Category: Uncategorized

💸 Bootstrapping to $100,000/mo 🎯 One-Sentence Pitch ⌛ Four Thousand Weeks


This week’s Founder Finds includes:

  • A consulting playbook
  • An all-in-one sales funnel tool
  • Using ChatGPT as a writing assistant
  • A philosophical time management book
  • Marko Saric’s story of reaching $100,000/mo
  • Coming up with a one-sentence pitch of your product
  • And more…



🪶 Remember This


There are more people who surrender than those who fail.



🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


⌛ Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals shared by Kevin Deol
A philosophical approach to time management, reminding us that life is finite and more isn’t always better.


🎵 Groove.cm shared by Gabriel Limma
An all-in-one suite of apps with a free plan to build your sales funnel.


🖋️ Collaborative Creative Writing with ChatGPT shared by Stewart Townsend
A blog post detailing how you can use ChatGPT as a writing assistant.



📘 Read This

A Map For Indie Living

Tom Critchlow says trading time for money is a great economic tool.

His consulting playbook shows how you can live a fulfilling life by balancing time, energy and work as an independent consultant.



🌟 Founder of the Week

Martin Slaney

“Everything, and everyone in Trends Pro, is truly amazing. The full-length reports are essential reading, I learn so much. The community has been incredible – feel like I’m going to make some long-term relationships as a result of being part of it.”


Martin is building Product Prompts. A website aiming to be the #1 resource for building better products, faster – with ChatGPT, Midjourney and more.


What’s your most important habit?
Read, read, read.

I find endless sources of inspiration and creativity from reading all types of content. And not just books related to my work; non-fiction really helps me develop new ideas.


What are you reading right now? Why?
Build by Tony Fadell

Tony Fadell led the team that created the iPod and the iPhone. He’s also learned a lot of lessons from failures too. The book is full of stories and advice about leadership, startups, design, and decision-making.


What product are you obsessively using right now?
Truthfully it’s ChatGPT, which I’m using daily for creating Product Prompts. Other than that the one product I use the most is actually Centered – https://www.centered.app. It’s the ultimate productivity hack, with AI coaches, fantastic music, and even 1:1 working sessions. It’s become essential to my day.


What are you bullish on?
AI of course 🙂

It’s just so clear to me that there are so many use cases and so many industries which are going to change dramatically, really quickly. I’m trying not to get over-hyped but I genuinely believe it’s going to be as transformative to our lives as the internet itself was.


What’s your favorite Trends Report?
🔬 Micro-Consulting

It’s highly relevant to my day job as a strategy and innovation consultant, and gave me loads of ideas on how to grow, and how to be ahead of the pack in what is a competitive marketplace.



❔ Ask Yourself

Can You Explain What Your Product Does In One Sentence?

Prospective customers should understand what your product does and how it’s better than alternatives.

A one-sentence pitch is a great way to explain it in simple terms. The more we understand it, the easier it is for us to try and share your product with others.



🎧 Listen To

Bootstrapping to $100,000/mo in a Crowded Market

Marko Saric talks about building, marketing and growing a B2B SaaS in a crowded market.

He shares how positioning, content marketing and comparative advertising can help you compete with established players.



🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

🆕 Francois Carlier and Muhammad Bin Sabir became Trends Pro Members


👥 Daniel Johnson, Thorben Schlätzer, Francois Carlier and Daniel Dixon unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


🗺️ Swapnil Puranik launched a Life Assessment Handbook


💰 Bernardt J. Vogel did a presentation about Reimagining VC


✨ Martin Slaney launched the first edition of The Product Manager’s Prompt Book


📅 Maciej Cupial published the December monthly update for Calendesk


🧠 Gabriel Limma and James Renouf unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 10-day standup streaks


Get Weekly Reports

Join 65,000+ 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.

    📚 Write Better Prompts 🌐 Network Effects Bible 💡 1 to N > 0 to 1


    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

    • A prompt writing course
    • 3 deep dive tech reports
    • 16 types of network effects
    • An interview with Courtland Allen
    • An AI-powered slide deck generator
    • The Epsilon Method by Jakob Greenfeld
    • And more…



    🪶 Remember This


    Each problem is an opportunity in disguise.



    🤓 Fav Finds

    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


    📚 Learn Prompting shared by Fausto Sá Teles
    A free course on how to talk to AI to get it to do what you want.


    📱 Best of Tech 2022 Reports shared by Stewart Townsend
    3 deep dive reports from CB Insights on the latest trends in tech this year.


    📊 ChatBCG shared by Mehmet Gonullu
    An AI tool to generate slide decks based on your prompts.



    📘 Read This

    The Network Effects Bible

    Network effects occur when the value of your product grows as more people use it.

    James Currier shares 16 types of network effects and how they work. Including tips on how to build and maintain the value of your product.



    🌟 Founder of the Week

    Marc Fletcher

    “I’ve been impressed & encouraged by the calibre of content and members in Trends Pro. Dru is an inspirational character whose dedication to providing value is evident throughout the features and continued evolution of the product & community.“


    Marc is working on a ‘portfolio of small bets.’ He sees each launch as a milestone in skill and ability improvement. Marc aims to build a stand-out SaaS for recurring revenue. He’s currently building ThinkSee. A freemium service to create Stock Images using Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0007.


    What’s your most important habit?
    Conscientiousness.


    What are you reading right now?
    The Wim Hof Method

    Wim Hof explains his discovery and exploitation of the mental & physical consequences from habitual hyperventilation, breath holding and exposure to cold temperatures. I’d like to experience the rejuvenating benefits widely reported.


    What product are you obsessively using right now?
    Bubble.io

    It’s a service that helps users build a ‘full-stack’ web application without code. I use it to create web apps (thinksee.ai, aisocialbio.com, notiontodo.so & acheck.co.uk) and embedded client projects. It has a steep learning curve, but resources and community support are broad. The product is well-funded with regular releases and impressive features.


