In most entrepreneurs’ lives, there comes a point where they jokingly claim to be “unemployable.” It usually happens in the middle of a conversation about the benefits and drawbacks of having a boss. After setting out on their first self-directed business journey, many founders have a hard time imagining themselves back on the clock as … Continue reading Why Founders End Up Unemployable
Seven Kinds of Entrepreneurial Debt
When I need to relax, I paint little miniatures. It’s a hobby I have had since I was a teenager, and once a nerd, always a nerd. But as an adult nerd with disposable income and dedicated “hobby time,” I am part of a community, and I ran into a YouTube video of a fellow … Continue reading Seven Kinds of Entrepreneurial Debt
Entrepreneurial Anti-Patterns — What to Avoid When You’re Starting a Business
They say all roads lead to Rome. Well, reality proves them wrong. And who are "they" anyway? When we look at successful businesses, we see many different approaches that got them to where they are today. But we can also notice the absence of several strategies that don't seem to create reliable pathways to success. … Continue reading Entrepreneurial Anti-Patterns — What to Avoid When You’re Starting a Business
What Founders Can Learn from Professional WoW Gamers
If you want to see tenacity at work, watch professional gamers racing to be the first to kill the latest dungeon boss in World of Warcraft. Every time Activision Blizzard releases new dungeon content, the world's best guilds join the "Race to World First." They grind through days, sometimes weeks, of trying to overcome the … Continue reading What Founders Can Learn from Professional WoW Gamers
How I Find Twitter Content Ideas
On Twitter's own blog, their "content idea" section suggests that you "tweet a GIF." Yeah. Let's come up with something better. I've been building an audience of over 50.000 on Twitter over the last two years. I will share the strategies and tactics I use to come up with relevant and helpful daily content to … Continue reading How I Find Twitter Content Ideas
How I (Fortunately) Failed to Launch an NFT Collection
A few months ago, I ran an NFT experiment that failed horribly. I put a lot of effort into creating and minting a few pieces of visual art that I thought would resonate with my audience, and then the whole thing fizzled out. I believe it's time to share this particular failure today. There are … Continue reading How I (Fortunately) Failed to Launch an NFT Collection
The SaaS Market Maturity Paradox
SaaS businesses are most impactful in entirely new markets and the markets they have been serving for a long time. Anywhere in between, starting a new SaaS business has the potential to create a product with reduced effectiveness. There is a "small improvement trap" in every industry that many SaaS business endeavors fall into. While … Continue reading The SaaS Market Maturity Paradox
The Power of the Narrative when Building in Public
The show "Friends" was on TV for ten years. Over 230 episodes were created, starring the same characters having the same problems day in, day out — and people kept tuning in. Viewers were hooked. For a decade. If you want to understand what gets people invested in a journey, you should investigate what makes … Continue reading The Power of the Narrative when Building in Public
Building in Public and Negativity
I was invited to a Twitter space about audience-building this week, and we talked about the not-so-fun side of building in public: dealing with negativity. That's something a lot of people are scared of. When we talk about negativity on Twitter, we often think about flamewars and shitstorms. That's the external kind of negative thinking; … Continue reading Building in Public and Negativity
Purchasing Power Parity Pricing
Let's talk about burgers and why they matter for how much you can sell as a digital creator. A Big Mac in the United States costs around $5. You'd have to pay ¥20 for the same burger in China. But the exchange rate between the Dollar and the Yuen is not 1 to 4; it's … Continue reading Purchasing Power Parity Pricing