This week’s Founder Finds includes:

⚙️ A web scraping platform
💰 A website flipping guide
🤔 What are invented problems
🧊 A list of icebreaker questions
👤 How to create an ideal customer profile
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Done is better than perfect.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Robin Stanley and Georgios Diamantopoulos unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

🤝 Ren Saguil launched a B2B Sales Maturity Framework 

📅 Jakub Nowikowski wrote a year-end summary of 2023

🚀 Simon launched SaaS Themes

🎓 M. Yousuf Faisal earned a cybersecurity expert certification

🦉 Maisha Cannon reached a 300-day standup streak

🧠 Dale Williams unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

👤 Ideal Customer Profile shared by Maisha Cannon
A video on defining the ideal customer profile for your B2B SaaS

🧊 Icebreaker Questions shared by Peter Elkins
A list of icebreakers to kickstart community events

⚙️ Apify shared by Yuyu
A web scraping and automation platform

🐦 Tweet of the Week

🔧 Try This

Website Flipping

Website flipping means buying, improving and selling websites for profit.

How?

• By getting more traffic, or
• Making more money with the same traffic.

This article shares how to build or buy websites with high growth potential.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) AI strategy
  
• (📈 Pro) SEO resources
  
• (📈 Pro) Software free trials

🎧 Listen To

Solving Invented Problems

Some problems, when solved, lead to making things better.

But some problems that we want to solve are invented.

There are 2 kinds of invented problems:

• Situation, not a problem: You’re stuck in an elevator. The repair people have been called. The only thing to do is wait.
• Trivial problems: Solving it will have little impact. Focusing on it keeps our mind off the problems that matter.

📆 Upcoming Events

March 18: Trends Tribe with 1:1 Founder Intros​

The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
 💲 B2B Sales for Founders

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

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

“Create a customer who creates customers.” – Shiv Singh

Get Full Access to Trends Pro

❓ What You’ll Learn

• How to get new clients?
• Who grew an agency to $500,000 ARR in public?
• Who shares lessons growing a productized agency to $1,500,000 ARR?
• How to get contact details of prospective customers?
• How to earn predictable revenue?
• How to simplify the buying process?
• Who’s building AI-powered agencies?
• Who is testing AI agents to automate agency work?
• How to manage a remote agency?
• How to get customer testimonials?
  
  

🔍 Problem

Companies need to solve short-term problems, access on-demand expertise and scale fast.

💡 Solution

Agencies offer tailored solutions with high lifetime value.

🏁 Players

Design Agencies

• Solveo • Launch smarter and grow faster
• Outstandly • Game art design
• OpenPurpose • Premium design services
  

Content Agencies

• Hiperion Marketing • SEO-optimized content, audits and backlinks
• Fractl • Acquire more customers from organic search
• Draft • Technical content
  

Marketing Agencies

• Studio CO2 • Digital marketing for product campaigns
• Delverise • Managed growth solutions
• Tetriz • Growth hacking for SaaS
  

Recruiting Agencies

• A Team Overseas • Hire executive assistants for startups. 
• Movevirtual • Hire virtual assistants for design, support and marketing
• RemotelyTalents • Find remote talent in marketing and eCommerce
  

Development Agencies

• Optemization • Builds custom workspaces in Notion
• Flow Ninja • Building websites with Webflow
• Airdev • No-code development services
  

Lead Generation Agencies

• clique.agency • Google Ads optimization
• CyberLeads • Reach out to companies who raised funds
• Belkins • Book meetings with B2B leads
  
  

🛠 How to Build Agencies

• Use cold outreach to get new clients.
  • Gaurav Sharma used cold emails to grow Attrock.
  • Jakob Greenfeld and Ryan Doyle run Sales.co. They cold-emailed businesses with custom videos.
  • Justas Markus and Tomas Laurinavicius run GetFound XL. They did content audits and cold-emailed prospects the results.

• Build your agency on top of an ecosystem. Use network effects to your advantage.
  • Infiraise offers Odoo consulting services.
  • ThinkFuel offers HubSpot development services.
  • Represent offers Shopify and Sanity development.
  • Nuanced Media offers Amazon marketing services.
  • Duck Design offers web development with Webflow, Tilda and more.
  • White Label Coders offers WordPress and WooCommerce development.

• Build a full-service agency. Become a one-stop shop for all client’s needs.
  • Bear In The Hall is a full-service creative agency.
  • Jives Media is a full-service digital marketing agency.
  • The Shelf is a full-service influencer marketing agency.
    
