Dark Side

@amoreynis

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Development is not an "improvement" 1. Development is not an "improvement". Because after improvement, it's the same thing, but better 😉 And development is a transition to a qualitatively new level. That is, transformation into something else. 2. Roughly speaking, Facebook developed when it was transformed from a dating app first into an illustrated catalog of Harvard students, and then into a social network. After that, Zuckerberg began trying to turn Facebook into a virtual world, but he hasn't succeeded yet. 3. Airbnb developed when it was transformed from a flophouse with inflatable mattresses first into a service for moving guests into a spare room, and then into a business renting out apartments and houses for short terms. And now Brian Chesky wants to turn Airbnb into an app for any experience and impressions related to travel. And even to life in general. 4. It is worth noting separately that "expansion", "scaling", "entering new countries" are still improvements, not development. Because everything remains the same. Only the size changes. 5. And "development" is when you are able to perceive what you have done only as a preparatory stage for something new. And regardless of the stage, size and success - from small unsuccessful startups to large successful companies. 6. And from here a very interesting and promising question immediately follows. What you already have now is a preparatory stage for what?

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Leading metrics are not only for startups, but also for ordinary people! 1. Any self-respecting startup evaluates its progress not just by revenue growth, but by so-called "leading" metrics. These metrics reflect which indicators are improving today - which will affect revenue growth tomorrow. 2. Mark Zuckerberg was almost the first to draw attention to such metrics - noticing that those who continued to use Facebook were those who had friended at least 10 people within 14 days of registration. Therefore, Facebook immediately began to persistently offer new users friend candidates. 3. The trick is that such leading metrics are not only for startups, but also for ordinary people! 4. It is clear that you can evaluate your progress, for example, by how much more you began to earn. But will this progress continue?

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How to escape from a truck? 1. You've seen in movies many times how a guy on a puny moped escapes from a powerful truck? And he never goes straight, because then the truck will catch up with him in two jumps and crush him. 2. Instead, he constantly turns sharply - and the heavy truck moves forward by inertia. After which he is forced to turn around or reverse in order to join the pursuit again. 3. And eventually the moped turns into a narrow alley, where the truck simply cannot squeeze in. And then the guy on the moped shows the truck the finger and disappears. 4. Well, this is a classic scheme of competitive struggle between a puny startup and a powerful and large competitor 😉

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What automation brings in money? The guy has already made fifty automations, but he started making money on them only two weeks ago. Moreover, in 2 weeks he has already thrashed out almost $20K, which looks good for a start 😉 He also shared the conclusions he made when he started making money. And these conclusions seemed very useful to me for startups, many of which are also actually creating platforms for automating something. 1. What does not bring money in automation: — Something that is designed to solve a problem that you yourself do not have. Because you start to come up with cool crap that no one really needs. — Automation that saves 10 minutes, but which takes 10 hours to create. Ideally, it should be the other way around 😉 — Cool methods for automating what a freelancer can do cheaply. — “Revolutionary” automation algorithms that only work with ideal initial data.

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How to give yourself good advice 1. If you write a post in the currently fashionable format of advice to your 20-year-old self, something unexpected will happen. You will understand that you should use this advice right now. 2. Because advice to others is given by the “best version” of you. And often this is someone you never became. Well, it’s like parents forcing their children to do something specific. Usually, this is an attempt to realize in children what you yourself could not. 3. Moreover, it is much easier to give advice to others than to yourself. But your 20-year-old self is you and not you at the same time 😉 Therefore, on the one hand, it is easy to give such advice. But on the other hand, it is completely about you and for you.

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Don't make great products with a crappy business model 1. The most promising business models for startups are those with a network effect. A network effect is when the value of a product increases with each new user. Although the product itself remains the same. The simplest example is a social network. 2. Why are such models the most promising? Because any product can be quickly copied now, even a complex one. It took only 3 weeks from the release of ChatGPT for its first analogue to appear! 😱 3. Therefore, any functionality of a product is no longer protection from competitors. The only protection is the audience. You can release a fully functional analogue of Facebook. But who will use it if all your friends and those you follow are on the real Facebook?

