Category: Uncategorized

Online Events: Validating Demand, Lead Magnets, Hybrid Events

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler

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❓ What You’ll Learn

  • How to offer hands-on experience in online events?
  • What are examples of successful metaverse concerts?
  • How to validate demand?
  • How to get early revenue?
  • How to find qualified prospects with online events?
  • What are hybrid events?
  • Who’s building online events for AR/VR headsets?
  • How will open startups use online events?
  • How to break the ice in your online event?


💎 Why It Matters

Online events are borderless.

They are a cost-effective and scalable way to spread your message.


🔍 Problem

We want to connect, learn and be entertained without leaving home.


💡 Solution

Online events have lower friction.

Anyone with web access can join.


🏁 Players

Online Events

Online Event Tools

  • Zoom • Connect with video, audio, phone and chat
  • HeySummit • Build, grow and monetize online and hybrid events
  • Livestorm • Simple meeting and webinar platform
  • Gather • Build 2D online conference spaces
  • Podia • Sell workshops, classes and webinars
  • StreamYard • Live streaming and recording studio in your browser
  • BigMarker • Platform for webinars, virtual and hybrid events


🔮 Predictions


☁️ Opportunities

  • Presell your online event to validate demand and get early revenue.
    • IRE21 is a virtual event for journalists that offers a 25% discount for early tickets. 
    • SHARP is an event for authors, readers and publishers that offers a 33% discount for early booking.
    • ATOMICON is a hybrid sales and marketing event for small businesses. It offers early tickets with a 55% discount.


🏔️ Risks

  • Connectivity Issues • Internet disruptions, slow speeds and lag spikes can lead to missed content, poor peer interaction and frustration.
  • Coordination Risk • Failure to manage groups can lead to poor attendee experience.
  • Reputation Risk • Misbehavior such as Zoom Bombing can lead to negative experiences and a lack of interest in future events.


🔑 Key Lessons

  • Online events have higher margins. Lower costs and wider reach make it easier to make a profit.
  • Hybrid events are a “two-sided medal”. Balancing in-person and online aspects of the same event requires 2x much effort.
  • Have a backup plan. You should be able to switch platforms when having technical issues.


🔥 Hot Takes

  • Online events with hundreds of attendees make it hard for each member to share value. This makes it more appealing to watch the recording on-demand than attending a live event.
  • We’ll see online events built for specific AR/VR headsets. Connect is a virtual event on virtual, mixed and augmented realities. You need a Quest device to attend the event.
  • Open startups will host public board meetings with past achievements and future plans. Gumroad shares its board meetings on YouTube.


😠 Haters

“It is hard to engage remote audiences. They can get distracted by their friends, family and pets.”
Host the event over a few days. Break down content into shorter portions. Add interactive activities such as polls and Q&As. Change the pace of the event with videos and quick discussions. This can help attendees stay focused and to not get bored.

“In-person events have higher-fidelity interactions than online events.”
True. In-person events also have more friction since everyone needs to attend in person. Online events are more inclusive while in-person events have higher fidelity.

“Hybrid events have the best of both worlds.”
Hybrid events are complex. You need to solve logistics, catering and security problems for in-person attendees. As well as connectivity, engagement and moderation issues for online attendees.

“Online events are exhausting. Zoom fatigue is real.”
Short breaks, chit-chatting and letting attendees turn off video can help to lower online fatigue.

“What if I want to go to two sessions that happen at the same time because of tracks?”
This is a tradeoff for having a focused experience. Most online events share recordings that you can watch later.


🔗 Links

  1. Building a Report on How to Grow and Monetize Online Events • The Tweet behind this report.
  2. 35 Ice Breaker Games for Virtual and Hybrid Events • Ways to lighten the mood at the start of an event.
  3. Hybrid Events Are Essential • Learn the 10 benefits of hybrid events.


📁 Related Reports

  • ​​​​​Audience-First Products • Validate products, build distribution and stay accountable
  • Gamification • Boost engagement with missions and rewards
  • Presales • Validate demand before investing time and money into building new products
  • Influencer Marketing • Borrow audiences’ attention to build awareness and find customers
  • Freemium • Lower your customer acquisition costs with a free version of your product


🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Frank Jones, Mark Todd and 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 #0127 — Online Events has more insights.

What you’ll get:

  • 20 Online Event Examples (186% More)
  • 14 Online Event Tools (100% More)
  • 12 Predictions (300% More)
  • 15 Opportunities (400% More)
  • 7 Risks (133% More)
  • 12 Key Lessons (300% More)
  • 7 Hot Takes (133% More)
  • 9 Links (200% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

  • (📈 Pro) How can artists make live concerts more accessible?
  • (📈 Pro) What are token-gated online events?
  • (📈 Pro) How to help team members feel closer when they are miles apart?
  • (📈 Pro) What are VR business meetings?
  • (📈 Pro) What are virtual workspaces?
  • (📈 Pro) How can companies help employees fight loneliness?
  • (📈 Pro) How to handle traffic spikes during online events?
  • (📈 Pro) How to build an immersive online event?
  • (📈 Pro) How to lower competition?
  • (📈 Pro) How to use online events to onboard SaaS users?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost engagement?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost brand loyalty?
  • (📈 Pro) What are breakout rooms?
  • (📈 Pro) What are online event tracks?
  • (📈 Pro) How to maximize reach?
  • (📈 Pro) How to help attendees build personal connections?
  • (📈 Pro) Why should you vet attendees?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost the attendance rate?
  • (📈 Pro) Why should you offer virtual gifts?
  • (📈 Pro) What is NFT ticketing?
  • (📈 Pro) Who has built an online event for 5,000 people with no-code?
  • And much more…

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    Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

    🚀 Journey to $50k MRR 📣 Marketing Channels That Work 🔺 How Much To Ask


    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

    🕒 How to be patient
    🤔 8 logical fallacies
    🔺 The pyramid of trust
    🏆 An award-winning to-do app
    🤝 An essay on service marketplaces
    📣 11 marketing channels for founders
    🚀 Reaching $50,000 MRR in 5 months
    🧠 A book about neuroscience and productivity
    ➡️ And more…



    🪶 Remember This

    If the pain is strong enough, someone will pay you for it.