    

🌱 How to Grow Agencies

• Build in public to earn trust and stay top of mind.
  • Nick is building Baked Design in public.
  • Wildish & Co. shares branding work on Instagram.
  • Our Own Brand is active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
  • League Design Agency shares design work on Facebook and Instagram.
  • Brett Williams shares lessons on building Designjoy in public to $1,500,000 ARR.
  • Alex West is building Cyberleads. He shares progress, revenue and customer success.

• Share case studies. Build confidence in your ability to solve problems.
  • Overskies share case studies on branding services.
  • AMP Agency shares case studies on marketing and advertising.
  • OneAgency shares case studies on design, development and content marketing.

• Offer lead magnets to get contact details of prospective customers.
  • Comrade offers a free marketing audit.
  • KlientBoost offers a free marketing plan.
  • Hibu offers a Facebook reach calculator.
  • AtticSalt offers an ebook on brand design.
  • JetRockets offers an ebook on picking a software development partner.
    
    

💰 How to Monetize Agencies

• Charge per hour to offer clients flexibility. Let clients pay for what they use.
  • Medsolve charges per hour for medical marketing services.
  • Redwerk charges per hour for software development services.
  • Iceberg charges per hour for HubSpot implementation services.

• Charge per project to earn predictable revenue.
  • EPAM charges per product development project.
  • JetRockets charges for designing and building software projects.
  • Shakuro charges for design, development and branding projects.

• Share your price upfront to simplify the buying process.
  • The Career Coach has career coaching programs with clear prices.
  • EZ Rankings has digital marketing and web development packages.
  • clique.agency shares clear prices for the Google Ads management services and audits.
    
    

🔮 Predictions

• We’ll see AI-enabled agencies. They will use AI agents and generative AI to automate work.
  • Verblio offers AI-augmented content creation.
  • Draft which has AI-powered writing workflows.
  • Brave Bison uses AI for research and creative work.
  • Jakob Greenfeld and Ryan Doyle test AI agents at Sales.co.
  • NoGood uses AI to build psychographics and offer marketing services.
  • Eric Siu runs Single Grain. They use generative AI to work on SEO and content.

• Agencies will become more niche. This will help to lower competition.
  • WeTeachCRO helps to boost conversions.
  • Optemization builds custom workspaces with Notion.
  • The Amore Agency helps to market OnlyFans models.
  • Amazowl offers marketing services for Amazon sellers.
  • Divine Persuasion Studio helps churches build strong brands.

• Agencies will build internal tools to boost their performance.
  • Gosling Media has Gosling360 for managing work.
  • The Shelf has a proprietary influencer marketing platform.
  • Kevin Geary runs Digital Gravy. It made Frames that powers their design sets.
  • Power Digital built nova Intelligence which uses AI to help make the right decisions.
  • Lasting Dynamics built Roundrush, a workflow management tool. It is free for clients and partners.
    
    

😠 Haters

“Advising is a better business model than building an agency. Higher margins and lower mental overhead.”
You’re right. Margins are higher and client management is easier when you’re an advisor.

“Agencies are hard to scale.”
While agencies scale by hiring, you can build scalable products to offset this. Find a problem you can solve at scale with SaaS or a digital product.

“Managing an agency is hard. Managing a remote one is harder.”
Build processes and master communication. Unreliable communication amplifies the risks of async work.

🔗 Links

1. ​​From Indie Hacking to Owning an Agency​ • The thread behind this report.
2. Building a Report on Agencies • The tweet behind this report.
3. How to Get Customer Testimonials • 6 ways to ask for testimonials from your customers.
4. How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency • How to build and grow a digital marketing agency.
   
   

📁 Related Reports

• ​​​​Unlimited Services • Offer design, development and marketing work without a complex buying process.
• Software Development Services • Help clients focus on their core competency while you do the coding.
• Fractional Executives • Offer a fractional executive on an as-needed basis.
• Consulting • Guide clients and sometimes implement solutions.
• Productized Services • Offer a service for a fixed price with a clear scope and timeline.
  
  

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Vikram Aditya, Ivan Zografski, Marc Kreuzer, Vinamra Agrawal 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 #0143 — Agencies has more insights.

What you’ll get:

• 43 Agency Examples (139% More)
• 11 Ways to Build Agencies (267% More)
• 10 Ways to Grow Agencies (233% More)
• 13 Ways to Monetize Agencies (333% More)
• 7 Predictions (133% More)
• 12 Links (200% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

• (📈 Pro) How to turn prospects into warm leads?
• (📈 Pro) Why offer white-label services?
• (📈 Pro) How to stop trading hours for money?
• (📈 Pro) How to maintain high margins?
• (📈 Pro) How to access a global talent pool for your agency?
• (📈 Pro) How to get more leads with side projects?
• (📈 Pro) How to reach audiences who need your services?
• (📈 Pro) Who uses discovery platforms to get new clients?
• (📈 Pro) How to get others to bring you clients?
• (📈 Pro) How to make sure you get paid?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $42,915 in 1 week with a scalable product?
• (📈 Pro) Who is building micro-agencies?
• (📈 Pro) Which agencies turned into software companies?
• (📈 Pro) What software companies add value with services?
• (📈 Pro) How to write high-converting cold emails?
• (📈 Pro) What are 12 frameworks for managing projects?
• (📈 Pro) What are the 9 agency pricing models?
• (📈 Pro) What are the 10 agency processes you can automate?
• And much more…
  
  

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💬 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.