    What are you bullish on?
    No-Code

    The bridge between idea and execution has been built with a swathe of no-code tools and services emerging in recent years. An MVP can be realised in a matter of hours, giving an exciting, low cost, opportunity to validation for non-technical founders.


    What’s your favorite Trends Report?
    🔷 Mico-SaaS

    I’m excited by the opportunities exposed by the availability of no-code tools. Being able to capitalise on niche expertise by translating it to a product or sharing a templated method is liberating for lots of people. Pivoting, scaling & transferring are all relatively frictionless routes too.



    🔧 Try This

    1 to N > 0 to 1

    It’s hard to build, market and grow products that people have never seen before.

    Instead of inventing something new, add a small but valuable change to something that already works.

    Jakob Greenfeld says this is the most effective way to de-risk the launch of a new business.



    👀 Watch This

    The Goal Is to Not Quit

    Indie hacking is hard. You work more, earn less and feel tired all the time. Until you succeed.

    Going on the journey alone makes it easier to quit. The goal is not to quit.



    🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

    🆕 Sandeeip Chincholkar, Bartosz Boniecki, Daniel Johnson and Thomas Sorheim [Danielsen] became Trends Pro Members


    👥 Bartosz Boniecki, Thomas Sorheim [Danielsen] and Mark Grimes unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


    💡 Martin Slaney reached 200 signups for Product Prompts


    👩‍💼 Mark Grimes ended the year supporting 8,701 women entrepreneurs in developing countries on Kiva


    🌟 Elie Steinbock gave a talk on DAOs and NFTs


    👨‍💻 Joel Pickin created AI Art Battle and Fausto Sá Teles created Wisebots for a hackathon



    👀 Behind the Scenes

    Here’s what we are up to… 

    🧠 Launched Mastermind #0008

    ⚙️ Upgraded the community to Circle 2.0

    🧊 Built an Icebreaker Question Generator for Mastermind sessions

    🧍 Moved to a 10-day standup streak to reach masterminds (Instead of 30 days)


    Get Weekly Reports

    Join 65,000+ 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.

      💰 $20k to $500k Challenge 🚀 100+ Places to Launch 📉 Winning in Recessions


      This week’s Founder Finds includes:

      • A collaboration tool for teams
      • 100+ places to launch your product
      • A tool for taking great-looking screenshots
      • A podcast about scandals and conspiracies
      • Increasing marketing spend during recessions
      • A challenge of turning $20k into $500k in 1 year
      • And more…



      🪶 Remember This


      What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.



      🤓 Fav Finds

      Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


      🚀 Relaunch Like a Pro shared by Joel Pickin
      A list of 100+ places to launch, relaunch, and list your product.


      📉 Doubling Down on Marketing During Recessions shared by Gabriel Limma
      A Twitter thread from Val Katayev on the power of increasing your marketing spend during recessions.


      📝 Markup.io shared by Wadnes
      A tool to collaborate and share feedback on websites, images, PDFs, and videos.



      📘 Read This

      Challenge: Turning $20k Into $500k In 1 Year

      Scott DeLong sold 6 websites for $10,550,000 and grew ViralNova to 100,000,000 unique monthly visitors in 6 months.

      Now he’s on a quest to turn a $20,000 budget into a $500,000 website in 1 year. Scott is building in public with weekly updates.



      🌟 Founder of the Week

      Stephanie Hekker

      “Everyone in Trends Pro has been friendly and willing to help! Someone suggested that I do 30 days of standups so that I could join a Mastermind group. I’ve hit that goal and now I have a small group of folks to discuss goals and how we can help each other!”


      Stephanie is building The Crowd List, a startup equity investing discovery platform. They have a free weekly newsletter with a curated list of startups that have launched their crowdfunding campaigns. She is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0005.


      What’s your most important habit?
      Making a daily “To Do” list.

      I’ve tried many apps over the years and pen + paper is the best one for me.


      What are you reading right now?
      Atomic Habits

      This is my third attempt at reading this book. For some reason, I can’t make it past the 2nd chapter. It was suggested to me recently to try it in audiobook form… which I think I’m going to have to do if I ever want to make it to the end.


      What product or service do you wish existed?
      I wish there was an easier way to “shop locally” online. I’d love to buy from my local shops but physically going into a store is not always the best option. I’d still like to support my neighbors’ businesses without always immediately defaulting to Amazon for convenience purposes.

      I’ve heard rumblings that Shopify was going to release a “Search ALL of Shopify” feature and that might address part of this issue, especially if that search includes a filter for location (*hint hint* Shopify!).


      What product are you obsessively using right now?
      Tally – This is my favorite form builder. I was sold on the stripe integration feature. It also talks to my Airtable bases nicely. I recently learned that you can upgrade to see forms that were only partially filled out. Now that is a feature worth paying for!

      Airtable – I spend a majority of my time in Airtable. I use it as a database and a content planner. There are endless ways to use this to simplify my business processes!

      Reminders – Just the standard iOS app. This app is simple. It has exactly the features I need for the purposes I’m using it for.


      What are you bullish on?
      AI Writing Tools – Being a great writer is an absolute necessity to sell just about anything. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time, practice, and dedication to become good at writing. I think AI writing tools will speed this process up for a lot of folks and help generate more quality content.


      What are you bearish on?
      NFTs (don’t come for me!). I love NFTs as a utility (don’t worry I’ve got some JPEGs in my wallet too) but the barrier to entry is still too high for the average person to participate in this piece of the Web 3 world. I am very curious to see the results from Starbucks’ recent NFT rollout. They’ve nailed the market in simplifying tech for their consumer… which includes just about everyone.


      What’s your favorite Trends Report?
      💰 Equity Crowdfunding

      This is an obvious one as it is the whole basis of my business. I find equity crowdfunding so interesting and I want everyone to know that it’s an option for them. I think that anyone who wants to participate in these alternative forms of finance should get to do so. I learned about equity crowdfunding in 2021 and realized how cumbersome it was to go to dozens of funding portals every day to find out which companies were raising funds. I knew that I could make it easier to do this. So I made The Crowd List and more and more folks join each week to learn about those companies!