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Startups Based on the Jevons Paradox 1. The Jevons paradox was formulated back in the 19th century. Its essence is that technological progress that increases the efficiency of using a resource ➞ leads to an increase in the volume of consumption of this resource. Now this paradox has been remembered in connection with the advent of AI. 2. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tweeted in January: “The Jevons paradox has struck again. As AI becomes more efficient and accessible, we will see its use skyrocket. As a result, AI will become a common tool - but one that we will not be able to get enough of for a long time” 😉 3. It turns out that the recipe for a startup based on the Jevons paradox is very simple. You need to find something that few people or companies use now, because it is long, expensive and a pain in the ass. And make it simpler, more convenient and accessible with the help of AI.

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"Like without AI, but only with AI"... But in reality, everything is much more serious. 1. Many still think that the world after AI will be the same as "the world without AI, but only with AI". Although in reality, everything will turn out to be much more serious. 2. After all, the world after the advent of computers, and then the Internet, became dramatically different. And not only in terms of speed and convenience. It actually changed! Something that seemed unshakable disappeared. But what previously seemed impossible appeared. 3. Therefore, after AI, the world will also become completely different. And those startups that can imagine what exactly will change in order to be in the right place at the right time with the right product — they will take off 🚀

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Strike first! If there is no way to avoid a melee. 1. SIMPLY being able to do something will soon not be enough. Even being able to do it VERY WELL will still not be enough. 2. Because AI can already do a lot of things that people “simply” know how to do. It may not be able to do everything “very well” yet, but it will soon reach this level. 3. Startup founders, musicians, artists and directors have long been in this situation. After all, they all know how to do something, but they clearly understand that this is clearly not enough for success. 4. It is not enough to simply program, compose, draw or film something. You need to find something special - something to which you can apply your skills.

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Anxiety is not a mental illness, but a life compass 1. A very good comparison is “Anxiety arises when your brain is bigger than your balls” 😉 In the sense that your brain understands that you have to do something, but you don’t have the courage to do it. This discrepancy is what causes anxiety. 2. At the same time, you can even fuss, calling it an action. But if you continue to feel a sucking feeling of anxiety, then this is not moving somewhere, but running in place. 3. After all, when you are moving somewhere, you are not worried, but afraid - to run in the wrong direction, fall into a hole on the way, get tripped by a competitor, or something else in this spirit.

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The team is more important than the idea 1. If you have assembled a really good team, then you will be able to create a new startup with it, even if the idea of the old startup failed. 2. But then this should become the main criterion for hiring key employees of your startup - so that you can launch any other startup with them. And this has two main components. 3. First, they should believe in you, and not in the idea of the startup. So that they continue to believe in you, even if your next idea failed. True, for this you must recognize failures faster than they do. Otherwise, they will stop believing in you.

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Crazy Smart Unicorns 1. I started watching the Thai series "Crazy Unicorn" on Netflix based on the story of the emergence of the first Thai billion-dollar startup. By the way, the series turned out to be pretty good. But that's not the point. 2. The point is that once again it became clear that billion-dollar startups are about three things. 3. First, to see what already exists. 4. Second, to create business processes that allow you to quickly and unlimitedly scale it. 5. Third, to be immediately ready to compete for a place in the sun with two types of players - old ones, from whom you take away business, and new ones who are trying to do the same thing as you. 6. Therefore, the key to success is not to engage in invention, not to strive for uniqueness, to look wider, to hire the best and have balls of steel. 7. And everything else will follow.

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$3 billion is just the price of an appetizer to whet your appetite! 1. "The fact that AI can generate program code is just an appetizer to whet your appetite," said the founder of the AI programming platform Windsurf. 2. "Because real software engineering is the ability to design and debug entire software systems. And AI platforms that learn to do this will be a real breakthrough." 3. Moreover, this "appetizer", the Windsurf startup itself, I mean, Open AI, is now buying for $3 billion. So how much will these "engineering platforms" cost then 😱 4. In other words, around what AI has already learned to do in any area, there is a whole set of "supersystems" and "subsystems" that are not yet available to it. And the real breakthrough will be when AI gets to them. Therefore, the main money will be earned by those startups whose AIs can handle them.