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

💲 A B2B sales guide
🎵 Making music with AI
🖼️ An SEO guide for images
🎭 Manipulative design tactics
☕ A virtual coworking platform
🧠 Short courses on generative AI
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Word of mouth is the best (and worst) marketing.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Caleb Hong unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

📝 Emeric Victor launched RFPVerse

🎵 Darren Travel wrote about producing a music album with AI

📊 Royce Johnson built Qualimatch

📨 Uwe Dreissigacker launched a Premium Email Delivery Server for InvoiceBerry

🚀 Maciej Cupial reached a 700-day standup streak

🧠 M. Yousuf Faisal unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

☕ Flow Club shared by Don Ho
A virtual coworking platform for focus and accountability

🧠 Learn Generative AI shared by Alex
A collection of short courses on generative AI

🖼️ Alt Text SEO shared by Prabhjot Singh Lamba
A guide to using image alt texts

🐦 Tweet of the Week

📘 Read This

Founder’s Guide to B2B Sales

This is a complete guide on everything you need to know about B2B sales.

It’s written for early-stage and growing startups.

• How to build and manage a sales company
• How to boost customer success
• How to build a sales pipeline
• and more…

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) AI strategy
  
• (📈 Pro) SEO resources
  
• (📈 Pro) Software free trials

👀 Watch This

How Brands Control Your Mind

Looks can affect how we perceive products, their value and utility.

Store layouts, ad colors and app interfaces use subtle design tactics to guide your decisions.

Some of them are made for your convenience. Others aim at manipulating your behavior.Understanding the motives behind these can help you build a more conscious approach to interacting with brands.

📆 Upcoming Events

Feb 19: Trends Tribe with 1:1 Founder Intros​

The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
 🚀 Startup Resources Toolkit

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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.

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

📨 An email sequence guide
🚀 A library of startup resources
📺 YouTubers copying each other
⏱ An AI-powered time tracking tool
🎮 12 growth lessons from an indie game
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Barbara Jones and Chris Beaumont unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

🥇 Elie Steinbock wrote about hitting #1 on Product Hunt

🧊 Simon launched Bento Pixel

🛡️ M. Yousuf Faisal launched Securing Things

🎾 Jarrad Pouncil qualified for a national tennis championship

🧰 Dru Riley hosted a Trends Pro workshop on split testing for creators

🧠 Rafael Servatti and Elia Zane unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 30-day standup streaks

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🚀 Startup Resources Toolkit shared by Caleb Hong
A curated list of resources for founders

⏱ Rize shared by Shreyans Bhansali
A time tracking tool with AI features

🎮 12 Growth Lessons from an Indie Game shared by David Fu
A summary of how an unknown title became a viral hit

🐦 Tweet of the Week

📘 Read This

Your Guide to Better Email

Email lets you engage and nurture users outside of your product.

Here’s what a good nurturing sequence looks like:

• Welcome email: Remind users of who you are and what you do.
• Product adoption emails: Explain what a user should do and why.
• Upgrade email: Boost the value of premium features and create loss aversion.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) SEO resources
  
• (📈 Pro) B2B sales toolkit
  
• (📈 Pro) Software free trials

👀 Watch This

The Copy and Paste Culture of YouTube

YouTubers are copying others’ titles, thumbnails and even entire scripts word-for-word.

• Learn why plagiarism is on the rise
• How to make original, unique content
• What’s the future of the creative community

📆 Upcoming Events

Feb 19: Trends Tribe with 1:1 Founder Intros​

👋 New Trends Pro Members

• Shushant Lakhyani (Digital Disruptor)
  
• Jassen Bowman (Bizorca)
  
• Matteo Grand (Portaire)
  
• Robin Stanley
  
• Chase Baer

The Most Popular Link From Last Week:
🗂️ Marketing Strategy Database

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

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

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

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

“Ship your startup in days, not weeks.” — Marc Lou

Get Full Access to Trends Pro

❓ What You’ll Learn

• Who’s building SaaS boilerplates in public?
• How to get contact details of prospective customers?
• How to piggyback on AI trends?
• How to boost perceived value with a ROI breakdown?
• How to build social proof from developers?
• How to attract warm leads?
• What are no-code SaaS boilerplates?
• How to generate SaaS boilerplates on demand?
  