      (Bonus Pick) 🤑 Million-Dollar, One-Person Businesses

      This is a favorite for a lot of us. It’s inspiring to see that it doesn’t always take 14 software engineers to build something cool and profitable!



      🎧 Listen To

      American Scandal

      “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” 
      — Margaret Mead

      I know… this is an interesting quote choice for a podcast about scandals and conspiracies. Conspiracies involve a small group that impacts the lives of millions (or billions) of people. The same applies to companies. 

      We’re building companies to create positive change. But we can learn from anti-examples.



      🔧 Try This

      Xnapper

      Xnapper is a useful tool for quick, great-looking screenshots from fellow indie hacker Tony Dinh.



      🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

      🆕 Marty Finestone became a Trends Pro Member


      👥 Amardeep Parmar, Bayu Sutrisno, Marty Finestone and Bernardt J. Vogel unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


      📰 Martin Slaney launched his newsletter 3PM


      ✒️ Cameron McGrane and his wife tripled the revenue of their author coaching program


      📄 Marc Fletcher launched a Notion template for Bubble app documentation


      🎥 Uwe Dreissigacker did a challenge of publishing a video tutorial a day for BlogHandy and InvoiceBerry


      🧠 Reed Floren, Chris Vara, Reme Ekoh, Anderson Dadario, Raj B, Elie Steinbock, Byron Wilson and Marc Fletcher unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 10-day standup streaks


      Get Weekly Reports

      Join 65,000+ 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.

        💲 Founders’ Sales Handbook 🏦 Business Breakdowns 🐔 Marketplace Growth


        This week’s Founder Finds includes:

        • A sales book for founders
        • An AI tool for repurposing content
        • The importance of market demand
        • 19 proven tactics for starting a marketplace
        • A deep dive into Brookfield Asset Management
        • And more…



        🪶 Remember This


        It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.



        🤓 Fav Finds

        Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


        🏦 Business Breakdowns: Brookfield Asset Management shared by Gabriel Limma
        A podcast episode about the alternative asset manager giant. A business masterclass.


        💲 Founding Sales shared by Mingwei Gu
        A B2B sales handbook for founders transitioning into a selling role.


        🎞️ Vidyo.ai shared by Reed Floren
        An AI tool that selects, edits & captions top moments from your videos for content repurposing.



        📘 Read This

        Business is like surfing

        Surfers spend most of their time in the water waiting for waves.

        They don’t watch them roll in from the shore.

        Justin Jackson says that market demand determines the potential of your product.

        Put your toes in the water by doing side projects. Be patient and observe.

        Entering the water puts you on course to find your perfect wave.



        🌟 Founder of the Week

        Tom Maciejewski

        “I love the fact that Trends Pro helps create habits with standups. It’s amazing to see other members’ progress in life and business. But… the real game changer for me are the masterminds. With such engaged and friendly people! You don’t get to masterminds because you paid for it, you need to earn it through persistence.”


        Tom is a founder of ContentWay – Where he offers 6-week programs to help founders and agency owners turn their LinkedIn profiles into assets that attract high-ticket clients. He is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0007.


        What’s your most important habit?
        I create a summary of my work every week & month.

        It helps me draw conclusions on my actions, see what I should do more (and what less), and it’s a powerful tool to improve my work (and life).


        What are you reading right now?
        Ryan Holiday – Stillness is the key

        When I learned that Ryan tattooed 2 titles of his books (“Obstacle is the way” and “Ego is the enemy”) on his forearms, I was impressed how much he believes in what he does and says. Since then, I’ve been reading all his books, some of them several times.


        What product or service do you wish existed?
        A tool to build complex and reliable quiz funnels with tagging and segmentation. I believe it would help better serve clients in a more automatic way. The costs of acquiring clients are getting higher and higher. Would you like to be a cofounder of this project? Let me know!


        What are you bullish on?
        Niche communities that help us find like-minded people all around the world.


        What are you bearish on?
        Overpaying for life in a big city. Over 1 year ago we moved out with my wife to a smaller town from the capital city of Poland, and we believe it was the best decision.


        What’s your favorite Trends Report?
        🔥 The FIRE Movement

        It’s good to see from another perspective how to focus on non-financial forms of wealth.


        Exclusive Deal: Tom is offering Trends.vc readers 20% off his LinkedIn implementation program until the end of the year. Just mention you are from Trends during the strategy call.



        👀 Watch This

        Solving the Chicken or Egg Problem

        The chicken-or-egg problem is the toughest challenge for marketplace founders.

        Buyers won’t join without the sellers and vice-versa. This kills the core value of your marketplace.

        James Currier shares 19 proven tactics to solve the chicken-or-egg problem. With notes on growth channels to bring more traffic to your marketplace.



        🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

        🆕 Marc Fletcher, Briando and Vasil became Trends Pro Members


        👥 Marc Fletcher unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


        🌌 Sachit Adhikari launched the beta version of QAL VPN


        👗 Lwany launched her holiday dressing shopping guide


        🤖 Elie Steinbock launched an AI entrepreneur Twitter account using ChatGPT


        🏠 Abubakar Sheriff launched the landing page for Qariyb Housing


        🧠 Stephanie H. and Mehmet Gonullu unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 30-day standup streaks


        Get Weekly Reports

        Join 65,000+ 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.

          🧰 Side Project Playbook ➗ Release Ratio ⭐ The Downsides of Fame


          This week’s Founder Finds includes:

          • Timeboxing
          • An alternative to Pocket
          • A content optimization suite
          • The Growth Mindset Workbook
          • 11 reasons not to become famous
          • A playbook for launching side-projects
          • A framework for meaningful content consumption
          • And more…



          🪶 Remember This


          The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.



