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GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg 5 years, 7 months ago 1093 views

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I interviewed 5 billionaires this week

I asked them to share their lessons learned on startups, life and entrepreneurship:

Here's what they told me:

A startup idea isn't "one" idea

It's a 10000 ideas, 100,000 decisions and 1,000,000 headaches

You will lose some friends. Kiss most of your high school friends goodbye

Certainties of life:

- Death
- Taxes
- Losing friends

A sign of wealth:

No longer needing an alarm clock to wake up

When in doubt, please don't send that angry email response

Wait 24h. Go for a walk

Angriness makes you drunk. Send emails sobers

Career advice:

Quit your job if it makes you exhausted (if you can)

Be grateful for your job if it fills you up with energy

Likable people win

People sense those good vibes. It does wonders for your startup, career or life

You will doubt yourself a million times

It's only natural

Constantly cut your losses

Harmful in the short term, lucrative in the long run

A sign of wealth: no envy, no fear

You can't build great products without being "at one" with the niche you're building it for

It's almost impossible

Deeply understand your niche or expect disappointments

Enjoy the process

Building a startup should never feel like a grind

Building a startup is a privilege

A satisfying life doesn't require much

Wonderful health, enjoyable work & a caring family & friends.

Success is inevitable.

Follow me on Twitter @gregisenberg to learn more about startups, internet communities or niches

It's free to follow 😝

More from GREG ISENBERG

GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg

Anyone else love a useful how-to?

I put together a mega-thread of mega-valuable how-tos that can transform your startup, career or life

All you have to do is read these 10 how-tos:

How to write a cold email:

- Be short
- Humanize it. Record a 60s selfie video
- Write a cold DM instead of a cold email if possible
- Never follow up by saying “just following up”

How to write copy that isn’t boring (and that sells):

- Don’t write copy, write stories
- Can be long or short, but must take you for a ride
- Focus entire story on the problem the customer has
- Share credibility
- Use inviting, warm words
- Create a clear call-to-action

How to come up with compelling startup ideas:

- Framework #1: X for Y (Robinhood for Canada)
- Framework #2: Anti-incumbent (Anti-Spotify, Anti-Amazon)
- Framework #3: Unbundling of X (Reddit, Facebook etc)
- Framework #4: Ask your community, they’ll tell you

How to sell a company:

- Spend 5% of your energy building allies at incumbents
- Get them excited about what you’re doing
- Make them feel invested and jealous
- Get them to ask if you’d be open to selling
- Profit $$

I've seen this strategy work for $10k-10B size deals

GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg

THREAD: Most advice is garbage

Here's some advice you shouldn’t listen to on startups, careers and life:

“90% of startups fail”

If you’re building a startup for the money, please quit

You’re probably better off working for FB or AMZN and rising the ranks

A successful startup isn't just about the valuation. It's about impact on your team, the world and yourself

The journey is 🔥

“You'll sleep when you’re dead”

If you don't sleep, you'll BE dead

Sleep is crucial to a happy mind and body

Without sleep, you become "foggy drunk", unable to take control of your life, startup or career

Beware of hustle culture and sleepless nights

“Become a doctor, lawyer etc”

This is probably some of the most undercover toxic advice parents can give to their children

The internet has opened the doors for anyone to become anything

Discover WHO you want to become before you decide on WHAT you want to become

“Don’t talk to strangers”

- You can't make lifelong friends if you don't talk to strangers
- You can't really discover who you are if you don't talk to strangers
- You can't get the benefits of the internet without talking to strangers

BE CAREFUL, but please talk to strangers

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GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg

Startups taught me more about life and business than I ever could imagine

Thread: 20 tips I wish I could give to my 20 year old self

Startups are simple:

There are good times and bad times

Good times: enjoy the ride
Bad times: enjoy the ride

Beware of pessimistic people

Pessimism is the worst disease

Professional lies we tell ourselves:

1. Your email inbox is getting stuff done
2. A full calendar is positive
3. Big meetings are the answer

You know better

FAANG give you credentials
Startups give you education

GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg

The billion dollar Google Chrome extension club:

- Loom
- Honey
- Grammarly

These companies started as Chrome Extensions and created billions of value

Here's why it works:

- People barely uninstall extensions
- Barrier to install is low
- Extensions are "always on"
- People pay for many of them

Chrome Extensions are underrated

The cool thing about Chrome Extensions?