  

🔍 Problem

Each SaaS has the same core functions.

Such as notifications, payments, analytics and user authentication.

💡 Solution

SaaS boilerplates help you get to market faster.

You can build core functionality in hours.

🏁 Players

SaaS Boilerplates

• SaaS Themes • Laravel SaaS boilerplate themes by Simon and Albfort
• ShipFast • The NextJS boilerplate to build a SaaS, AI tool or any web app by Marc Lou
• Divjoy • SaaS codebase generator by Gabe Ragland
• No-Code SaaS Boilerplate • Customizable SaaS boilerplate in Bubble by Mohit
• Gravity • Build a Node.js and React app at warp speed by Kyle Gawley
• Shipped • Next.js boilerplate with auth, emails, payments and more by Luca Restagno
• Launch Today • Production-ready boilerplate for startups and indie makers by Paul Waweru
  
  

🛠 How to Build SaaS Boilerplates

• Build in public to get early feedback.
  • GeniePy shares updates in public.
  • Bhargav is building NextBase in public.
  • Gian Carlo shares Makerkit updates in public.

• Build a waiting list to gauge interest and get contact details of prospective customers.
  • Saas.js has a waiting list for SaaS patterns, tools and packages.
  • Samuel Štancl opened a waiting list for Laravel Tenancy Boilerplate 2.0.

• Presell to validate demand and get early users.
  • Max Stoiber opened pre-orders for Bedrock.
  • Jake Trefethen offers an early-bird price for Indiestack.
  • Muhammad Salman made $800 with a launch discount for the first 30 users.

• Piggyback on market trends by adding AI to your boilerplate.
  • NextAppFast uses AI to generate SaaS code.
  • AI Tool has pre-built OpenAI content generators.
  • BoilerCode has LangChain, Pinecone and OpenAI integrations.
  • Michael Dausmann added AI note generation with OpenAI to SupaNuxt SaaS.
    
    

🌱 How to Grow SaaS Boilerplates

• Explain the ROI in terms of time, money and energy saved by using your boilerplate.
  • Boostack says you’ll save $19,500 on development costs.
  • Turbojet says you’ll save 200 hours and $18,000 on development costs.
  • Ship SaaS says you’ll save $10,000+ and 2 months of development time.

• Share testimonials to build trust. Show that developers approve your tech stack and functionality.
  • ShipFast shares video reviews from happy customers.
  • Gravity shares its Trustpilot rating and customer reviews.
  • ASP.NET Zero shares how customers use it to build web apps.

• Build a lead magnet to attract warm leads.
  • SaaS Pegasus offers a free consultation.
  • Gravity offers a free SaaS boilerplate and a guide on building profitable SaaS apps.
    
    

💰 How to Monetize SaaS Boilerplates

• Charge per project.
  • Remixtape costs $299 per project.
  • Laravel Spark costs $99 per project.
  • Volca has $99 and $349 licenses to use with one project.

• Charge per seat.
  • NextAppFast has paid plans for 1 and 2 developers.
  • ASP.NET Zero charges for 3, 10 and 20 developers.
  • Makerkit offers plans for 1 and an unlimited number of developers.

• Offer lifetime updates to boost perceived value.
  • PySaaS offers lifetime updates for $149.
  • GeniePy offers lifetime updates for $129.
  • Nodewood offers lifetime updates for $595.
    
    

🔮 Predictions

• We’ll see no-code SaaS boilerplates. Non-tech customers will build SaaS without code.
  • Mohit G made a SaaS boilerplate in Bubble.
  • NextAppFast has no-code UI and database builders.
  • Jorg Poolman made Ultimate SaaS Template in Bubble.
  • WGMI Academy made an AI SaaS Starter Kit in Bubble.

• SaaS boilerplate generators will help users get boilerplates on demand.
  • NextAppFast can generate a SaaS from text.
  • Flatlogic generates source code for B2B apps.
  • Divjoy is a codebase generator for SaaS apps.
  • ABP Commercial is an app generator with pre-built SaaS modules.

• We’ll see more open-source SaaS boilerplates.
  • Golang Startup Kit is a SaaS boilerplate in Go.
  • Play is a free, open-source starter kit for Next.js.
  • Arjay Osma is building Nextacular for making multi-tenant apps.
  • Cuthbert Mirambo made an open-source SaaS boilerplate built in Laravel, Bootstrap 4 and Vue.js.
    