          🤓 Fav Finds

          Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


          ➗ The Release Ratio shared by Breno Ferreira
          A simple framework to make content consumption more meaningful.


          🧰 Side Projects Playbook shared by davidacreates
          A comprehensive guide to go from ideation to launching a side-project.


          📖 Matter shared by Martin Slaney
          A reading app that handles newsletters, Twitter threads, PDFs and more. Better than Pocket.



          📘 Read This

          11 Reasons Not to Become Famous

          I rarely use Twitter and always saw fame as a net liability. 

          Since it’s easier to connect with a face than a logo, in the early days of building Trends.vc, I led the effort with my personal brand. 

          Micro-fame is cool. Being known in an environment such as Founder Summit.

          But we don’t often think about what comes with general fame. 

          See Tim’s take on the downsides of fame.



          🌟 Founder of the Week

          Serg Valencia

          “I have met fascinating people in Trends Pro. I like learning about the journeys of people who bring their ideas to life. From a distance, I cheer for the success of all Trends Pro members.”


          Serg is building SergValencia.com. A medical content agency on top of his personal brand. As a producer of science-based content, he  helps people make better health decisions. He is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0006.


          What’s your most important habit?
          My morning routine.

          It takes about an hour and involves prayer, breathing exercises, journaling, and stretching. My morning routine puts me in the right frame of mind to accomplish great things.


          What are you reading right now?
          The Growth Mindset Workbook

          I’m a psychologist, so I keep up-to-date with practical research. The need for a growth mindset almost sounds like a cliché in 2022. This book actually offers actionable strategies to achieve it.


          What product or service do you wish existed?
          A notes management tool I enjoy using. I’ve tried many of them, but I suspect that personal knowledge management depends heavily on what suits your needs and tastes, so I will probably have to build my own solution.


          What product are you obsessively using right now?
          I use MarketMuse almost every day. It’s a content optimization suite that speeds up my research process and helps my team create helpful and unique content.


          What are you bearish on?
          I’m bearish on the social convention of tolerating a job you don’t enjoy only because it pays the bills. I don’t want to dissociate how I make a living from the things I genuinely love.


          What’s your favorite Trends Report?
          🔁 Productized Services

          It serves as a source of inspiration for offering value at scale.



          🔧 Try This

          Timeboxing

          In the first two and half years of Trends.vc, my schedule was consistently inconsistent. A mix of community management, podcast interviews, admin, marketing and writing reports. 

          Now that we have a team, I have a sense of predictability and can use timeboxing.
          If you’re at a stage where timeboxing makes sense. Try it out.



          🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

          🆕 Andreu Osika, Hunter Coleman, fer, Abubakar Sheriff and Wadnes became Trends Pro Members


          👥 Reme Ekoh, Akhil Kala, Martin Slaney, Hunter Coleman, Anderson Dadario, Alessandro Franceschi, Wadnes and Abubakar Sheriff unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


          🏃 Martin Slaney launched Strategy Sprint Masterclass


          📈 Yarty hit 350+ subscribers for FP&HEY


          👨‍💻 Brett Lee onboarded 2 new employees at Idea-Refinery

          ‍
          🎓 Jwalant Patel launched a new course on Shadowing.ai


          🧍 Maciej Cupial reached a 300-day Standup Streak


          Get Weekly Reports

          Join 65,000+ 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.

            Startup Studios: Validating Ideas, Solopreneurs, Building Communities

            “Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.” – Drew Houston

            Get Full Access to Trends Pro


            ❓ What You’ll Learn

            • How does cheap prototyping create a competitive advantage?
            • How do startup studios benefit from hackathons?
            • How to use community building to attract founders?
            • How to do a hardcore year?
            • How to validate demand?
            • How to use a services business to fund your startup studio?
            • How to build multiple businesses as a solopreneur?


            💎 Why It Matters

            Companies founded by startup studios tend to produce better returns and scale faster.


            🔍 Problem

            About 90% of startups fail.


            💡 Solution

            Startup studios take a systemized approach to building companies. 

            They apply accumulated knowledge and resources from building multiple companies.


            🏁 Players

            Startup Studios

            • Betaworks • Focuses on digital consumer products like Dots, Bitly, and Tweetdeck. Also an investor.
            • eFounders • One of the first enterprise-size startup studios focused on enterprise software.
            • NineTwoThree • Operates as an agency builder for funded startups and tech brands.
            • Human Ventures • Focused on businesses which ‘meet human problems’.
            • Idealab • Has created 150+ companies and 50 IPOs+ or acquisitions.
            • Rocket Internet • Builds and scales internet companies globally.
            • HVF Labs • Created by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin to solve problems on a longer time horizon.

            Companies from Startup Studios


            🔮 Predictions

            • Cheaper prototyping will make it easier for startup studios to try new ideas quickly.
            • Startup studios will focus more on community building to attract founders with big ideas.
              • Founders Club began as a community of early stage investors which then decided to leverage its network to create MVP fund. 
              • Revelry attracts founders to its studio by focusing its marketing efforts on community building. They help founders deepen their networks by contributing to accelerators, universities, and other networks.


            ☁️ Opportunities

            • Become an expert at validating demand. It’s easier to recruit and raise money when you have demand.
              • Buffer built a landing page with features and payment plans before launching its product. They used email sign-ups to understand what customers wanted.
              • Ryan Hoover built a 20-minute MVP using existing tools to test ProductHunt. He attracted 170 users in 2 weeks.
              • Bram Kanstein built EarlyOnes after his fourth business was acquired to help Web3 startups validate demand for ideas.
              • Ryan Yost is a developer who explains the process he used invalidate his automated assistant for ‘adult stuff’ with a landing page, surveys, and simple ads.
              • Lachlan Kirkwood writes about his two-year process of learning to prioritize validation.
              • Shane White uses no-code MVPs to validate SaaS ideas like Memory Share.
            • Run a services business to fund your startup studio.
              • Muhammad Bin Sabir (A Trends Pro member) used a growth consulting and no code development services business to fund his studio. 4 of his 6 companies raised pre-seeds within 6 months.
              • Late Checkout does 30 day design sprints with leading companies looking to become community companies. They get paid to learn.
              • Unstuck Labs offers prototyping, development, and ‘rescue missions’ for products.
              • Accenture helped Airbus optimize aircraft assembly and increase productivity 500%. 
              • Differential partnered with Big Ass Fans to drive sales through a custom platform. They partnered with TaylorMade to automatically track golf strokes to deliver insights to improve customers’ golf games.
              • White Label has led product development and growth marketing for 50+ clients.