    🤓 Fav Finds

    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


    📣 Marketing Channels That Work shared by Royce Johnson
    A list of 11 marketing channels that consistently work for founders


    🔺 Pyramid of Trust shared by Prabhjot Singh Lamba
    A video about not asking for too much too soon


    🤝 Service Marketplaces shared by Ryan Booher
    An essay on the potential and challenges of service marketplaces



    📘 Read This

    8 Logical Fallacies

    Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that make us think that we know something that we don’t.

    • Red herrings: Arguments that seem relevant to an issue but actually are not.
    • Slippery slope: Chaining negative consequences thinking that one leads to the other.
    • Correlation is not causation: If 2 things often occur together, this does not mean one causes the other.



    🌟 Founder of the Week

    Edward Danilyuk

    “I have been a Trends Pro Member for a few years now. I love it for two reasons.
    1. The reports. Dru and the team do a great job of diving into different topics. These would take me weeks if not months to do the research on.
    2. The people. We have daily standups, I have had a lot of 1-1 calls with Trends Pro members and have even worked with some of them.”


    Edward is building Black Mammoth, providing fast and reliable web development services for a flat monthly fee.


    What’s your most important habit?
    Doing what I say I will do.

    Many years ago I asked Paul Jarvis for advice on how to be a good contractor. He told me two things:

    “Do the work”,

    “Do what you say you’re going to do”.

    I have made a good living so far by following this simple advice.


    What are you reading right now?
    Your Brain at Work by Dr. David Rock

    I want to improve my performance while understanding more about the science of how our brains work. I’m a big fan of testing new routines, keeping what works and tossing the rest.

    This book dives into your brain limitations and gives you good ideas on how to better organize your work day.


    What product are you obsessively using right now?
    Things. It’s a simple to-do app that organizes my life.


    What are you bullish on?
    Decentralization of things such as energy and food supply.

    Almost everything we get comes from a big corporation and we can’t see what’s going on behind the scenes.


    What are you bearish on?
    AI.

    I think it’s going to either become regulated to death or tightly controlled by a few big corporations who will stifle innovation with the goal of increasing their own profits.

    Pretty much every major innovation has run into this.


    What’s your favorite Trends Report?
    🧳 Digital Nomads

    We (my wife and our four kids) have committed to a 2+ year journey around the world 😅 Reading this report gave us a lot of insight, tools to checkout and people to follow.

    The idea of optimizing where and specifically WHEN we live somewhere really stuck with me.


    What else?
    As cheesy as this sounds, you can literally make anything possible.

    I went from digging holes in rocks in the heat and freezing snow, to full-time consulting as a software engineer while traveling the world. It all started with a thought. Don’t underestimate the power of thoughts you have.



    💬 Join the Conversation

    Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



    🔧 Try This

    Journey to $50,000 MRR

    Nick went from making $350,000 at Meta to making $0 as an indie hacker.

    He built a portfolio of 9 products which grew to $50,000 MRR in 5 months.

    The more you try, the higher are your chances of success.



    ❔ Ask Yourself

    How to Be Patient in an Impatient World?

    Many people mistake patience for the ability to wait for something.

    Patience isn’t simply waiting. It’s your attitude towards waiting.

    You ordered a pizza and you can wait for it:

    • Patiently: Reading a book while waiting for it
    • Impatiently: Pacing around the house and calling the restaurant (again!)

    Waiting patiently benefits everybody but we’re getting worse at being patient.Learn how to be more patient to win in an impatient world.



    🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

    👥 Chris Bulen and Eren Suzer unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


    💰 Milly Tamati crossed $50,000 ARR with Generalist World


    🫐 Mehmet Gonullu featured InvoiceBerry by Uwe Dreissigacker in The CTO Show newsletter


    👔 Jesper Delporte hit a $1,200 order with Cheegs thanks to landing page redesign tips from Errol Tiozon


    🌐 Karthik Vijayakumar has started getting organic traffic to Kartvee.com


    🧭 Bernardt J. Vogel reached 6,000 subscribers with Curious Compass


    🧠 Elie Steinbock unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak


    Get Weekly Reports

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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.

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      Brought to you by the team behind HeadsUp

      Shopify Plugins: Referral Programs, Productized Services, Organic Growth

      “Because of Shopify, the problem we have to solve is what to build, not how to build.” – Mukul Chaware

      Get Full Access to Trends Pro


      ❓ What You’ll Learn

      • How to personalize customer support?
      • What is virtual shopping?
      • How to boost your chances of success?
      • How to boost your sales?
      • How to build trust?
      • How to optimize app store listing?
      • How to get featured by Shopify?
      • How to grow faster with less risk?
      • How to keep up with Shopify API updates?
      • How to stair-step your way to success?


      💎 Why It Matters

      Shopify has 1,750,000 merchants and only 8,000 apps.


      🔍 Problem

      Each merchant has unique needs that Shopify can’t fulfill on its own.


      💡 Solution

      Shopify apps fill unaddressed needs by allowing merchants to customize their stores.


      🏁 Players

      Shopify Apps

      • BlogHandy • Build a SEO-optimized blog for your store
      • Stackend • Add social features such as live shopping, user profiles and more
      • Klaviyo • Smart email marketing and SMS automation
      • Bevi Design • Animated pop-ups
      • Rewind Backups • Backup your store’s items, themes and more
      • Tidio • Live chat and chatbots for customer support
      • DSers • Place orders, find suppliers and import products from AliExpress


      🔮 Predictions

      • Shopify stores will use ChatGPT for personalized customer support. This will boost engagement, conversion and sales.


      ☁️ Opportunities


      🏔️ Risks

      • Platform Risk • Shopify apps are subject to Shopify’s outages and policies.
      • Competitor Risk • You’ll have to convince customers that your app is better than competitors.
      • Compatibility • Shopify apps can conflict with each other. This can break store operations such as order processing, inventory management and more.