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Do you care what your competitors do? 1. After all, by closely monitoring your competitors, you subconsciously begin to copy them. Thus, getting involved in a rat race with varying success. Instead of going your own way. 2. "Your own way" is, as Jeff Bezos said, to be obsessed not with your competitors, but with your users. Trying to understand what else can be done for them. 3. And the best thing is something that no one has done for them yet. But how will you find it if you spend energy repeating what your competitors do? 4. Sometimes founders answer this by saying that they look at competitors for inspiration. But inspiration can be found in anything, life gives us enough signs for this.

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What's Big Inside Your Small One? 1. It's funny, but Paul Graham advises founders not to try to be visionaries trying to create something great right away. After all, experience shows that big things usually start small. 2. Microsoft started with Bill Gates writing a BASIC interpreter for a personal computer. Facebook started with Mark Zuckerberg creating an illustrated catalog of Harvard students. And Airbnb started with Brian Chesky's proposal to house visitors in spare rooms on inflatable mattresses. 3. Moreover, neither Gates, nor Zuckerberg, nor Chesky suspected what their ideas could turn into. They just started somewhere, and then moved somewhere.

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You won't be able to build a business until you learn how to lose customers 1. Firstly, you can't be attractive to everyone. You won't believe it, but not everyone even likes iPhones and TikTok. What can we say about less remarkable services? 2. Secondly, the most important money is earned on users who pay indefinitely, or even better - more and more over time. 3. Thirdly, a business is something that can work without you. Or, in other words, something that you stop worrying about, and it continues to bring in money 😉 Precisely due to those same long-term and well-paying customers.

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How to increase the value and price of your product? 1. Product development is similar to agriculture 😉 Which, as we were taught in school, can be developed "extensively" (adding land) or "intensively" (improving agricultural technologies). I hope you remember which method is more progressive 😉 2. Products can also be developed "extensively" or "intensively". The extensive path is adding new functions that revolve around the same thing. The intensive path is adding qualitatively new properties that bring the user closer to the desired end result. 3. Let's take, for example, an AI machine that collects a database of local companies for possible purchase. The extensive path of its development is adding industries, regions and search criteria. But the ultimate goal of the user of such a database is to make money on the purchased company!

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It's easier than taking someone's job 1. It is often said that the task of a startup is to make a product that takes someone's job. But this is not always true! Let's take, for example, small companies that provide offline services - for example, installation and repair of plumbing, air conditioners or something similar. 2. The trick is that the employees and the owners of such companies are always on the road with clients. As a result, they simply do not have the time to sit down and search for new clients. And they simply do not have the money to hire freelancers and agencies to do this. 3. Now let's imagine that we made and gave them an AI machine that searches for such companies for clients in their area and according to their specifics. 4. But in this case, you can't say that we are "taking someone's job"! Because the companies themselves practically do not do it and do not hire anyone for it. So there is no one to take this work from 😉

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How to attract luck? 1. They say that success is the result of luck. So, to achieve success, you need to do something that can bring luck 😉 2. But what is luck? Luck is when you unexpectedly find yourself with the right product at the right time in the right place 🎯 3. So, you need to maximize your chances of this. 4. Conduct many different experiments, one of which, if necessary, can be quickly turned into the right product. 5. Try new crazy ideas in the hope that the right time for them has already come. 6. Visit different places and meet different people - find out what worries or inspires them, so that you can see the right place to apply your efforts. 7. And then one day it will all come together 🚀 8. And people will look at you and say: "He was just lucky" 😉

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How to make something outstanding 1. First, you need to choose not "what" to make, but "where" to start looking for an idea for it. In other words, you don't need to start by looking for an idea for a product. You need to start by finding a field, market, or topic that will be interesting to you. 2. If you are interested in a topic, you will inevitably delve into it deeply enough to see the details and nuances that can be turned into an outstanding product. You will not find an idea for an outstanding product by only scratching the surface. 3. Second, to find such a topic, you don't need to look for a topic 😉 You need to choose an area that is worked on by people with whom you will be interested. After all, you will have to constantly intersect with these people - work, communicate, or even compete.

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