            🏔️ Risks

            • Weak Incentives • Entrepreneurs-in-Residence give up an average of 36% equity to studios. That’s not including dilution from future fundraising. Founders with much less equity may not approach the business with the same level of devotion as other entrepreneurs.
            • Opportunity Costs • Studios are constantly forced to spend resources on ideas with a lower expected ROI than the leading product. A single successful startup shouldn’t need to compete for resources with lesser businesses.


            🔑 Key Lessons

            • Join a venture studio when it will improve your access to talent, technology, or capital.  Deepen your network with qualified and connected people.
            • Corporations should use internal startup studios to incubate new ideas that leverage their existing resources and advantages.
            • You can start a one-person startup studio as an indie hacker by building multiple products and seeing what sticks. 


            🔥 Hot Takes

            • Working at a startup studio is a safer choice than a startup. Your career is insulated from a single idea’s failure.
            • Corporate startup studios often restrict innovation by tightly controlling teams. Startups from corporate programs have a 3% lower success rate.


            😠 Haters

            “Isn’t this the same as an incubator?”
            Incubators offer founders a workspace, investment and community to help validate their product. Unlike startup studios they are not core team members working daily towards helping the business succeed.

            “Startup studios made sense when the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs was higher. Server costs alone used to be prohibitive! The value proposition for studios is gone now that anyone can build a startup.”
            Things like no-code tools have made it easier than ever to build a product. But there is no substitute for experience when it’s time to go to market. 

            “Aren’t the weaker or failing companies in the studio consuming resources that would be better used to grow the successful startups?”
            Yes. It’s the startup studio’s responsibility to validate products quickly and cut the ones that drain resources without sufficient traction. Studios that fail at this will likely fail altogether.

            “Why would I give up so much equity to a startup studio as a founder when I can raise capital on my own?”
            Raising capital is one of many advantages that a studio offers. But that doesn’t mean the studio approach is right for you. Ask yourself whether the resources, network and capital are worth the equity that you’ll give up.


            🔗 Links

            1. Startup Studios — Bullish or Bearish? • The tweet behind this report. 
            2. The Origin and Evolution of the Startup Studio • History of the startup studio.
            3. Is A Career In Startup Studios Right For You? • Weighing the pros and cons of working at a startup studio.


            📁 Related Reports

            • No-Code • Use no-code to test ideas quickly as a studio.
            • Micro-SaaS • Start a one-person startup studio with a multitude of small profitable products.
            • Agencies • Fund your startup studio with an agency.
            • Growth Hacking • Template your growth procedure for a variety of startups.
            • Presales • Presell to validate new ideas.


            🙏 Thanks

            Thanks to Shashank, Sam Hickmann, Jeff Dyer, Brian Ball, Sean Hua, Mike, Muhammad Bin Sabir, Stewart Townsend, Anthony Hernandez, Vajresh Balaji and Soma Mandal. We had a great time jamming on this report.


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


            📈 What else?

            Trends PRO #0101 — Startup Studios has more insights.

            What you’ll get:

            • 18 Startup Studios (157% More)
            • 18 Companies from Startup Studios (157% More)
            • 12 Predictions (300% More)
            • 13 Opportunities (175% More)
            • 6 Risks (200% More)
            • 8 Key Lessons (167% More)
            • 5 Hot Takes (150% More)
            • 13 Links (333% More)

            With Trends Pro you’ll learn: 

            • (📈 Pro) How do startup studios use location to attract talent?
            • (📈 Pro) How do businesses expand to build flywheel effects?
            • (📈 Pro) How are people building startup studios for startup studios?
            • (📈 Pro) How are startup studios empowering marginalized communities?
            • (📈 Pro) What leads corporations to build their own startup studios?
            • (📈 Pro) How will governments use startup studios to develop new technologies?
            • (📈 Pro) What new jobs are being created specifically for startup studios?
            • (📈 Pro) How do founders use the holding entity model to fund studios?
            • (📈 Pro) How can you benefit from working for a startup studio?
            • (📈 Pro) How to find your niche?
            • (📈 Pro) How to leverage a startup studio’s network for your benefit?
            • (📈 Pro) How to use fractional talent for your ideas?
            • (📈 Pro) How can startup studios help you fundraise?
            • (📈 Pro) How does working at a startup studio reduce risk?
            • (📈 Pro) How to avoid bad deals with startup studios?
            • And much more…

            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.

              💬 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.

              🧠 Brainstorming Business Ideas 🤖 AI Tools in Browser 🎨 Design Patterns


              This week’s Founder Finds includes:

              • A simple analytics tool
              • A collection of UI & UX design patterns
              • A browser extension for quick access to AI tools
              • A framework for coming up with great business ideas
              • How to get traffic, build marketing funnels and monetize your expertise
              • And more…



              🪶 Remember This


              Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development.



              🤓 Fav Finds

              Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


              🎨 Mobbin shared by Brett Lee
              A collection of UI & UX design patterns that have been deployed in real applications.


              🧠 How to Brainstorm Great Business Ideas shared by Elijah George
              A framework for coming up with great business ideas.


              🐻 Bearly.ai shared by Elie Steinbock
              A browser extension for quick access to AI text tools to help with reading and writing.



              🔧 Try This

              LogSnag

              A simple tool to help you understand your product and business. 

              We will try it out to understand community and newsletter events within Trends.vc.