      🔑 Key Lessons


      🔥 Hot Takes

      • Those who copy successful paid apps and offer freemium alternatives will grow faster with less risk.
      • Excessive customization leads to confusion and poor customer experience. Merchants want to be able to quickly set up the app and do the job.
      • Free Shopify apps devalue the marketplace and make it harder for paid apps to survive. Why would merchants pay for your discount spin wheel if they can get it for free?


      😠 Haters

      “Shopify updates its API every 3 months. I don’t want to deal with constant maintenance.”
      Shopify gives you 9 months to adapt your Shopify app. If you fail to do so, Shopify will switch your app to the oldest supported API version to lower the chances of breaking your app.

      “Shopify can take me out of business by building similar products. Sidekick can kill all AI-powered apps.”
      That’s part of the platform risk. While ecosystems help you grow, nothing stops them from adding their own tools.

      “Competitors can see the reviews to spot the pros and cons of my Shopify app. This makes it easier to compete with me.”
      You can’t stop copycats but you can build an unlisted app. Though this will lower your reach and social proof. Stop worrying about competitors and focus on building an app that is so great your customers will feel dumb switching to anything else.


      🔗 Links

      1. Building a Report on How to Launch and Grow Shopify Plugins • The tweet behind this report.
      2. How to Build a Shopify App • In-depth guide on building Shopify apps.
      3. Stair-Stepping with Plugins • Benefits and risks of building on existing ecosystems.


      📁 Related Reports


      🙏 Thanks

      Thanks to Vikash Kumar Prajapati, Dan Schoonmaker, Uwe Dreissigacker, Eamonn Carey, Sam Schrup and Tim Jones. 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 #0126 — Shopify Plugins has more insights.

      What you’ll get:

      • 23 Shopify Apps (229% More)
      • 11 Predictions (267% More)
      • 9 Opportunities (200% More)
      • 5 Risks (67% More)
      • 7 Key Lessons (133% More)
      • 7 Hot Takes (133% More)
      • 11 Links (267% More)

      With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

      • (📈 Pro) How to sell products on live streams?
      • (📈 Pro) How will social networks adapt to online shopping?
      • (📈 Pro) Where to learn how to build, grow and monetize Shopify apps?
      • (📈 Pro) How to turn web stores into mobile stores?
      • (📈 Pro) How to automate store operations?
      • (📈 Pro) How to lower competitor risk?
      • (📈 Pro) How to lower your customer acquisition costs?
      • (📈 Pro) How to turn your Shopify app into a full SaaS product?
      • (📈 Pro) How much time does it take to build a SaaS-like Shopify app?
      • (📈 Pro) Who has made $900,000 with Shopify apps?
      • (📈 Pro) What are store operation niches you can build a Shopify app for?
      • (📈 Pro) How to market Shopify apps?
      • (📈 Pro) Who grew a Shopify app to $10,000 MRR?
      • (📈 Pro) How to pass the review of your Shopify app?
      • (📈 Pro) What are key lessons shared by Shopify developers?
      • 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

        🦾 Awesome AI Agents ⌛ Taking Control of Time 🎨 1,448 Design Principles


        This week’s Founder Finds includes:

        🦾 A list of AI agents
        📈 The power of tiny gains
        👕 A project estimation tool
        🎨 A list of design principles
        🤖 How to fine-tune GPT-3.5
        🕑 How to gain control of your time
        🧠 Why smart people have bad ideas
        🐄 How to stand out in a crowded market
        ➡️ And more…



        🪶 Remember This

        Learning how to break habits can serve you in life almost better than anything else.



        🤓 Fav Finds

        Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


        🦾 AI Agents Landscape shared by Mehmet Gonullu
        An overview of currently available AI agents


        👕 T-Shirt Sizing Project Estimation shared by David Fu
        A project estimation tool based on T-shirt sizes


        🧠 Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas shared by Royce Johnson
        An essay on the challenges of creating products that people will want to buy



        📘 Read This

        Continuous Improvement

        Continuous improvement occurs when you make small positive changes each day.

        If you get 1% better each day for 1 year, you’ll end up 37x better at the end of it.

        Here’s how you can start getting better right now:

        • Do More of What Already Works: Floss every day and never miss workouts.
        • Avoid Tiny Losses: Lower your credit card limits and eat fewer unhealthy foods.
        • Measure Backward: Make decisions based on what happened, not what will happen.



        🌟 Founder of the Week

        Frank Jones

        “I started using Trends Pro at the end of 2022. However, the new year started with two deaths in my family and that took my attention away from work. I recently returned to the Trends Pro Community. Today, I’m just over a week into a standup streak shooting for the 30-day mastermind goal.”


        Frank is building ENC Explorer. This is a travel guide for anyone that visits or relocates to eastern North Carolina.


        What’s your most important habit?
        Putting my health first. Exercise, community service and family time are anchors in my calendar.


        What are you reading right now?
        I’ve just finished Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows. I’m reading  Purple Cow by Seth Godin and Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson will be next. I’m looking for patterns related to remarkable businesses that I can launch fast.


        What product are you obsessively using right now?
        ChatGPT API. Everyone has access to these tools, just like we all have access to website builders. There is an opportunity right now to develop niche tools based on clever prompt engineering and simple user interfaces.


        What are you bullish on?
        Prototyping AI tools. Most people won’t become prompt engineers. If you find a clever way to transform user input into a valuable output, there is an opportunity to build niche tools.


        What’s your favorite Trends Report?
        I have a portfolio of niche websites, so I appreciate the broad list of report topics. They help me find content topics for new or existing websites.


        Exclusive Deal: Frank is offering Trends.vc readers a free membership to the SEO Social Club. They meet each month to discuss digital marketing and SEO. Create your account on https://seosocial.club/ to claim.



        💬 Join the Conversation

        Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



        🔧 Try This

        Design Principles

        An open-source collection of 1,448 design principles and methods that form the basis of good products.