You could make millions to billions from extensions

Tons of opportunities small and large

Chrome Web Store:

2 billion users: 200,000 extensions = 10,000 users : 1 extension

Apple App Store:

100 million iPhone users : 2 million iOS apps = 50 users : 1 iOS app

Google Play Store:

2 billion Android users : 3 million apps = 667 users : 1 app

Bottom line:

Launching a Chrome extension gives you 200 times more potential users than an iOS app

GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg

I made a list of things that 95% of people think are weaknesses but aren’t

The best founders, bosses, employees, creators I know are really “weak”

If you master these 17 “weaknesses”, it will be life changing:

Changing your mind

You become happier and luckier when you change your mind

Changing your mind isn’t controversial. It’s totally normal

Knowing when to shut up

Normalize listening!

Listening actually solves most problems

To get things done: listen

Taking advice from someone that you don't like, but who is smart and right

This one is hard and hurts

Just because you don’t like them, doesn’t mean they aren’t right

Taking a nap

Fun fact: naps are predominantly deep sleep and our body is wired for them

Naps are the past, present and future

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Matthew Paik
@PaikCapital

Build a cold email lead gen agency from scratch

// THREAD //

You've already seen it on this side of twits.

People who have transparently built $10k/mo. agencies with a few resources.

I'm going to reveal exactly how you can start this agency today and the ONLY resources you'll need for it.

Let's begin!

1. Core service

A cold email lead gen agency gets leads using cold email

>> scrapes the emails
>> writes the emails
>> sends the emails
>> books appointments

2. Your clients

Imagine running an agency where ALL appointments are booked for you.

You will target
>> local biz agencies
>> ad agencies
>> ecom agencies
>> coaches / consultants

HUGE MARKET.
PEOPLE GO CRAZY FOR THIS.

3. Cold email clients

Seriously, if you write a killer cold email to an agency, it speaks for itself.

Just ask @blackhatwizardd or @THETYFRANKEL.

What you'll need is obviously a 10/10 first line.

But that's not all.

You need to know exactly what agencies are looking for.

$Joe Speiser \u26a1\ufe0f$

Joe Speiser ⚡️...
@jspeiser

14 mental models that helped me build 10 startups and sell (a bunch of them) for millions.

1) Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

Everyone focuses on the Total Addressable Market (TAM), which gives an unrealistic expectation of your market size.

Instead SOM gives you a more practical estimate.

2) Viral Coefficient

Is the number of new users an average customer generates and a strong indicator of how highly your users like your product.

The higher your viral coefficient, the cheaper your acquisition costs.

3) Beta Testing

The process of exposing your users to different versions of the product/ messaging to determine the most effective one.

All top companies do this on a regular basis.

4) Conversion Funnel

The different stages that a buyer goes through before making a purchase.

Understanding what stage they're in helps you strategize your marketing accordingly.

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Lenny Rachitsky
@lennysan

The clearest sign of finding product-market fit is feeling "pull" from the market.

But what does "pull" look like?

👇 Read on 👇

1/ Sign 1: A sudden inflection in organic growth

Netflix: "Where before we were struggling to get traffic, all of sudden we couldn’t keep up." - @mbrandolph

Tinder: "Downloads started to skyrocket" – @badeen

Uber: "Word of mouth was uncontrollable" – @ryangraves

2/ Sign 2: Customers ask to pay for the product before you ask

Carta: "I've been trying to get to your sales people for weeks!!! Why won't you take my money???" – @henrysward

Github: "To our surprise, users started writing to us asking ‘Can we pay for this??’" – @mojombo

3/ Sign 3: Users flip from excited to upset

Datadog: "When we hit early product-market fit, our users switched from being excited at all the things our product could be to them to being upset about all the things it didn't do yet." – @oliveur

3b/ Segment: "The thing that flipped was, people would previously tell us they wanted a feature, but not use it. Whereas now, people were using it and they would want a second feature." – @reinpk

$Ganesh Nagarsekar \U0001f985$

Ganesh Nagarsekar 🦅...
@bharatbetpf

Venture capital open letters be like

(if) can generate free cash - generate
(else) raise capital today
like right now
abhi jake sequoia parter ko uthake cheque likhwa

Jay Clouse
@jayclouse

I earn $40,000+ per month as a solo creator.

If I had to start over, here's what I'd do: 🧵

1.) Start an weekly newsletter

If you have experience in a particular industry or niche, start there and position yourself as an expert.

If you don't have experience, pick something you're obsessed with and position yourself as a curious learner.

2.) Study, study, study

Whether you're starting from zero or already have experience in your niche, become one of the most knowledgeable people IN THE WORLD on that subject.

The better you know a subject, the more unique, insightful, and compelling your work.

So read – a LOT.

3.) Go HARD on Twitter

There's still a lot of opportunity on Twitter – especially with Threads.

Turn on notifications for big accounts in your niche and become visible (and appreciated) by being an early value-add in their replies.

Tweet daily and publish 1-2 threads per week.

4.) Repurpose your best threads

There's a huge arbitrage opportunity for turning your best threads into carousels on LinkedIn and Instagram.