              🌟 Founder of the Week

              Davida Pitts

              “Unlocking the Trends Pro masterminds has literally changed my life. Having a place every week to bounce my ideas around has done wonders for my creative process. It’s helped me become more comfortable with asking for help and being vulnerable.”


              Davida is building Orange Moon Creative. A solo Webflow studio helping brands shape and launch their marketing websites with confidence and ease. She is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0007.


              What’s your most important habit?
              My daily walk.

              I picked this habit up at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s become my own personal daily stand up. Plus I found that starting with a nice dose of sun makes my day so much brighter (pun intended).


              What are you reading right now?
              The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin

              I’m working on building my shipping muscle. I suffered from perfectionism for a long time which created a graveyard of unfinished projects. The way Seth thinks about the creative process as an act of service has helped me push through my own roadblocks.


              What product or service do you wish existed?
              An app that combines all the music from my subscriptions (Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music) as well as my own music library.


              What product are you obsessively using right now?
              Twitch. I follow some amazing DJs there that provide the soundtrack for my work day. I can pretty much pick any mood I want to be in and there is usually a DJ spinning what I’m looking for.


              What are you bullish on?
              Flipping no-code side projects. So many folks want in on entrepreneurship but don’t want to start from scratch. Sites like MicroAcquire and Tiny Acquisitions are opening up opportunities. If you can build something and get a bit of traction you have a good shot at getting acquired.


              What are you bearish on?
              Twitter. I’ve been on the platform since 2008. It feels like the trolls are winning.


              What’s your favorite Trends Report?
              👥 Audience-first products

              I reread this report recently and it has influenced how I am approaching a new product that I am working on. The resources (links) at the end of the report were a gold mine for me to dig deeper into the topic. It was a perfect bouncing off point to go down the rabbit hole.


              Exclusive Deal: Davida is offering Trends.vc readers over 50% off Figma to Webflow development for a single landing page. Mention TRENDS in the “How did you hear about us” section of the contact form.



              📘 Read This

              The Secrets Series

              An actionable series of books from Russell Brunson on getting traffic, building marketing funnels and monetizing your expertise. No fluff.



              🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

              🆕 Cameron Rambert, Elie Steinbock, Daniel Cleaves, Raj B, Reed Floren, Jean Lucas Lima, Brett Lee, Atul Yadav, Amardeep Parmar, Martin Slaney, Reme Ekoh and Akhil Kala became Trends Pro Members


              👥 Tim Chan, Derrick Persson, Rafał Dołęga, Cameron Rambert, Elie Steinbock, Jean Lucas Lima, Raj B and Atul Yadav unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


              🎪 KP is launching Build In Public Studio


              💻 Brianna Brazle opened the waitlist for the beta launch of CultureLancer


              🖼️ James Renouf launched AI Unlimited with close to 1000 sales


              📅 Maciej Cupial hit 150 paying customers for Calendesk


              ⭐ Yuyu deployed Yuurrific.com


              🧠 Joel Pickin unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak


              Get Weekly Reports

              Join 65,000+ 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.

                🗓️ Annual Life Review ⌛ Timeboxing 📖 Shared Fictions


                This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                • A free behavior analysis tool
                • How to conduct a life review
                • An essay about shared fictions
                • A time management technique
                • A social media management tool
                • And more…



                🪶 Remember This


                The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning.



                🤓 Fav Finds

                Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                🗓️ Annual Life Review shared by Tem
                A framework to conduct your own self-paced annual life review.


                ⌛ Timeboxing shared by Swapnil Puranik
                A time management technique for planning what you are going to do and when you will do it.


                ✨ Later shared by Jerome Green Jr
                A social media management tool to plan, analyze, and publish content in advance.



                🔧 Try This

                Microsoft Clarity

                A free alternative to behavior analysis tools such as FullStory and Hotjar. See heatmaps and session recordings for your sites.



                🌟 Founder of the Week

                Yarty Kim

                “The Trends Pro community has been a treasure trove of insights and collaboration. I’ve met some of the smartest, friendliest, and most humble people here. I’m constantly learning from the community along with the Trends reports.”


                Yarty is building Kick Ass Life. Inspiring founders and creators to live their most purposeful life by embracing challenges, taking action, and connecting with others in a meaningful way. He is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0001.

                Yarty believes that growth happens when we push our limits. He thinks that we should become comfortable being uncomfortable, take on new challenges and most of all enjoy the ride. 


                What’s your most important habit?
                Journaling.

                It helps me distill my thoughts, be honest with myself, and see through the noise of my own judgment.

                I journal daily. Each December, I write a long journal post sharing all the good (and bad) that’s happened. Then schedule to send this a year later. It’s always a pleasant surprise to receive it.


                What are you reading right now?
                Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone

                Big fan of Brad’s work and an even bigger fan of his previous book titled “The Everything Store“.

                 “The Everything Store” changed how I view my life and made me realize I was too comfortable. It prompted me to change my habits and led me to entrepreneurship and meeting new friends.


                What product are you obsessively using right now?
                Notion.

                It has improved a lot over the past year. Everything from the app down to the databases. I use it daily, including my journaling habit.

                If they could enable voice and video recording natively, that would be fantastic!


                What are you bullish on?
                Automation 100%.

                The world of automation is here and is becoming more sophisticated every day.

                Look at tools like Zapier, Make, and Pabbly. It’s incredible stuff and saves time for business owners and individuals alike.

                It’s only going to get better with time.


                What’s your favorite Trends Report?
                🔁 XaaS: Anything as a Service


                What else?
                Be comfortable being uncomfortable. Take on new challenges. Growth happens when we push our limits. Most of all, enjoy the ride. Cheers!



                📘 Read This

                Legitimacy

                Sapiens revealed shared fictions that we accept as truth. Taxes, nations, human rights, money and more.

                I’ve found more shared fictions since then. Such as Caste from Isabelle Wilkerson and Legitimacy from Vitalik Buterin. 