        Including 195 real-life examples used by organizations, individuals and product teams.



        👀 Watch This

        How to Gain Control of Your Free Time

        Key to time management is setting priorities.

        If you don’t have time to do something, it means it’s not a priority.

        You say you’re busy but if the water heater breaks and there’s water all over your basement, you’ll find time to deal with the mess.

        Time is a choice.

        Even if we are busy we have time for what matters.

        When we focus on what matters we can build the lives we want in the time we’ve got.



        🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

        🤖 Elie Steinbock made a tutorial for fine-tuning GPT-3.5 Turbo


        🎥 Maisha Cannon made a video comparing Claude and GPT-4


        📈 Jakub Nowikowski wrote a monthly update for Languive


        🔒 Anderson Dadario launched a free security tool


        🗣️ Meiko S. Patton wrote a guide on making talking photo avatars


        🧠 Royce Johnson, Meiko S. Patton and Ryan Booher 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

          Chrome Extensions: ChatGPT, Pink Oceans, No-Code Tools

          “Consumers are expecting personalized experiences.” – Mary Beth Laughton

          Get Full Access to Trends Pro


          ❓ What You’ll Learn

          • How to build Chrome extensions with no-code?
          • Which Chrome extensions turned into SaaS platforms?
          • Who offers productized services for building Chrome extensions?
          • How to build Chrome extensions with ChatGPT?
          • How to index into existing markets?
          • How to grow organically?
          • What is a pink ocean?
          • How to find Chrome extension ideas?
          • How to spy on competitors?
          • What Chrome extension makes $1,500,000 ARR?
          • Who presold a Chrome extension for $1,000 in 24 hours?


          💎 Why It Matters

          Google Chrome has billions of users but each person has unique needs.


          🔍 Problem

          Google Chrome tries to cater to everyone.

          But each of us has unique needs.


          💡 Solution

          Chrome extensions improve your browsing experience with custom features.


          🏁 Players

          Chrome Extensions

          • Wappalyzer • Helps to see what technologies websites use
          • Grammarly • Check spelling and grammar mistakes
          • Mailtrack • Track your email open rate
          • Loom • Record your screen, video and audio
          • Keywords Everywhere • Get keyword data with traffic, cost and volume estimates
          • Honey • Find coupons on 30,000+ sites

          Chrome Extension Makers


          🔮 Predictions


          ☁️ Opportunities

          • Niche down to lower competition. Serve customers with unique needs that nobody else is serving.


          🏔️ Risks


          🔑 Key Lessons

          • Chrome extensions can boost your reach. Grammarly grew from 0 users in 2009 to 1,000,000 daily active users in 2015 when it launched Grammarly for Chrome. It grew to 7,000,000 daily active users in the next 2 years.
          • Having badges can help you build trust and get more users. They prove that an extension follows Google’s best practices and was published by a verified developer.
          • Chrome extensions are hard to debug. They rely on third-party websites that may or may not work properly.


          🔥 Hot Takes

          • Chrome Web Store is a pink ocean. There are ~137,000 extensions for ~3,000,000,000 Chrome users. In contrast, there are ~1,600,000 apps for ~2,000,000,000 Apple users.
          • Many Chrome extensions are SaaS apps. They offer features for a recurring price.
          • You can succeed by offering alternatives to obsolete Chrome extensions. Tim Leland says you can find many extensions that have not been updated in years and have high user counts.


          😠 Haters

          “I can’t provide enough value with a Chrome extension. The problem I’m trying to solve is too complex.”
          Chrome extensions often excel at doing simple actions. If you have a complex workflow, you can build a full SaaS platform with a Chrome extension being a nice-to-have.

          “You underestimate how hard it is to build complex Chrome extensions.”
          While you can build a simple extension in 1 day, a complex one may take months to build. Taplio’s new extension for LinkedIn outreach took months to develop.

          “I can obfuscate my code so that nobody can steal my Chrome extension.”
          This goes against Chrome Web Store policies.


          🔗 Links

          1. Building a Report on How to Grow and Monetize Chrome Extensions • The tweet behind this report.
          2. Chrome Extension that Steals Everything • Building a malicious Chrome extension.
          3. Build It and They Will Come • How app stores help you get organic traffic.


          📁 Related Reports

          • ​​​​​Ecosystems • Extend platforms with useful tools and services
          • Freemium • Lower your customer acquisition costs with a free version of your product
          • Competitor Risk • Index into an existing market instead of trying to create one
          • No-Code • Build products faster, cheaper and better without writing code
          • AI Agents • Gain limitless productivity with AI that makes decisions on your behalf


          🙏 Thanks

          Thanks to Meiko S. Patton, Daniele, Tim Jones, Stewart Townsend, Uwe Dreissigacker, Maciej Cupial, Errol Tiozon, Damian Janzi and Yarty. 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 #0125 — Chrome Extensions has more insights.

          What you’ll get:

          • 17 Chrome Extensions (183% More)
          • 13 Chrome Extension Makers (160% More)
          • 7 Predictions (133% More)
          • 13 Opportunities (333% More)
          • 5 Risks (67% More)
          • 6 Key Lessons (100% More)
          • 6 Hot Takes (100% More)
          • 10 Links (233% More)

          With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

          • (📈 Pro) What Chrome extension was acquired for $4,000,000,000?
          • (📈 Pro) How will AI agents automate browsing?
          • (📈 Pro) How to validate demand for your SaaS?
          • (📈 Pro) How to boost your reach with influencer marketing?
          • (📈 Pro) How to automate your everyday tasks?
          • (📈 Pro) Who got sued for building malicious Chrome extensions?
          • (📈 Pro) How to port Chrome extensions to other browsers?
          • (📈 Pro) Who pivoted from a SaaS to a Chrome extension?
          • (📈 Pro) Who grew a Chrome extension to 450,000+ users?
          • (📈 Pro) How to build successful Chrome extensions?
          • (📈 Pro) Who made $4,000 in 7 days selling a Chrome extension?
          • (📈 Pro) Who grew a Chrome extension to $38,000 MRR?
          • 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

            🖌️ AI Design Tools 💰 Profitable Side Projects 🤖 ChatGPT Plugins


            This week’s Founder Finds includes:

            🕸️ An SEO case study
            🖌️ A collection of AI design tools
            🤖 36 ChatGPT plugins for founders
            🔑 9 key lessons for startup founders
            💔 40 emotional drivers in copywriting
            🧠 How to cultivate a beginner mindset
            💰 How to build profitable side projects
            📖 A book on overcoming creative blocks
            ➡️ And more…



            🪶 Remember This

            If it’s a good idea, you just have to suck it up, that it’s going to get stolen.



