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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5. The simplest examples of leading metrics are your schedule, your spending, and your social circle. 6. If you spend time and money on the same thing, communicating with the same people, there is a good chance that after a year your progress will stop. 7. First you will reach a plateau, and then you will gradually slide off it. Because everything that does not grow, dies ☹️ 8. So how are your leading metrics doing? 😉

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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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Anyone try OpenCode? Been hearing good things https://opencode.ai/

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5. First, you need to guess where this big machine will be carried by inertia next. In order to do something "perpendicular" yourself. For what the competitor will have to waste time on turning around. 6. And then find a niche where this big machine will not want to climb at first. Because the niche is too narrow, like, why bother. 7. And the trick of the startup will be to expand this narrow niche. So that it can turn into a truck before the catching truck gets around to it 😉 8. In short, what truck is your startup catching up to? Where will it be carried by inertia? And what narrow alley will it not want to squeeze into?

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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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2. What makes money: — Solving expensive problems for customers with large budgets. — Automating tasks for which manual outsourcing currently costs $5,000 per month and up. — Creating platforms that bring order to the usual chaos, and which can therefore chew up chaotic data 😉 — Automation is not to improve the efficiency of processes, but to increase revenue. 3. Examples of questions that automation should answer: — Will someone pay $1,000 per month to not do this manually? — Will this save them from having to answer a call from an angry client at 2 a.m.? — Will automation break if the input data format changes? — Does this automation solve a $10,000 problem or eliminate a $10 inconvenience.

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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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4. In addition, advice to 20-year-olds is by definition seasoned with a fair dose of ambition and maximalism. Which is something adults already seriously lack in order to seriously change something in their lives. 5. It seems like making a list of advice for your 20-year-old self is a great activity for a Friday night 🍷🥃🍺 Just the right time to first get upset, then get drunk, and then think about it all. So that on Monday you can start a new life by following your own advice

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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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4. But if you want to make a startup with a network effect, you need to stop inventing what unique thing you can do. Because the “I'm the smartest” business model has no network effect. 5. Because the network effect can only appear when something can be done by a very large number of people. And it is needed by another very large number of people. As a result, the value of the platform will increase infinitely as the number of its users increases infinitely. 6. In short, stop inventing what YOU can do. Start looking and seeing what other people can do, and who might need it 🚀

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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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4. Then the audience size and usage volumes of this very thing will grow tens or even hundreds of times 🚀 Thus, a small market can turn into a big one. And a big one — into a huge one. And you can make a lot of money on this difference 💰 5. Moreover, the market will grow mainly due to new users, who won’t even have to be persuaded to switch from something old — which is much easier than poaching users from competitors 😉 6. In today's fastfounder, I wrote about examples of such startups that launched AI interviewers into the user research market. After all, after this, tens of times more companies will start conducting such research than before. 7. And this is definitely not the only option! What startup would you launch using the Jevons paradox? 🤔

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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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4. And this, by the way, fits perfectly with Paul Graham's advice for startups — "Draw yourself a picture of the future, and then create what is missing for it" 😉 5. But what will change after the mass entry of AI into our lives? Here are just a couple of options to get you started. 6. Firstly, the usual marketplaces for selling goods will disappear. Because each person will have an AI agent, which he can instruct to find and buy the right thing on the best terms. And these AI agents will be able to search the entire big Internet. So what the hell do we need marketplaces for then? 7. Secondly, the market for selling training courses will disappear. Instead, former teachers will sell AI agents. After all, if they could teach a person, then they can teach the same to AI. And if they can't, then doubts immediately arise that they can teach anyone anything at all 😉 8. Yes, no, maybe? What else can change dramatically and unexpectedly?

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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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5. And talent consists precisely in the ability to discern, find or invent this special thing. And not in skills - which are generally quite ordinary, because many others can do the same thing at the same level. 6. Well, after some time, all people will find themselves in the position of startup founders, musicians, artists or directors - either they will do something special, or they will be buried by AI. 7. No, of course, you can sit and wait until this wave reaches you. And only then think about what to do. 8. Or you can start looking for or inventing this special thing right now 🚀 Thus getting a good head start over the crowd of everyone else who will climb in the same direction when they are finally pushed. And there is not so long left until that 😉

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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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4. And anxiety is a subconscious awareness that you are not moving anywhere. Therefore, anxiety is an excellent compass, the arrow of which twitches exactly at the moment when movement imperceptibly turns into fuss. 5. True, this feeling only occurs in those whose brains have started to grow quickly. Because when brains and eggs are equally small, no discrepancy can arise between them 😉 6. So, if you have started to worry, that's already good. It means that everything is fine with your brain. All that's left is to figure out where to go so that the feeling of anxiety disappears.

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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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