video editing resources

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

Great video once again Marc! I love the way you edit your videos, bro. Can you share some sources for video editing that you based your videos on?

video editing

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

Great physic bro 👍. Bro do you yourself edit your videos? ok building a startup, but how do you get time to make videos? i want to build a channel like you. can you give advice, or do you have a video on that? I'm doing my business but not time for youtube(

time management for content creation

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

Great physic bro 👍. Bro do you yourself edit your videos? ok building a startup, but how do you get time to make videos? i want to build a channel like you. can you give advice, or do you have a video on that? I'm doing my business but not time for youtube(

genai viability

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

6:56 Michael I'm not sure how this example demonstrates how new tech (in this case GenAI) is now making previously unviable ideas more viable? Is there a palpable/profitable demand for computer generated podcast content? Or a problem this is actually solving? Couldn't someone have just typed up a summary of a research paper or a scripted topic and had good text-to-voice software make it sound like a podcast 5 years ago? Personally I feel like most people loyally listen to podcasts more for the host & guest (human) personalities/humor/opinions/etc. I wish you guys would've used this topic to share your perspectives on how GenAI-centric startups right now may actually have parallels to tarpit pitfalls. As someone who is actually working with GenAI tech, I'm feeling more and more every day that the "AI is the hammer and everything is a nail" mentality is still running rampant in businesses, but for many use cases, the jury is still out on whether the revenue or productivity gains are anywhere near the costs. đŸ€”

youtube channel advice

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

Great physic bro 👍. Bro do you yourself edit your videos? ok building a startup, but how do you get time to make videos? i want to build a channel like you. can you give advice, or do you have a video on that? I'm doing my business but not time for youtube(

youtube strategy and growth

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hey Marc , really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with more Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail and also help you with the overall youtube strategy and growth ! Pls let me know what do you think ?

initial deployment costs

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

I wonder what the initial cost is to deploy a project on production. Of course, starting with your magic tool "ship fast" ;)

project naming and status

My Next $1M SaaS

Hey, I'm curious what's "Code Fast" as seen at 2:11? Is this the project name of ShipFast or it's the project you are working on now :)

initial project costs

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

I wonder what the initial cost is to deploy a project on production. Of course, starting with your magic tool "ship fast" ;)

current projects

My Next $1M SaaS

Hey, I'm curious what's "Code Fast" as seen at 2:11? Is this the project name of ShipFast or it's the project you are working on now :)

investor risks vs. founder risks

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Hopefully everybody watching these videos understands that Y Combinator has a conflict of interest; in that they are investors, so they burn their own cash the longer it takes their portfolio companies to launch. The conflict is in that fact that they participate in the upside, regardless, but very rarely, and to a much lesser extent, share the same downside of a founder, if and when there's a premature launch.

energy and motivation

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

How do you maintain such energy and motivation bro 😼😂

time management

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

Great physic bro 👍. Bro do you yourself edit your videos? ok building a startup, but how do you get time to make videos? i want to build a channel like you. can you give advice, or do you have a video on that? I'm doing my business but not time for youtube(

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

Really nice information. Thanks for sharing. But then, about not showing them your product on the first call. If you're selling to lawyers for example whose time is really valuable and change clients by the hour. How easy would it be to book a 2nd call with them when you only managed to book the first call (especially when you hadn't shown them the product yet in the 1st call)?

business proverbs

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

one pop 'cause u were "selling shovels during gold rush" . so find another goldrush and sell them shovels. I wonder if there are more business proverbs like this "selling shovels during gold rush" ? 😀

customer acquisition

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hi

I am a big fan of your work. First of all, I wanted to compliment you on your content: it is always very helpful and well-done, and the way you share your knowledge is truly inspiring.

I am also a developer and have created several SaaS applications, but unfortunately, I am having trouble monetizing them. I can't seem to find any customers, and I'm not sure how to best market my products.

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the marketing side: how did you find your first customers, and what strategies did you use to promote your applications? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and for the work you do. I will continue to follow you with great interest!