            🤓 Fav Finds

            Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


            🖌️ AI Design Tools shared by Prabhjot Singh Lamba
            A curated collection of AI design tools


            💰 Side Projects to Startups shared by Royce Johnson
            Pieter Levels’ framework of building profitable side projects


            🕸️ Niche Site Case Study shared by Yuyu
            A case study on using SEO to drive traffic to a niche website



            🔧 Try This

            40 Key Emotional Drivers

            Use emotional drivers to nurture leads into making a desired action. These are natural motivators that each person has.

            • Health: vigor, endurance and longer life.
            • Leisure: traveling, hobbies and self development.
            • Business: better job, reward for merit and ‘being your own boss’.

            Think of what they want to get, who they want to be or what they want to do. Then amplify that by appealing to their pride, fear, love and more.



            🌟 Founder of the Week

            Meiko S. Patton

            “I absolutely love the Trends Pro community. I look forward to getting the email reminding me to post in the stand-ups. The one thing that can help any person or business is consistency. 99% of people start but never finish. That is not me.”


            Meiko helps content creators build and grow their audiences with beehiiv newsletters.


            What’s your most important habit?
            After my mom died of cancer in 2008, I fell into a deep depression. There were many things that helped me cope during that time, but the one habit that changed my brain chemistry was getting up at 5:00 AM every day and going to the gym. I don’t get up that early anymore, but I still work out daily.


            What are you reading right now?
            The 6 Psychological Factors that May Lead to Cancer by Tom Laughlin

            The secret to healing lies in our ability to live up to our full potential instead of someone else’s expectations.


            What product or service do you wish existed?
            After my mom died, I longed to hear her voice and see her talking to me again. It’s possible with AI now.


            What product are you obsessively using right now?
            To build trust with your audience, you have to consistently show up. My best way to do that is via a newsletter. That’s why I absolutely love beehiiv.


            What are you bullish on?
            There’s another book I am reading called, Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol Truman. She says our feelings can cause us to experience happiness or pain. I am bullish on the fact that our feelings cause our circumstances in life.


            What are you bearish on?
            I am a writer, so that means I read a lot. Another book I’m reading is You Can’t Afford the Luxury of Negative Thought by Peter McWilliams. He says when we think of something negative and try to get rid of it in our lives, we are giving it more energy. Instead of focusing on the negative thing you want to give up, focus on the positive thing you want to enjoy.


            What’s your favorite Trends Report?
            🕸️ Programmatic SEO

            I am currently in HackerNoon’s Writing Fellowship where I am learning all about SEO. I love the concept of programmatic SEO and I hope to use it in my future writings.


            What else?
            The book that I always go back to is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. All of us here in this community are in a war to express our art. Pressfield says, “So you’re taking a few blows, that’s the price for being in the arena and not on the sidelines. Whatever it is you were meant to do and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, you hurt your children, you hurt all of us, and you hurt the planet. Creative work is not a selfish act, it’s a gift to the world. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you got!”


            Exclusive Deal: Meiko is offering Trends.vc readers $100 off the first month of her Perpetual Pitching Press Kit service with the coupon code P3K_100.



            💬 Join the Conversation

            Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



            📘 Read This

            How to Cultivate Beginner’s Mind

            “Beginner’s mind” helps you boost your learning abilities, creativity and performance.

            These 10 exercises that will help you get a fresh perspective on how the world works:

            • Flip Your Expectations: Stop assuming how things work.
            • Building Blocks: Break topics into smaller tasks.
            • Simple Questions: Ask like a 5-year-old.



            🎧 Listen To

            9 Key Takeaways for Startup Founders

            Rob Walling and Arvid Kahl talk about founder mental health, motivations for bootstrapping, the value of in-person events, product marketing and more.



            🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

            🤖 Maisha Cannon made a list of 36 ChatGPT plugins for founders


            🪤 Ryan Crownholm launched his book The Hustle Trap


            📝 Elie Steinbock made a tutorial on Novel.sh


            ✍️ Eddie Forson wrote about better note taking during user interviews


            🎬 Mehmet Gonullu made a video on ChatGPT Code Interpreter


            🌎 Bernardt J. Vogel wrote a worldwide macroeconomic forecast


            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

              Micro-Education Businesses: AI Assistants, Micro-Courses, Content-Format Fit

              “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” – Albert Einstein

              Get Full Access to Trends Pro


              ❓ What You’ll Learn

              • How to build micro-courses with AI prompts?
              • Who will offer micro-consulting services?
              • How to build an email course?
              • How to get quick insights into any topic?
              • How to pick the right format?
              • How to boost course completion rates?
              • How to retain information better?
              • What is the benefit of long books?
              • Why should you be a painkiller?
              • How to use micro-learning to teach complex topics?
              • How to learn anything in the first 20 hours?
              • What is the micro-education business model?


              💎 Why It Matters

              You can transform your life in hours instead of months.


              🔍 Problem

              You want to learn a new skill but lack time


              💡 Solution

              Micro-education helps you learn new skills fast.