    

😠 Haters

“It’s hard to keep the boilerplate up-to-date.”
This is another way to boost perceived value. Take the burden off customers to keep up with security patches, bug fixes and best practices.

“I can make more money with software development services.”
While custom development services bring more money, SaaS boilerplates are digital products. They scale better than your time. You can offer both to get the best of both worlds.

“If I can build SaaS faster than competitors, why should I help them do the same?”
Others are turning their SaaS development expertise into boilerplates. People can buy from them and catch up with you. The difference is that you won’t get paid. Others will.

🔗 Links

1. ​Making $200,000 with a SaaS Boilerplate • The thread behind this report.
2. Building a Report on SaaS Boilerplates • The tweet behind this report.
3. SaaS Boilerplates and Starter Kits • The complete guide to SaaS boilerplates.
   
   

📁 Related Reports

• ​​​​​Digital Products • Share your knowledge at scale.
• Software Development Services • Help non-tech founders focus on their core competency.
• No-Code • Build a software business without writing code.
• Unlimited Services • Offer design, development and marketing services in one click.
• Affiliate Marketing • Build a scalable, performance-based salesforce.
  
  

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Simon, Stewart Townsend and Matt Spear. 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 #0142 — SaaS Boilerplates has more insights.

What you’ll get:

• 24 SaaS Boilerplate Examples (243% More)
• 9 Ways to Build SaaS Boilerplates (125% More)
• 10 Ways to Grow SaaS Boilerplates (233% More)
• 12 Ways to Monetize SaaS Boilerplates (300% More)
• 7 Predictions (133% More)
• 11 Links (267% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

• (📈 Pro) How to boost customer success?
• (📈 Pro) How to help users fit the boilerplate to their needs?
• (📈 Pro) How to increase your total addressable market?
• (📈 Pro) How to boost sales with strong buyer triggers?
• (📈 Pro) How to reach your target audience?
• (📈 Pro) How to build positive word-of-mouth?
• (📈 Pro) How to build a value ladder for your boilerplate?
• (📈 Pro) How to add value with a community?
• (📈 Pro) How to monetize open-source boilerplates?
• (📈 Pro) How to get a predictable cash flow?
• (📈 Pro) How to get a higher average order value?
• (📈 Pro) How to upsell custom software development services?
• (📈 Pro) Who’s building CustomGPT starter kits?
• (📈 Pro) What are AI-powered SaaS boilerplates?
• (📈 Pro) How to use SaaS boilerplates for side project marketing?
• (📈 Pro) How to boost adoption by piggybacking on developer trends?
• (📈 Pro) What SaaS marketing strategies and metrics should you know?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $11,673 in 5 days with an open-source boilerplate?
• (📈 Pro) Who bootstrapped a SaaS boilerplate to $25,000 per month?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $190,000 from a boilerplate?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $43,000 in 2 months with a SaaS boilerplate?
• And much more…
  
  

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🧠 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.

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🚀 How to 8x your price
🤖 How AI will affect SaaS
🗺️ A roadmap to learning SEO
🗂️ A database of marketing strategies
📺 A Notion dashboard for YouTubers
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

📝 Joel Pickin made a custom GPT based on The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allen Dib

🗺️ Avy Leghziel launched the Manager’s Map of Chaos

🎶 Darren Travel released his first music album

🤖 Eddie Forson created CEO GPT

🛡️ M. Yousuf Faisal launched a cybersecurity toolkit

📺 Meiko S. Patton built a newsletter coach GPT for YouTubers

📨 Kevin Galang got an inbound lead for A Team Overseas after being featured in Founder Finds

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

📺 YouTuber Notion Dashboard shared by Joel Pickin
A Notion template to organize your channel information, videos, ideas and more

🗺️ Learning SEO shared by Dean Shoven
A roadmap of resources and tools for learning SEO

🗂️ Marketing Strategy Database shared by AJ
A collection of 300+ marketing strategies for indie creators

🐦 Tweet of the Week

📘 Read This

How to 8x Your Price by… Repositioning

You can charge much more for the same product with the right value proposition.

While a lot of products say that they’ll save you more time, money or energy.

It’s 10x more valuable for a business to grow faster than it is to save money.

To build high-end offers, find a way to create value in the way your customers measure value and position your product as a way to accomplish that.

💬 Join the Conversation

Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) Finding affiliates
  
• (📈 Pro) Scheduling tools
  
• (📈 Pro) B2B sales toolkit

🎧 Listen To

AI and the Future of SaaS

Explore opportunities, challenges and threats that AI may pose for entrepreneurs and creators.

• Multi-modal AI will handle multiple media sources such as text, audio, images and videos.
• Businesses will build local fallbacks for AI features to avoid total dependency on AI platforms.
• AI-powered software is becoming a norm. Products without these capabilities will feel outdated.
  