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

The very right approach is to start with value, not price. At JetSoftPro, a software development service, we work closely with startups, and the question of the trial period and when it will really play as an advantage is one of the most difficult

startup ideas without apps

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

I want to create a startup that requires no app. Thoughts?

letter of intent

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

How can i get Letter of intent if im working on hard tech?Are LOIs part of doing things that dont scale?

startup business models

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

Read the business model guide here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Gh-business-model-guide Which of the nine models does your startup use?

business model guide

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

Read the business model guide here: https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Gh-business-model-guide Which of the nine models does your startup use?

business model classification

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

What model would “freemium” products count as?

high growth startups

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

These business models primarily apply to high growth high investment companies aiming for Billions or 100 mills which makes perfect sense for Y-C but for other entrepreneurs who just want to have several 100k or millions businesses take this list and also learn other things about small/medium businesses. Your plumber or plumbing company makes great money with a simple: build trust, do good work, advertise , hire good employees and send an invoice.

small/medium businesses

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

These business models primarily apply to high growth high investment companies aiming for Billions or 100 mills which makes perfect sense for Y-C but for other entrepreneurs who just want to have several 100k or millions businesses take this list and also learn other things about small/medium businesses. Your plumber or plumbing company makes great money with a simple: build trust, do good work, advertise , hire good employees and send an invoice.

traditional business strategies

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

These business models primarily apply to high growth high investment companies aiming for Billions or 100 mills which makes perfect sense for Y-C but for other entrepreneurs who just want to have several 100k or millions businesses take this list and also learn other things about small/medium businesses. Your plumber or plumbing company makes great money with a simple: build trust, do good work, advertise , hire good employees and send an invoice.

tarpit idea recognition

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Love these videos! I’m working on a music discovery app - I feel tech has changed and I have twists that make it “no longer a tarpit” (but isn’t that what they all say?). Hmu if anyone’s interested in a Zoom demo, please help change my mind :) Email in bio

startup best practices

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up venture started, I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Unfortunately, he was a secret enemy who kept himself close in order to gain access to my technology (aka Corporate espionage) Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

time management for entrepreneurs

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Also sometimes the problem is that i can't dedicate enough time for product cause haven't free time, maybe i need to quit my job and do my thing. It was super interesting point of view, love it: Quotes ''founder often find reasons to launch later because they are afraid'', ''focus on building something 100 people love'', ''when you are super small with the jankiest mvp you should absolutely launch''.

fear of launch

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Also sometimes the problem is that i can't dedicate enough time for product cause haven't free time, maybe i need to quit my job and do my thing. It was super interesting point of view, love it: Quotes ''founder often find reasons to launch later because they are afraid'', ''focus on building something 100 people love'', ''when you are super small with the jankiest mvp you should absolutely launch''.

challenges as an independent inventor

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

social skills for entrepreneurs

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Lack of social skills is a huge one, biggest advice is to use apps like Social Wizard to get better

startup strategies: b2c vs b2b

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

This advice seems apt for B2C tech-lite startups. Tech-heavy B2B is a different arena.

early customer discovery

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

What about not knowing yet what to develop and launch during early customer discovery? What about Deeptech products that take time? What about the data of many succesfull companies that took many months, even years before launching publically, eg, OpenAI?

I understand the value in launching as soon as you can have something functionnal packaged, but 2 months as a general rule? What if through discovery you decide to change product altogether? What should you do then, cancel the first one? Maintain it?

resource availability

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

Is Founding Sales free onilne? Can anyone point me to the pdf / site? Link to free Founding Sales book?

solopreneurship

My Next $1M SaaS

me guessing your saas idea: a google analytics killer

  • you use it
  • it's for solopreneurs who you care about
  • it's a painkiller (not a vitamin)

sleep problems in entrepreneurship

BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

You put back the Oura on ? I though it gives you sleep problems
 I have huge sleep problem. I also have one but that doesn’t help much.Maybe it’s a dev entrepreneurial thing idk. Always thinking and having so many ideas

marketing strategies

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hi

I am a big fan of your work. First of all, I wanted to compliment you on your content: it is always very helpful and well-done, and the way you share your knowledge is truly inspiring.