              🏁 Players

              Micro-Education Examples

              Micro-Education Tools

              • Sequel • Add onboarding webinars to your website
              • Zuddl • Run scalable webinars with polls, chats and more
              • Mindsmith • Use AI to build detailed micro-courses
              • Readwise • Highlight, save and manage notes from the web
              • PDF.ai • Chat with your PDF documents


              🔮 Predictions

              • Personal AI assistants will help us make informed decisions. They will become our personal consultants.
                • Jarvis Invest helps you trade stocks.
                • FP Alpha gives insights into financial planning.
                • FinChat.io helps you get insights into 50,000+ public companies.
                • Wally helps you learn more about investing, finance and personal budgeting.


              ☁️ Opportunities


              🏔️ Risks

              • Content-Format Fit • Micro-learning may have theory and tasks that barely touch the topic. It can be hard to teach backend development with a micro-course.
              • Low Lifetime Value • This lowers margins and makes it harder to invest in customer acquisition.


              🔑 Key Lessons

              • Micro-learning accommodates shorter attention spans. Keeping lessons short and focused can boost the completion rate.
              • Micro-education is great for upskilling. You can enhance your current skills with a few focused lessons.
              • Spacing out topics over short lessons helps to retain information better.


              🔥 Hot Takes

              • There’s a benefit to long books. Especially if the ideas are repetitive. You spend more time with the ideas and soak in the lessons better.
              • You need to pick an area that’s painful enough for people. Be a painkiller, not a vitamin.
              • Micro-learning is bad for reskilling. You need more than a few micro-lessons to switch careers.


              😠 Haters

              “It’s hard to learn a new skill in N hours.”
              It depends on what you want to learn. While it can be hard to learn data science in a few hours, you can learn how to do squats in a few minutes.

              “A mobile format does not work for people who get easily distracted.”
              It can be wise to take on a cohort-based course if you rely on external support and accountability to keep going.

              “A 3-hour course is not a micro-course.”
              Compared to what? There are 50-hour online courses, 30-day email courses and 6-month cohort-based courses. While you can finish a Duolingo lesson in a few minutes, not all topics can fit this format.

              “Micro-courses seem like a bad fit for what I want to teach.”
              The micro-learning format might not be a good fit for teaching complex topics. Focus on one goal at a time. This course tries to teach “everything” about SEO and lasts ~46 hours. This course teaches local SEO and lasts ~2.5 hours.


              🔗 Links

              1. Building a Report on Launching and Growing Micro-Education Businesses • The Tweet behind this report.
              2. The First 20 Hours — How to Learn Anything • How to master practical knowledge and skills.
              3. The Micro-Education Business Model • How to turn your knowledge into a micro-education business.


              📁 Related Reports


              🙏 Thanks

              Thanks to Meiko S. Patton, Alex Doda, Katt Risen, Uwe Dreissigacker, Simon Hell, Marcos Gorgojo, HJ Barraza, Maria Garcia Quintana, Errol Tiozon, Stewart Townsend, Bernardt J. Vogel and Eamonn Carey. 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 #0124 — Micro-Education Businesses has more insights.

              What you’ll get:

              • 19 Micro-Education Examples (171% More)
              • 14 Micro-Education Tools (180% More)
              • 8 Predictions (167% More)
              • 13 Opportunities (333% More)
              • 4 Risks (100% More)
              • 7 Key Lessons (133% More)
              • 10 Hot Takes (233% More)
              • 9 Links (200% More)

              With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

              • (📈 Pro) How will teachers spread knowledge beyond classrooms?
              • (📈 Pro) Why will companies use micro-learning to train employees?
              • (📈 Pro) Why do companies build learning academies?
              • (📈 Pro) How to manage personal knowledge?
              • (📈 Pro) How to share quick solutions to common problems?
              • (📈 Pro) How to turn expertise into a short guide?
              • (📈 Pro) How to boost engagement for your online course?
              • (📈 Pro) How to boost customer success with onboarding?
              • (📈 Pro) How to cater to visual learners?
              • (📈 Pro) How to boost student success?
              • (📈 Pro) How to stand out from competitors?
              • (📈 Pro) What are micro-credentials?
              • (📈 Pro) How to boost views on YouTube videos?
              • (📈 Pro) How to take better notes?
              • (📈 Pro) How to make educational micro-videos?
              • (📈 Pro) How to use gamification?
              • 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

                💼 130+ Boring Businesses 🙂 The Secret to Happiness 🎮 Gamified Habit Tracking


                This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                ✨ A Midjourney guide
                🎮 A gamified productivity app
                📸 An advanced graphic design tool
                ⌛ How to find time for side projects
                💼 130+ boring businesses to invest in
                🌀 How the flow state leads to happiness
                🚀 A book about the struggles of founders
                ❓ 25 questions you should ask before starting
                ➡️ And more…



                🪶 Remember This

                You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone



                🤓 Fav Finds

                Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                📸 Artboard Studio shared by Daniel Berggren
                A graphic design tool with automation features


                ⌛ Finding the Time for Side Projects shared by Royce Johnson
                A blog post on managing side projects with a busy schedule


                🚀 Lost and Founder shared by Chuck Hardy
                A book about the struggles of building a tech startup



                📘 Read This

                130+ Boring Businesses to Invest In

                Here’s the formula for a boring business that you want to buy, build or invest in:

                • Stale: No fancy CRM or automation.
                • Old: Has been around for 5, 10, 15 years.
                • Weak: Its competitors are “ok”, not “great”.
                • Simple: Has a simple but needed business model.

                Buy it, automate it and win over the competition.



                🌟 Founder of the Week

                Tim Jones

                “I’ve been reading Trends.vc for years. I recently joined Trends Pro and I like how supportive the community is. Everybody is there to help you grow as an entrepreneur.”


                Tim is building Derby City Data which offers freelance data consulting for small businesses and nonprofits.


                What’s your most important habit?
                Telling myself each day something that I’m thankful for. Sometimes work and life can get really overwhelming. Reminding myself about the best things in my life helps to keep me sane and motivated.


                What are you reading right now?
                The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

                My dad is legally blind and recently needed to start using a cane. I wanted to know how he might be feeling without being intrusive or offensive. I hope the book will give me more insight into how I can connect with him.


                What product or service do you wish existed?
                 A tool that increases prices after a set time or X number of purchases.


