers?
(📈 Pro) How to go viral fast?
(📈 Pro) Why does SEO matter?
(📈 Pro) How to optimize visuals for tutorials?
(📈 Pro) Why does watch time matter?
(📈 Pro) Who offers productized short-form video services?
(📈 Pro) What is content-platform fit?
(📈 Pro) How to turn short-form videos into online courses?
(📈 Pro) What are 9 short-form video ideas?
And much more…

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Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

🗨️ Better Prompts ⚖️ Mastering Negotiation 🗺️ Slowmading with Kids

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🎡 5 creator flywheels
🗺️ Slowmading with family
🤖 An AI prompt writing tool
💳 What is expectations debt
💭 A list of ideas for founders
🧘 3 quick ways to lower stress
🧪 A copy guide for SaaS products
⚖️ A book about mastering negotiation
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Be undeniably good. No marketing effort can substitute for that.

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🤖 Prompt Refine shared by Jordon McKoy
A tool to compare, organize and refine your ChatGPT prompts

🧪 SaaS Copy Guide shared by Tim Jones
A short guide on improving SaaS landing page copy

💭 37signals shared by Christa Clarke
A high-signal collection of ideas for founders

🔧 Try This

5 Creator Flywheels from Top Creators

Creator flywheels are growth loops that will help you build and grow your audience.

Here are 5 creator flywheels used by top creators to get more followers, customers and sales.

🌟 Founder of the Week

Hamed Mohammadpour

“Entrepreneurship is hard and having motivated, ambitious people around is very helpful. The Trends Pro Community and reports are top-notch. I’m learning a lot from each of them.”

Hamed is building Dolores. This is an AI tool that makes stunning videos and podcasts at scale with a single prompt.

What’s your most important habit?
Meditating twice a day for 10-30 minutes.

What are you reading right now?
$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

The first one is about making irresistible offers and the second one is about communication. Both are crucial for any successful entrepreneur.

What product or service do you wish existed?
I love drinking tea but the tea brewing experience is subpar compared to coffee. The “Nespresso for Tea” (as a company, not tea capsules) is a missing opportunity for the part of the world that consumes tea but still brews it in the traditional way. I have started sketching the product and collecting feedback to see if anyone wants to bring this idea to life.

What product are you obsessively using right now?
ChatGPT. I use it to learn new things and do my work faster.

What are you bullish on?
Fusion energy. It has an incredible potential with less radioactive waste. It could provide a nearly limitless and clean energy source for generations to come.

A company I’m following in this space is Helion Energy. It raised funds from Sam Altman and Microsoft, aiming to go into production in 2027.

What are you bearish on?
Traditional education. It can’t keep up with the tech innovation and relies on outdated teaching methods. A more flexible and innovative education system with lifelong learning and an interdisciplinary approach is key for preparing people for the challenges and opportunities that the future holds. It’s about nurturing creativity, curiosity and skills that go beyond the classroom.

What’s your favorite Trends Report?
Working on a media generation tool, I can’t help but love the two relevant Trends reports: 📺 Faceless YouTube Channels and 🎙 Podcasts.

Exclusive Deal: Hamed is offering Trends.vc readers pre-launch access to Dolores and 40% off the Pro plan for 6 months. Use the code “TRENDS” in the referral field to claim.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

(📈 Pro) Favorite to do list app
(📈 Pro) Building 30 AI tools in 30 days
(📈 Pro) Distribution ideas for indie games

📘 Read This

Expectations Debt

Expectations are like a debt that must be repaid before you get any joy out of what you’re doing.

Your portfolio surged during a bubble, your company hit a huge valuation or you got a salary that exceeds your skills. It feels great…

But reality will catch up.

Expectations debt is repaid in the form of self-doubt and crushed morale. When you understand that, you become careful about what you wish for.

Companies should want the valuation they deserve and not a penny more.
Workers should want a salary that matches their skill and nothing more.
Families should want a lifestyle they can sustain and nothing higher.

🎧 Listen To

3 Quick Ways to Lower Stress at Work

Taking a quick break to lower your stress level can boost your productivity.

Drink water: It has natural calming properties
Go for walk: This leads to better mood and relaxation
Look out the window: Natural light will lower eye strain and anxiety

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Jordon McKoy unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

📈 Katt Risen launched the Build the Trends newsletter

🗺️ Mac Martine wrote a viral tweet about slowmading with his family

✍️ Marc Fletcher launched Owndraft

🤖 Eddie Forson launched an AI feature for EnVsion

🛠️ Frank Jones hosted a workshop on Rapid Prototyping AI Tools

🧠 Frank Jones and Renae Gregoire unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 30-day standup streaks

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