I am also a developer and have created several SaaS applications, but unfortunately, I am having trouble monetizing them. I can't seem to find any customers, and I'm not sure how to best market my products.

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the marketing side: how did you find your first customers, and what strategies did you use to promote your applications? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and for the work you do. I will continue to follow you with great interest!

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

The very right approach is to start with value, not price. At JetSoftPro, a software development service, we work closely with startups, and the question of the trial period and when it will really play as an advantage is one of the most difficult Another question, any tips on how to negotiate the validation? In most cases big clients don't want their logon on the homepage of the products they use. Can you expand more about what you mean by losing 25% of your customers to competitors? we should keep lowering our prices until we only lose 25% to our competitors?

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

We developed a POW layer 1 blockchain prototype designed especially for sending wallet-to-wallet messages, which allows users to mine tokens from the browser, where we charge a fee for each message sent, but this fee arrives in our prototype governance token. which has no value. Would this be a transactional model? although the token has no value yet. Or would this be technical innovation? What model would “freemium” products count as?

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

This advice seems apt for B2C tech-lite startups. Tech-heavy B2B is a different arena.

advertising strategies

My Next $1M SaaS

I think he spends a lot of money on ads. I wonder how to walk that fine line with ads.

contract renegotiation

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Tom, thank you for such a concise video. My question what to do with clients who for years are using the product but for very small price. Should we renegotiate the contract and increase the price or it's better not to do anything with them?

customer retention

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Can you expand more about what you mean by losing 25% of your customers to competitors? we should keep lowering our prices until we only lose 25% to our competitors?

long-term pricing strategy

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

That's pretty cool thank you, it would be nice to learn about the projection for pricing in the long term when you start to scale up.

innovation subjectivity

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Another aspect would be that these unrealistic tarpit ideas have an impactful result. Tesla, Neuralink, OpenAI etc all were tarpits at a point. So its too subjective. Its a matter of perception. Not saying they are wrong. Its simply hypocritical to negate ideas or simply suggest they are tarpits based on your assumption. These guys themselves say with time, beliefs around tarpits change so techically there is nothing correct or anything wrong with anything. It is just the rght thing at the right time and place.

perfection vs. early release

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Some say, "Timing the market is everything," while others argue, "It is impossible to time it." Both perspectives hold truth. While a company like Apple makes headlines with every misstep, a startup often goes unnoticed—like a tree falling in an empty forest. The key takeaway? Don't overburden yourself, striving for perfection in your initial release. Early adopters are generally forgiving.

Having worked with two promising startups, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of excessive R&D at the expense of customer acquisition. Despite our products being loved by users and boasting cutting-edge technology, we ultimately lost funding. Today, with the advancements in AI, those startups could have potentially transformed into multi-billion dollar enterprises.

The lesson is clear: Launch sooner, learn faster, and adapt. The market rewards those who take calculated risks and prioritize customer engagement over perfection.

consequences of excessive r&d

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Some say, "Timing the market is everything," while others argue, "It is impossible to time it." Both perspectives hold truth. While a company like Apple makes headlines with every misstep, a startup often goes unnoticed—like a tree falling in an empty forest. The key takeaway? Don't overburden yourself, striving for perfection in your initial release. Early adopters are generally forgiving.

Having worked with two promising startups, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of excessive R&D at the expense of customer acquisition. Despite our products being loved by users and boasting cutting-edge technology, we ultimately lost funding. Today, with the advancements in AI, those startups could have potentially transformed into multi-billion dollar enterprises.