  
  

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This week’s Founder Finds includes:

🪤 21 mind traps
🏋️ A library of free workouts
🌱 Personal growth for founders
🔄 A cheat sheet for habit building
🔮 A directory of 2024 trend forecasts
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 M. Yousuf Faisal unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

🤖 Joel Pickin made a custom GPT implementing Justin Welsh’s Content Matrix

🥇 Elie Steinbock made a video on reaching #1 on Product Hunt

🏷️ Eddie Forson launched Tag Management for EnVsion

🎪 Simon launched Build in Public on Product Hunt

💼 Peter Elkins got the first inbound prospect for Fractional Executives

🧠 Pascal Samsoon unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching a 30-day standup streak

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🔮 2024 Trend Forecasts shared by Bernardt J. Vogel
A directory of industry forecasts for 2024

🔄 Habits Cheat Sheet shared by Dru Riley
A 1-page cheat sheet to build better habits

🏋️ DAREBEE shared by Peter Elkins
A library of fitness challenges and workouts

🐦 Tweet of the Week

📘 Read This

The Feedback Founders Need to Hear

As a founder, you should know what you’re doing well and where you’re falling short.

What worked for you when you started might not work for you now.

The best way to learn this?

Self-reflection and peer feedback.Ask yourself: What does your business need from you right now?

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Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) Finding affiliates
  
• (📈 Pro) Scheduling tools
  
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21 Mind Traps

Mind traps are thinking errors that get in the way of your decision making.

Here are 21 fallacies, biases and other mind traps that influence your decisions:

• Spotlight effect: You think that people are judging you but nobody cares.
• Contrast effect: You exaggerate the traits of one thing by comparing it to another.
• Gambler’s fallacy: You think that past events can influence random events in the future.
  
  
  

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“AI amplifies human capabilities.” — Satya Nadella

Get Full Access to Trends Pro

❓ What You’ll Learn

• How to build better products by “dogfooding”?
• Who used X (Twitter) to get a 7,500-person wait list?
• Who got 4,600,000 views on the launch tweet?
• How to fill your funnel with warm leads?
• How to get others to sell for you?
• Who used the existing user base to test AI features?
• Who’s building AI startup studios?
• Who is building embedded AI?
• How to deal with weak moats?
• How to control API credits usage?
• How to stand out in this crowded market?
• How to direct AI to get accurate results?
• How to build niche AI models?
  
  

🔍 Problem

We write first drafts, draw wireframes, edit videos and more.

This is slow and repetitive.

💡 Solution

AI-powered SaaS helps you get results faster.

• Jenni AI writes research papers
• Framer builds websites from text
• OpusClip turns long videos into short clips
  
  

🏁 Players

AI-Powered SaaS

• Loom • Video recording for screen, camera and audio sharing
• Notion • All-in-one workspace for notes, tasks and collaboration
• Hemingway AI • Rewrite text for clarity
• Grain • AI meeting automation tool
• Resume.io • Write resumes with AI
  
  

🛠 How to Build AI-Powered SaaS

• “Dogfood” your product by using it yourself. You will build better products faster when you understand and empathize with customers.
  • Matthew Lesiuk is building Clipio. He uses it for cold video outreach to market Clipio.
  • Bhanu Teja P is building SiteGPT. He used it to build a chatbot for his blogging platform Feather.
  • Simon Hoiberg is building Aidbase. He uses it to handle customer support on his personal website.

• Build an audience first. Fans are more eager to support you by buying or sharing your tool.
  • Dharmesh Shah shared ChatSpot on X (Twitter). His post got 4,600,000 views.
  • Bhanu Teja P launched SiteGPT on X (Twitter). The launch tweet got 1,000,000 views.
  • Mark Gadala-Maria says growing on X (Twitter) helped him get 7,500 people on the waiting list for Post Cheetah.

• Build a waiting list to validate demand.
  • Dorik lets you sign up for the waiting list for Dorik AI. It helps to generate UI, copy and images for your websites.
  • Slack lets you sign up for the waiting list for Slack AI. It helps to get insights into your chats and knowledge bases.
  • JetBrains lets you sign up for the waiting list for JetBrains Grazie. It helps software teams write and communicate better.
    
    

🌱 How to Grow AI-Powered SaaS

• Use side project marketing to get more users.
  • Hippo Video has a video ROI calculator.
  • QuillBot has a suite of free grammar tools.
  • Jungle Scout has a profit calculator for dropshipping.