You can use Tweetpik or go the extra mile and use a design template from @canva.

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Vibhu Vashisth
@VIBHU_Tweet

Did you know?

When Saudi Arabia's King visited India in 1955, PM Nehru ordered all the Hindu Temples and Idols of Hindu Deities that came in Saudi King's way to be covered up.
Our temples are the architectural marvels in their own league.

Each of our temples tells the story of our rich history and cultural heritage. Was Nehru that ashamed of his own nation's heritage that he had to cover them up or there was some other reason? The answer would be best known to him only.

PM Nehru invited the then Saudi King Saud bin Abdul Aziz to India who accepted the invitation and planned a 17 day long official visit to India in 1955. Saudi King had brought a large delegation with him and he had to visit various Indian cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Agra,

Aligarh, Shimla, Mysore and Varanasi. However, when Saudi King reached Varanasi, Nehru ordered to cover all the temples and Idols with curtains that came in the way of the Royal Convoy. During his stay in Varanasi, Govt buildings were painted with the words "Kalma Tayyiba".

'Kalma Tayyiba' means 'There is not God but only Allah and Mohammed is his messenger'. In addition to it, Pooja and Aartis were also stopped at temples. I can call it the appeasement politics of the highest order and Nehru was indeed the greatest appeaser of all times.

$Julien \U0001f332$

Julien 🌲
@julien

1/ there is this sense when you are young that your accomplishments need to be a list of things that seem impressive to others. A list of several items you did.

This isn't actually right, so here is another suggestion.

2/ I remember being 26 and writing about reading 52 books a year. I wrote blog posts about it. They got copied. It became "a thing." Now it's in Twitter bios. It looks impressive but it's insanely useless and I shouldn't have done it.

3/ what I should have known at that time is that only young idiots like myself, with no accomplishments, find list of tiny achievements impressive. Anyone who has actually done anything of substance doesn't gaf

4/ what is actually difficult, and worthwhile, instead is to do ONE single thing for a very, very long time. It's much harder and much rarer and results in outlier outcomes much more often.

Of course you can find this out too late if you are chasing the dragon of Ted talks etc

5/ if I had only worked on a startup for a year, I would've gotten nowhere, the same way that if you lift for 3 months, it achieves nothing. Everything good in life comes from perseverance, but at the beginning, you're just like "I need to be somebody!!!"

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$Ranvijay Singh\U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3$

Ranvijay Singh🇮🇳...
@ranvijayT90

#Thread The legend of Ekadash Mukhi Hanuman ji...

Mahadev himself narrated the story of Ekadash Mukhi Hanuman ji to Maa Parvati. Once a great monster named Kalkarmukh performed the severe penance of Brahma ji.

Pleased with the austerity of the demon, Brahma ji gave him a boon that the person who will have eleven Heads like you and who was born on the day of your birth, only he/she will be able to kill you. No one else will kill you.

After getting a boon from Brahma ji, Kalkarmukh created a ruckus in all three lok. He invaded Swarg and snatched all the rights of the Devtas and became himself the king of Swarg.

All Devtagan came to Shri Rama and asked him for help. Hearing the agony of the Devtagan, Shri Ram called his supreme devotee Hanuman ji and said, "Pawan Putra, Sankatmochan".

Learning @ Prakash
@Prakashplutus

My simple Approach towards Breakout trading :

1. Scan stocks on the basis of FTDB Scanner.

2. Buy stocks with EMA-9> EMA-21> EMA-63 > EMA 200 & Volume 200% up

3. maximum SL of 1.25X ( ATR )

4. I do breakout trading only in Nifty -500 stocks

#StockMarket
#trading
#Nifty

Brittany Packnett
@MsPackyetti

We should stop confusing what someone was doing when we became aware of them with all they are capable of, interested in, or ever hope to be

Let folks have their many talents, interests and gifts. Life is far more fun with variety, loves.

A lot of folks have come to know me as an activist & I’m grateful that folks care to know me at all.

But I wasn’t born in 2014. I was a whole teacher, executive, policy person, speaker, arts and culture lover, reader, writer, woman of faith, fashion and more before 4 yrs ago 🤷🏾‍♀️

We rightfully complain that marginalized people are not allowed to be fully human.

But we internalize and transfer our oppression daily. It’s a smog. We all breathe it in & act it out.

And then tell WoC “girl ain’t you supposed to be a _______? Why you doing ____?”

Can I live?

And don’t go reading anything personal into this-this isn’t about me necessarily and it’s no subtweet (I try hard not to do that.)

I’ve just been observing that behavior more and more lately. Especially when it comes to marginalized folks.

Evolution should be our aspiration.

“Can’t knock the hustle” should be our anthem.

As long as someone isn’t bringing active and continual harm, why can’t they explore their many sides?