                To understand legitimacy is to understand brands, cryptocurrencies, monarchies and more.



                🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

                🆕 Brian Rey, Mingwei Gu, Le Paul, Karthik Vijayakumar, Sachit Adhikari, Brianna Brazle, Mark Wilcox, Byron Wilson, Michal, Francesco and Juan Pablo Roqueni became Trends Pro Members


                👥 Brian Rey, Marcos Gorgojo, William, Mingwei Gu, Elijah George, Paul Tune, Karthik Vijayakumar, Le Paul, Brianna Brazle, Mark Wilcox, Reed Floren, Vatsalya Verma, Byron Wilson and Gabriel Limma unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups


                🤖 Joel Pickin launched ThisIsBuiltWith.ai


                💰 Jwalant Patel launched a salary negotiation course


                🎞️ Jerome Green Jr shared his workflow of using Descript to edit video. This is a 📈 Trends Pro Exclusive.


                🤝 Tem closed a deal with a high profile lead


                🧠 Shuyen Phoon unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak


                Get Weekly Reports

                Join 65,000+ 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.

                  AI Image Generators: AI-Generated Assets, Video Generators, Image Generation Jobs

                  “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso

                  Get Full Access to Trends Pro


                  ❓ What You’ll Learn

                  • What will AI image generation professionals do?
                  • How to launch NFT collections with AI image generators?
                  • How are content creation platforms using AI image generators?
                  • What businesses can you build with AI image generators?
                  • How to generate a perfect image?
                  • How to boost your productivity with AI image generators?


                  💎 Why It Matters

                  Now anyone can create quality images.


                  🔍 Problem

                  You have ideas for visual art. But you don’t have the ability to express them.


                  💡 Solution

                  AI Image Generators help you turn your ideas into high-quality images.

                  In seconds. Without technical skills.


                  🏁 Players

                  AI Image Generation Apps

                  • Pollinations • Create unrestricted and customized AI media
                  • DreamStudio • Create AI-powered images using Stable Diffusion
                  • Craiyon • Free online AI image generator from text
                  • NightCafe • AI-powered text-to-image generator
                  • Deep Dream Generator • Combine text and images to generate photorealistic art
                  • Artbreeder • Create images by mixing them together and editing their genes
                  • ImgCreator.ai • Creating illustrations, anime and concept design images
                  • Starryai • Turn text into images
                  • SceneryAI • Edit and generate background scenery for your images
                  • Bertha AI • Create images for your WordPress blog
                  • Playground AI • Discover prompts for art, social media posts, posters, logos and more
                  • WOMBO Dream • Create portraits and abstract images in different styles
                  • Photosonic • Free online text-to-image generator

                  AI Image Generation Tools

                  • AI Image Upscaler • Enhance image resolution with AI
                  • DiffusionBee • Install Stable Diffusion on MacOS
                  • Hugging Face • Build, train and deploy AI image generation models
                  • MindsEye • Graphical user interface built to run multimodal AI art models for free
                  • promptoMANIA • Online prompt builder
                  • Grid Splitter • Split your AI image into single images
                  • Colab • Run AI image generators in the cloud for free

                  AI Image Generation Models

                  • DALL·E 2 • Create realistic images and art from text
                  • Stable Diffusion • A latent text-to-image diffusion model
                  • Midjourney • Create images from textual descriptions
                  • DeepAI • AI Image Generator API
                  • Big Sleep • Simple command line tool for text-to-image generation
                  • Jasper Art • Create images for your ads, blog, website and social media


                  🔮 Predictions

                  • We’ll see new jobs for AI image generation professionals. They will build, train and deploy AI models, write prompts, generate images and animations.
                    • Clone Lexica for $4,000.
                    • Build an AI image database for $750-1,500.
                    • Create an AI-powered avatar builder for $2,000.
                    • Become a Stable Diffusion coding expert for $5,000
                    • Add text-to-image generator to a website for $750-2,000.
                    • Teach advanced Midjourney techniques for $5-45 per hour.
                    • Create artwork for an art gallery platform for $8-15 per hour.
                    • Configure Stable Diffusion to create clothes for $8-$95 per hour.
                    • Help with Stable Diffusion and DreamBooth for $65-200 per hour.
                    • Create a custom DreamBooth and Stable Diffusion setup for $500.
                    • Create 5-second animated videos with AI-generated images for $30-250.


                  ☁️ Opportunities

                  • Build a directory of AI image generator tools. Share new tools, models and services.


                  🏔️ Risks

                  • Platform Risk • You are subject to the platform’s content policies. Getty Images banned AI-generated images due to copyright worries. Newgrounds endorses art made by humans. Fur Affinity banned AI-generated images due to a lack of artistic merit.
                  • Copyright Risk • AI image generators are trained on real artists’ concepts, attributes and styles. It’s unclear who owns the rights to AI-generated images. Artists can use Have I Been Trained? tool to check if their art appeared in training datasets.
                  • High Costs• You may go bankrupt if you don’t balance the supply and demand for your AI business. Especially during the early stage. Interior AI grew to 23 customers and $500 MRR. While the GPU costs grew to $1,000 per day. Which was 60 times more than its monthly revenue.


                  🔑 Key Lessons

                  • Some artists don’t want to be used as training material. They fear AI will replace them. Greg Rutkowski says “when you type in my name, you see more work from the AI than work that I have done myself.”
                  • Major AI image generators are trained on publicly available data. They use open datasets such as LAION-5B. Which scrapes sources such as Pinterest, DeviantArt, Getty Images and more.
                  • Publicly available datasets may not be copyright-free. They may have images that have their rightful owners. LAION-5B and ImageNet explicitly say that images are under their own copyright.


                  🔥 Hot Takes


                  😠 Haters

                  “Unrestricted, open-source image generators are subject to unethical use.”
                  This is true. They do what we tell them to do. Deepfakes could be used for doing bad and good things. The same is true for AI image generators.