• Use a freemium model to fill your funnel.
  • Aaron Edwards made DocsBot AI. It’s free for chatting with docs with up to 50 pages.
  • Abdulhadi Y made AI Magicx. You can make a limited number of articles, logos and images for free.
  • Helghardt Avenant and Michail Brynard made Lampbuilder. You can build 1 landing page with AI on its free plan.

• Use affiliate marketing to get others to sell for you.
  • Copymatic offers a 30% commission to affiliates.
  • Seamless.AI offers a 20-40% commission to affiliates.
  • Pieter Levels offers a 20% commission to Photo AI affiliates.
    
    

💰 How to Monetize AI-Powered SaaS

• Offer subscriptions to get predictable revenue.
  • Jon Yongfook is building Browserbear. He charges up to $949 per month.
  • Shawn Tucker is building Feedloops. He charges $69 per year while it’s in beta.
  • Dobroslav Radosavljevič is building Written Labs. He charges up to $49 per month.

• Offer single-use plans for a one-time price. This helps to serve users with occasional needs.
  • Jera sells website roast packs at Roast My Web.
  • Lior Grossman is building Completely. It costs $39 per competitive analysis report.
  • Philipp Seeser lets you enhance the audio of 1 file with Xound. It costs $4.99 per file.

• Use a free trial to convert more leads into customers.
  • Jared Rhizor offers a 7-day trial for MealByMeal. It helps to track food and calories.
  • Alex Buran offers a 7-day trial for Help-Desk.ai. It helps to build AI chatbots for customer services.
  • Eddie Forson offers a 7-day trial for EnVsion. It helps to uncover insights from your customer interviews.
    
    

🔮 Predictions

• Companies will let existing users try AI features for free. Before locking them behind a paywall.
  • Loom let existing users try Loom AI before launching.
  • Evernote lets users try AI-powered search for free before adding it to paid plans.
  • Archbee offered a beta of AI Addon for free to paid users. It now costs up to $50 per month on top of paid plans but is part of the Enterprise plan.

• We’ll see AI startup studios that take a systemized approach to building AI companies. 
  • Twelvefold builds generative AI tools.
  • 1811 Labs builds AI products in 2-4 weeks.
  • Slimmer AI is a venture studio for building AI products.
  • Pawa is a venture studio for machine learning startups.
  • VirASTRAL helps to build AI SaaS and generative AI products.

• AI will be embedded in hardware. The era of “smart things” will turn into the age of “AI things”.
  • Bolt uses Drover AI to boost scooter safety.
  • VoiceKitt is an in-car voice assistant. It helps salespeople close deals while driving.
  • Samsung has washing machines with AI Control. It also says smartphones are obsolete –– it’s time for AI phones.
    
    

😠 Haters

“Most of these companies are retrofitting AI into existing products. The future is AI-native UX.”
This is common with technology. It took decades for manufacturers to redesign factories around electricity instead of adding to existing factories. Progress is iterative.

“Some of these are AI wrappers with weak moats.”
If an AI wrapper can make people’s lives easier, they will pay for it. Seize the opportunity when you have it.

“Uncontrollable growth can lead to bankruptcy. Freemium users can eat up API credits faster than expected.”
Limit the number of available credits to free users. Design Sense lets you generate only 1 image for free. Logie has user caps.

“This market is crowded.”
You can differentiate by offering unique features, great customer support or serving a niche audience.

🔗 Links

1. ​$22,000 in 1 Week with a Better UI for ChatGPT • The thread behind this report.
2. Building a Report on AI-Powered SaaS • The tweet behind this report.
3. What The Generative AI Craze Will Look Like • AI experts and business leaders explain how AI will change the business.
4. Making $22,000 in 7 days • How Tony Dinh bootstrapped a better UI for ChatGPT.
   
   

📁 Related Reports

• ​​​​​Niche AI Models • These are fine-tuned to perform well on domain-specific tasks.
• AI Agents • They work on your behalf without your supervision.
• Prompt Engineering • Learn how to direct AI to get accurate results.
• No-Code • Stop wasting time, money and energy doing repetitive work.
• Software Development Services • Build a software business without technical skills.
  
  

🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Maciej Cupial, Stewart Townsend and Vishal Srivastava. 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 #0141 — AI-Powered SaaS has more insights.