                What product are you obsessively using right now?
                I use the iOS app Habitica to track and maintain my habits.


                What are you bullish on?
                Publishers with large historical or technical archives. Publishers can license their works to AI companies to train models that are better than what we have now.

                ChatGPT was trained on Common Crawl data and still gives good results. Imagine AI trained on high-quality data from The New York Times articles, O’Reilly technical books or peer-reviewed magazines.


                What’s your favorite Trends Report?
                🦾 AI Agents

                I’m a fan of delegating work to my AI assistants.


                Exclusive Deal: Tim is offering Trends.vc readers free advice on how to model your data. Not sure how to structure your tables and link them together? Tim will help you out pro bono. First come, first serve. Contact Tim via email or message him on Trends.vc to claim.



                💬 Join the Conversation

                Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



                ❔ Ask Yourself

                25 Questions Before Starting

                Here are 25 questions on your value proposition, user acquisition, conversion, delivery and operations. 

                Answer them before building a product:

                • What’s your pricing strategy?
                • How will you get your first 100 users?
                • Why would people return to your product?
                • What value will users get from your product?
                • How will you balance building and marketing?



                👀 Watch This

                The Secret to Happiness

                Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi studies happiness. He says money doesn’t make us happy.

                What makes us happy is the “flow” that boosts our well-being, productivity and creativity. It occurs when we get involved in challenging, but doable tasks.



                🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                🎨 Shuyen Phoon launched UI Design for No-Coders


                ✨ Vikash Kumar Prajapati made a Midjourney guide


                ❤️ Dale Williams built Heart of your Strategy


                🎪 Chuck Hardy is building Habium in public


                ⚙️ Mehmet Gonullu hosted a masterclass on business efficiency


                🇪🇸 Maciej Cupial was interviewed in Spanish


                🫐 Uwe Dreissigacker went viral on Sri Lankan TikTok with InvoiceBerry


                🧠 David Fu 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.

                  🧍 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

                  Recruiting Businesses: AI Screening, Vertical Hiring Service, Niche Job Boards

                  “The greatest asset of a company is its people.” – Jorge Paulo

                  Get Full Access to Trends Pro


                  ❓ What You’ll Learn

                  • How to use AI to screen candidates?
                  • What are vertical hiring services?
                  • Why serve local businesses?
                  • How to find candidates with unique skills?
                  • How to attract more candidates?
                  • What’s the cost of a bad hire?
                  • How to find your niche?
                  • How to deal with a talent shortage?
                  • Why does employer brand matter?
                  • Who are informal recruiters?
                  • What is collaborative hiring?
                  • How to avoid being circumvented as a recruiter?
                  • How to solve the chicken-and-egg problem of job boards?
                  • What are the most common HR terms?
                  • What is the recruiting process of a staffing agency?


                  💎 Why It Matters

                  Recruiting is a ~$450,000,000,000 industry with a low barrier to entry and high-value sales.


                  🔍 Problem

                  Talent acquisition takes time.


                  💡 Solution

                  Recruiting businesses help you find, screen and qualify candidates fast.


                  🏁 Players

                  Placement Businesses

                  Recruiting Tools

                  • Deel • Platform for hiring remote talent in 100+ countries
                  • Leap Room • AI hiring assistant for tech, sales, marketing and more
                  • Frontend Mentor Hiring • Find junior front-end developers
                  • Recruit CRM • Workflow automation tool for staffing agencies
                  • Honeit • Turn calls and interviews into actionable talent insights
                  • TalentReef • Staffing tool for the hourly workforce


                  🔮 Predictions

                  • We’ll see more vertical hiring services. They will help you find talent in specific, lower-cost locations.
                    • Uplers helps to hire remote talent from India.
                    • TalentQL helps to hire top tech talent from Africa.
                    • Remote Talent LATAM helps you hire remote talent from Latin America.
                    • RemotelyTalents helps you find talent from Ukraine, Romania, Poland and more.
                    • Shepherd helps you hire full-time employees from the Philippines and Latin America.


                  ☁️ Opportunities


                  🏔️ Risks

                  • Economic Downturns • Hiring during a recession is hard as companies cut costs.
                  • Bad Hire Costs • The average cost of one bad hire is $15,000. Clients can recover losses from you for placing a candidate without proper vetting.


                  🔑 Key Lessons

                  • Niching down can help you succeed. It’s easier to hire developers than to hire developers, marketers, lawyers and executives. Don’t try to boil the ocean.
                  • Building a vetted, high-quality talent pool can help you deal with a talent shortage. It’s easier to fill your talent pipeline with qualified candidates when you don’t have to wait for them to apply.
                  • It’s easier to fill a vacancy if the employer has a great brand, benefits and values.


                  🔥 Hot Takes


                  😠 Haters

                  “As a recruiter, how can I avoid being circumvented if I place a candidate?”
                  Japan Dev motivates clients to tell about a successful hire via late fees and ¥3000 Amazon Gift Cards. Word-of-mouth is effective too. As other recruiters discover this type of behavior, they may choose not to work with those companies and candidates.

                  “It’s hard to find a niche that is large enough to build a recruiting business but small enough to not be saturated.”
                  Unless it’s a marketplace-like business such as job boards, the recruiting space is fragmented and no recruiter can serve all the world’s needs. You can tap into most of these markets and there’s proven demand in each.

                  “How can I solve the chicken-and-egg problem to build a job board?”
                  Borrow supply from other job boards. Do things that don’t scale and hand-pick jobs. Engage with communities where talent hangs out. Do this until you have enough traffic to monetize with paid job posts.

                  “Offering paid career coaching to those in the same role sounds like a recipe for moral hazard. The coach can make more money when candidates switch roles often.”
                  It can be wise to switch coaches if you feel like the coach is not living up to your expectations.

                  “It’s not that easy to enter this industry.”
                  It depends on what you want to offer. While you may need a great reputation to do executive search, a good reputation can help you get started with simpler placements. If you’re a good React developer, chances are you can recruit another good React developer for your client.