                  “It can be hard to control the final result.”
                  Many AI image generators are pre-trained models that follow a strict set of rules. Learn the art of writing prompts to produce detailed outcomes. Use open-source tools to fine-tune your models if you’re a tech-savvy person.

                  “Digital artists may lose their value. It can be hard to distinguish between them and AI.”
                  While AI can copy artists’ styles, it lacks a human touch. Those who value human personality, story, creativity and passion will continue to appreciate non-AI art.


                  🔗 Links

                  1. Looking for AI Image projects • The tweet behind this report.
                  2. AI Image generators, a complete guide to this new technology • Introduction to how AI image generators work.
                  3. The Anatomy Of An AI Art Prompt • Guide on how to write a good prompt for AI image generators.


                  📁 Related Reports


                  🙏 Thanks

                  Thanks to Joel Pickin, Guillaume Tessier, Vlad R., Felipe Collins, Fausto Sá Teles, Sam Schrup, Stewart Townsend, Aja, Satish Jain, Frank Pei, Shashank, Marcos Gorgojo, Paul Tune and Marc Fletcher. 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 #0100 — AI Image Generators has more insights.

                  What you’ll get:

                  • 37 AI Image Generation Apps (185% More)
                  • 25 AI Image Generation Tools (257% More)
                  • 19 AI Image Generation Models (217% More)
                  • 14 Predictions (250% More)
                  • 20 Opportunities (300% More)
                  • 6 Risks (100% More)
                  • 8 Key Lessons (167% More)
                  • 14 Hot Takes (367% More)
                  • 14 Links (367% More)

                  With Trends Pro you’ll learn: 

                  • (📈 Pro) How to create game assets?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to illustrate books?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to automate creative work?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to find AI image generator hackathons?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to use AI image generators to create NFTs?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to create detailed image prompts?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to restore old photos?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are the benefits of building user communities?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to sell AI-generated prints?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are AI image generation plugins?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to create AI-generated avatars of yourself?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are open-source AI image generators?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to set up an AI image generator?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to create themed images?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to monetize your expertise with AI image generators?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to get predictable results?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to turn 2D videos into 3D?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to save money using AI image generators?
                  • (📈 Pro) What work will AI image generators replace?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are the limitations of diffusion models?
                  • (📈 Pro) How to use prompt modifiers to generate better images?
                  • (📈 Pro) What are the legal risks of using AI image generators?
                  • (📈 Pro) What is the history of AI-generated art?
                  • (📈 Pro) What tool raised $125,000,000 to build an AI image generator?
                  • And much more…

                  Get Weekly Reports

                  Join 65,000+ 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.

                    ⌛ 10-Year Test 🦉 Guide to Wealth & Happiness 🤖 AI Avatars


                    This week’s Founder Finds includes:

                    • AI avatars
                    • The 10-year test
                    • A collection of Naval’s wisdom
                    • Carving out time to be creative
                    • A tool to visualize numerical data
                    • A tool to quickly build apps in your browser
                    • And more…



                    🪶 Remember This


                    Follow your bliss.



                    🤓 Fav Finds

                    Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members


                    📊 GRID shared by Bernardt J. Vogel
                    A tool to build beautiful, interactive visualizations from complex numerical data.


                    🦉 The Almanack of Naval Ravikant shared by Shuyen Phoon
                    A collection of Naval’s wisdom on principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness.


                    👷 FlutterFlow shared by Sebastian Rohrmann
                    An online tool to build fully functional apps in your browser fast, accelerating time to market.



                    🔧 Try This

                    Profile Picture AI

                    Danny Postma’s ProfilePicture.ai is yet another sign of how fast Generative Tech is moving. Look out for this week’s report on AI Image Generators.



                    🌟 Founder of the Week

                    Lwany

                    “Trends Pro reports are my gospel, I confide in the community as if they are my priests, and I aim to practice everything Dru preaches. I’m grateful to have found a place to expedite my learning and be surrounded by such kind and generous entrepreneurs. I only wish there were more women.”


                    Lwany is building Petite Fashion Weekly. A curated newsletter for short fashionistas sharing the latest on all things style. Petite Ventures, the umbrella above Petite Fashion Weekly, will soon expand into other audience-first products like digital products and experiences. Lwany is also a member of Trends Mastermind #0006.


                    What’s your most important habit?
                    Getting an early start

                    The earlier I wake up, the better my day, so I’ve been waking up at 5 am, but I’m working on making that 4 am.


                    What are you reading right now?
                    Find Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky

                    As with most women, I struggle with drawing boundaries and prioritizing myself, so I recently picked up Find Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky. The book is an inspirational guide to carving out time and space to be creative. I’ll be reading the author’s first book, Fair Play, next which outlines how to divide household tasks and balance life.


                    What product or service do you wish existed?
                    A no-code tool for creating shoppable Pinterest-like boards that populates a product’s image, size availability, and price from affiliate links.

                    I’d love to set up concept shops based on my audience’s most frequent requests (loungewear, office attire, etc.) with a partial paywall.


                    What product are you obsessively using right now?
                    After a bad case of burnout, I’m gearing up to start creating content again, and Notion has been God-sent. It allowed me to create a strategy along with monthly, weekly and daily checklists.


                    What are you bearish on?
                    Sacrificing the present for a future goal because tomorrow isn’t promised and all we have is now.


                    What’s your favorite Trends Report?
                    🗂️ Directories

                    I considered selling a directory with 100+ retailers offering petite clothing, but ultimately decided against it. This report challenged me to re-evaluate my decision. The players outlined are incredibly inspiring, and the opportunities are pretty compelling.



                    ❔ Ask Yourself

                    10-Year Test

                    I’m obsessed with the idea of compounding and by extension, long-term thinking. 

                    I often ask: “Can you see yourself doing this for 10 years?” 

                    This applies to friendships, business partnerships, hobbies and more. 

                    Most of the benefits of compounding come later in the journey. It’s a question worth asking early and often.



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