This week’s Founder Finds includes:
- 100 sales questions
- A copywriting classic
- 12 startups in 12 months
- How to build a sustainable SaaS business
- And more…
🪶 Remember This
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for that’s the stuff life is made of.
🤓 Fav Finds
Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members
🎙️ Market Analysis for Calm SaaS Businesses shared by davidacreates
An audience-first research process to build a sustainable SaaS business.
📖 Tested Advertising Methods shared by Kyle
A copywriting classic by John Caples.
🤖 Adept AI Action Transformer shared by Sunny Kay
Tell your computer what to do and it’ll do it.
🔧 Try This
Like 12 startups in 12 months. Instead of assuming that you know what will work.
Commit to shipping lots of things. Double-down on what works.
This approach led to Trends.vc and the projects that came before it.
It’s a reminder that business is not baseball:
“The difference between baseball and business, however, is that baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1,000 runs. This long-tailed distribution of returns is why it’s important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments.” — Bezos
🌟 Founder of the Week
“It’s great to be part of an ever-evolving community of interesting people in Trends Pro. I look forward to contributing more to the community.”
Wit is a one-person hedge fund. He’s joined more than 500 Trends Pro Daily Standups.
What are you bullish on?
Big changes.
The future is being built today. Things are getting more volatile. Market regimes are giving way to something new. Inflation and fuel costs might accelerate the reality of alternative fuel sources. Ecology is not getting any better soon as reflected in the harsher climate people experience. Crypto markets coming out of mania clears up garbage and allows for future development. Many of the big projects that headlined in the 2020-2021 era got their start in the 2018-2019 bear market.
What are you bearish on?
I’m bearish on being bearish!
There’s not much upside in being bearish. Aside from the ‘told you so’ smug points. That’s why stories like the Big Short are exceptions compared to being long or neutral. I can’t come up with many names who can build a career being net short. So do it in a healthy way. Get into the habit of rarely being net short.
What are you reading right now?
I’m re-reading The Most Important Thing Illuminated by Howard Marks
I’ve gained more experience and re-reading this feels new and important again. The book contains a lot of wisdom around professional speculation that I missed. It’s about how to operate in the markets for the long run.
What product or service do you wish existed?
I wish there were more reasonable paths to trade more capital aside from the professional money manager route. Since trading is highly scalable.
What’s your favorite Trends Report?
🤑 Million-Dollar, One-Person Businesses
Coming from a background in man-power intensive, low-margin hospitality businesses, I find this idea alluring. The obvious path for me is the trading/investment business which has a long record of being run by (or at least started by) a small group of people. e.g. Warren Buffett, Edward Thorp and many “Market Wizards.”
📘 Read This
“In a perfect world, what would you like to see happen with this?”
A few days ago, we had a mastermind chat on limiting beliefs. One of my limiting beliefs was that I could not sell. Which led to the delay in launching sponsorships at Trends.vc.
To challenge this, I found a guide and jumped in head first.
Equip yourself with useful questions for sales conversations.
🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins
🆕 Paul Jansen, Kyle, Alex Adamov and Kris Ruby became Trends Pro Members
👥 Mehdi Bellatig, Tarek Zalt, Harsha MV, Alex Cristian and Kyle unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups.
🤝 Simon Daley received the first LOI for his listing on MicroAcquire.
🏷️ Mehdi Bellatig submitted the mobile version of Eden to app stores.
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.