                  🔗 Links

                  1. Looking for Bootstrapped Businesses in the Hiring Sector • The Tweet behind this report.
                  2. Glossary for HR Terms • List of the most common HR terms.
                  3. The Recruitment Process of a Staffing Agency • Guide on finding and vetting candidates.


                  📁 Related Reports

                  • ​​​​​Lead Generation • Find potential clients with high lifetime value.
                  • Agencies • Help clients solve problems without hiring and managing large teams.
                  • Consulting • Consulting helps you learn more and earn more.
                  • Personal Brands • Good personal brand gives you pricing power and opportunities.
                  • Micro-Consulting • Turn years of experience into a short call.


                  🙏 Thanks

                  Thanks to Elie Steinbock, Sumant Yerramilly, Stewart Townsend and Maisha Cannon. 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 #0123 — Recruiting Businesses has more insights.

                  What you’ll get:

                  • 18 Placement Business Examples (200% More)
                  • 18 Recruiting Tools (200% More)
                  • 8 Predictions (167% More)
                  • 15 Opportunities (400% More)
                  • 5 Risks (150% More)
                  • 11 Key Lessons (267% More)
                  • 6 Hot Takes (100% More)
                  • 12 Links (300% More)

                  With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

                  • (📈 Pro) How to follow foreign laws when hiring remotely?
                  • (📈 Pro) Which recruiting companies offer premade teams instead of individuals?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to monetize your work experience?
                  • (📈 Pro) Which recruiting companies offer top talent curation services?
                  • (📈 Pro) Why build a marketplace with hand-picked jobs?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to get insights into candidates’ hard and soft skills?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are fractional HR services?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to measure the success of your hiring strategies?
                  • (📈 Pro) What do candidates seek in a staffing agency?
                  • (📈 Pro) What can save you from paying for bad hires?
                  • (📈 Pro) Who offered to pay $100,000 for referring a candidate?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are alternative ways to spot talent?
                  • (📈 Pro) How can AI lead to discrimination?
                  • (📈 Pro) What will companies focus on instead of resumes?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to boost the candidate-job fit rate?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to build a job board over the weekend?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to interview candidates?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to find candidates on LinkedIn?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are 15 recruitment marketing strategies?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to hire great remote candidates?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are the 12 types of hiring bias?
                  • (📈 Pro) Who grew a 2-person recruiting business to $960,000 per year?
                  • 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

                    🎵 AI Songs 💡 Network Effects of Ideas 🎨 Landing Pages that Convert


                    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                    • An AI text-to-song tool
                    • How to build a 5-year plan
                    • A video series on the basics of AI
                    • A step-by-step landing page guide
                    • An AMA about reaching $100,000 ARR
                    • A reminder about taking responsibility
                    • An essay on the network effects of ideas
                    • And more…



                    🪶 Remember This

                    Believe you can and you’re halfway there.



                    🤓 Fav Finds

                    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                    🎨 Landing Page Guide shared by Royce Johnson
                    A step-by-step guide to building high-converting landing pages


                    🤖 How AI Works shared by Prabhjot Singh Lamba
                    A YouTube playlist of short videos to learn about the basics of AI


                    🎵 Suno AI shared by Stewart Townsend
                    An AI tool that generates songs from text prompts. Listen to some examples here



                    🔧 Try This

                    Create a 5-Year Plan That Fires You Up

                    Do you know what you want or will be doing in 5 years?

                    It’s easy to get lost in your daily routine and lose sight of goals you have for the future.

                    Learn how to make a 5-year plan with a long-term vision and key steps to achieving your goals.



                    🌟 Founder of the Week

                    Nik McFly

                    “I love Trends Pro. The reports are great and the community is awesome.”


                    Nik is building Hybrain.Academy. It’s an AI school for non-techies that helps them learn AI to save time and money doing personal and business tasks.


                    What product or service do you wish existed?
                    AI SaaS that helps people build good habits.


                    What product are you obsessively using right now?
                    ChatGPT. It helps me work faster.


                    What are you bullish on?
                    AI agents. These will help us remove inefficiencies.


                    What are you bearish on?
                    Nation-state. Nation-states lead to fights and bias They make it harder for people to move freely and ignore the voice of small groups.


                    What’s your favorite Trends Report?
                    🤖 ChatGPT

                    Because my ChatGPT online course was included! 🙂


                    Exclusive Deal: Nik is offering Trends.vc readers 20% off his ChatGPT Cash Cow course using the code TRENDSVC20.



                    💬 Join the Conversation

                    Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…



                    📘 Read This

                    How Ideas Grow

                    Everything we do is based on narratives — stories that explain how the world works.

                    • AI is booming – you started building an AI startup.
                    • You heard carbs are bad – you started eating salads for lunch.
                    • You saw “true love” in a movie – you broke up because it didn’t feel right.

                    Narratives have network effects. When more people see that the narrative is promising, more people start using it, investing in it, talking about it and building it.

                    That’s how ideas grow.



                    🎧 Listen To

                    It’s Not Your Fault, But It Is Your Responsibility

                    Expecting nothing but good feels like a good mindset. But then life happens.

                    There are dogs that get sick in the middle of the night, unpleasant conversations, hard decisions and more. Most people’s reaction is to shirk.

                    Things are hard and scary. It’s not your fault. But it’s your responsibility to do what has to be done.



                    🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                    👥 Gab, Frank Jones and Jinay Shah unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


                    💯 Maciej Cupial hosted an AMA about Calendesk’s journey to $100,000 ARR


                    🎙️ Simon Daley was featured in a podcast


                    ✒️ Dale Williams wrote about ethics in coaching


                    🎞️ Elie Steinbock’s YouTube channel reached 100+ subscribers


                    🐺 Stewart Townsend signed the first customer for Podcast Wolf


                    💌 Yarty reached 1,000 subscribers for FP&HEY


                    🚗 Prabhjot Singh Lamba built a simple car game with Spline


                    📝 Maisha Cannon launched a guide for recruiters


                    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