What you’ll get:

• 25 AI-Powered SaaS Examples (400% More)
• 18 Ways to Build AI-Powered SaaS (500% More)
• 11 Ways to Grow AI-Powered SaaS (267% More)
• 13 Ways to Monetize AI-Powered SaaS (333% More)
• 7 Predictions (133% More)
• 10 Links (150% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

• (📈 Pro) How to hedge platform risk?
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• (📈 Pro) Who makes $75,000 MRR with a fine-tuned AI model?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $1,023 in 10 days by addressing flaws in competitors?
• (📈 Pro) How to make your AI SaaS easier to build and maintain?
• (📈 Pro) Who grew an AI SaaS to $20,000 in 6 months by building in public?
• (📈 Pro) Who grew by $1,090 MRR after a public launch?
• (📈 Pro) How to use TikTok to get 150,000 users?
• (📈 Pro) Who used influencer marketing to add $100,000 MRR?
• (📈 Pro) Who used TikTok to add $50,000 MRR for a B2C AI SaaS?
• (📈 Pro) How to offer AI features on demand?
• (📈 Pro) Who made $23,000 with a lifetime deal?
• (📈 Pro) How to monetize open-source SaaS?
• (📈 Pro) Who grew an AI SaaS to $18,000 MRR with Bubble?
• (📈 Pro) How a college student grew an AI support app to $64,000 MRR?
• (📈 Pro) Who grew a ChatGPT interface app to $10,000 in 4 days?
• (📈 Pro) How a college dropout built a $30,000,000 startup?
• (📈 Pro) What are 12 profitable SaaS ideas with validated demand?
• (📈 Pro) How to make $5,000 MRR with AI wrappers?
• And much more…
  
  

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This week’s Founder Finds includes:

📚 A note-taking system
🦾 An AI agents database
⏪ What is the Backwards Law
🔎 What are discovery platforms
🕒 How to balance side projects and work
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

All profit is derived from risk.

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

👥 Elia Zane unlocked 1:1 Founder Intros by joining daily standups

👨‍💻 Simon launched Authentic Devs

💰 Yuyu sold Opengraph.xyz for 5 figures

💼 Karissa Rischall left her day job while keeping her employer as a client

📩 Elie Steinbock reached 1st place on Product Hunt with Inbox Zero

🎵 Darren Travel made a music video with AI

🧠 Joe Montanino, Barbara du Perron, Rob Blake and Ren Saguil unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 30-day standup streaks

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

🦾 AI Agents Database shared by Bernardt J. Vogel
A database of 120+ AI agents with descriptions

📚 Insight Logging Framework shared by Eren Suzer
A note-taking system for podcasts, books and articles

🕒 Balancing Side Projects and Work shared by Royce Johnson
A blog post on pursuing passion projects while working

📘 Read This

The Backwards Law

The backwards law says that the more you pursue something, the less you achieve it.

For example, the more you pursue happiness, the more unhappy you feel.

Why?

Because you focus on what you lack instead of what you have.

Few things in life follow the backwards law. But those that do, are extremely important.

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What Are Discovery Platforms?

Discovery platforms have built-in discoverability.

They help people find your content even if they were not looking for it specifically.

These platforms are incentivized to connect users with great content via algorithms.

Get Weekly Reports

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

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

This week’s Founder Finds includes:

⚙️ What’s missing from EOS
📊 A life planning framework
🎨 A collection of Framer resources
🗺️ A blueprint to becoming a millionaire
👥 How to build an audience from 0 followers
➡️ And more…

🪶 Remember This

If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late

🏆 Trends Pro Member Wins

🔁 Karthik Vijayakumar launched B2B From Scratch

💲 Simon got the first sales of WordPress Tailwind Directory

👨‍💻 Krish launched Git Checkout

🌐 Kevin Galang updated the landing page for A Team Overseas

📺 Elie Steinbock released his best performing YouTube video so far

🤝 Hj Barraza closed the second client for his productized service

🧠 Jarrad Pouncil and Trilok Hebbur unlocked Trends.vc Masterminds by reaching 30-day standup streaks

🤓 Fav Finds

Tools, tweets and more from Trends Pro Members

📊 Strategic Life Planning shared by Breno Ferreira
A life planning framework based on strategic thinking

⚙️ What’s Missing from EOS shared by Ivan Malopinsky
A tweet about how to improve the Entrepreneurial Operating System

🎨 Remix Framer shared by Joe Montanino
A collection of Framer components, UI elements and websites

🔧 Try This

How To Build an Audience from 0 Followers

You need to get your content in front of people.

Here’s how:

• Experiment with content to see what works.
• Build a system that helps you publish content consistently.
• Stay top of mind by engaging with your audience and other creators.

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Here’s what Trends Pro Members are talking about…

• (📈 Pro) Notion guides
  
• (📈 Pro) Scheduling tools
  
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Blueprint to Becoming a Millionaire

Alex Hormozi shares the path to becoming a millionaire:

• Level 1: The fundamentals of wealth creation.
• Level 2: The tactics to make your first million.
• Level 3: How to stay rich and get richer.

Learn how to build a sustainable business that will help you create, maintain and grow your wealth.

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