The lesson is clear: Launch sooner, learn faster, and adapt. The market rewards those who take calculated risks and prioritize customer engagement over perfection.

client engagement

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

Really nice information. Thanks for sharing. But then, about not showing them your product on the first call. If you're selling to lawyers for example whose time is really valuable and change clients by the hour. How easy would it be to book a 2nd call with them when you only managed to book the first call (especially when you hadn't shown them the product yet in the 1st call)?

best macbook for programming

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

What do you think is the best MacBook to start Programming at the Moment ?

programming hardware

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

What do you think is the best MacBook to start Programming at the Moment ?

oura ring and sleep

BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

You put back the Oura on ? I though it gives you sleep problems
 I have huge sleep problem. I also have one but that doesn’t help much.Maybe it’s a dev entrepreneurial thing idk. Always thinking and having so many ideas

quality assurance

My Next $1M SaaS

Great video as always :). Have you ever considered to hire a QA specialist to test all of your apps?

sales strategy

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

Really nice information. Thanks for sharing. But then, about not showing them your product on the first call. If you're selling to lawyers for example whose time is really valuable and change clients by the hour. How easy would it be to book a 2nd call with them when you only managed to book the first call (especially when you hadn't shown them the product yet in the 1st call)? This was a great video, I really enjoyed watching it.

If you have a product where the person experiencing the problem everyday and searching for a solution is a lower level employee who must have approval from the higher ups to purchase new software, do you do cold outreach to them or to their higher ups?

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Early stage startup shouldn’t be selling $700K enterprise software. Enterprise doesn’t just buy the product, they buy support, training, customization, and stability of the product, early stage startup can’t provide that.

Start with lower market then go up from there. Very interesting Tom. Thanks for sharing. I have one question about the value equation: you mentioned that you need to clearly define the equation with your champion and then charge roughly 1/3 of the value the clients receive. Do you disclose this directly to the champion (i.e. "you keep 2/3 and we keep 1/3"), or do you just present it as a price (in your example $ 700k)? If you choose the latter and later find that the value they get after the pilot is much higher, how would you go about raising the price then?

product development

My Next $1M SaaS

me guessing your saas idea: a google analytics killer

  • you use it
  • it's for solopreneurs who you care about
  • it's a painkiller (not a vitamin)

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Also sometimes the problem is that i can't dedicate enough time for product cause haven't free time, maybe i need to quit my job and do my thing. It was super interesting point of view, love it: Quotes ''founder often find reasons to launch later because they are afraid'', ''focus on building something 100 people love'', ''when you are super small with the jankiest mvp you should absolutely launch''. What about not knowing yet what to develop and launch during early customer discovery? What about Deeptech products that take time? What about the data of many succesfull companies that took many months, even years before launching publically, eg, OpenAI?

I understand the value in launching as soon as you can have something functionnal packaged, but 2 months as a general rule? What if through discovery you decide to change product altogether? What should you do then, cancel the first one? Maintain it? Some say, "Timing the market is everything," while others argue, "It is impossible to time it." Both perspectives hold truth. While a company like Apple makes headlines with every misstep, a startup often goes unnoticed—like a tree falling in an empty forest. The key takeaway? Don't overburden yourself, striving for perfection in your initial release. Early adopters are generally forgiving.

Having worked with two promising startups, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of excessive R&D at the expense of customer acquisition. Despite our products being loved by users and boasting cutting-edge technology, we ultimately lost funding. Today, with the advancements in AI, those startups could have potentially transformed into multi-billion dollar enterprises.

The lesson is clear: Launch sooner, learn faster, and adapt. The market rewards those who take calculated risks and prioritize customer engagement over perfection.

he screwed my startup

shitFast is wild đŸ€Ł stuff like this is definitely a huge problem with digital products though, fix for this would be a billion dollar company, whos building this?

video editing and youtube strategies

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hey Marc , really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with more Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail and also help you with the overall youtube strategy and growth ! Pls let me know what do you think ?

logo creation

My Next $1M SaaS

Hey Marc trying to find the vid where you show how you make logos with canva. If you remember which it is from and you see this, could you please let me know 😂

video editing and production

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hey Marc , really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with more Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail and also help you with the overall youtube strategy and growth ! Pls let me know what do you think ?

logo creation with canva

My Next $1M SaaS

Hey Marc trying to find the vid where you show how you make logos with canva. If you remember which it is from and you see this, could you please let me know 😂

transactional model

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

We developed a POW layer 1 blockchain prototype designed especially for sending wallet-to-wallet messages, which allows users to mine tokens from the browser, where we charge a fee for each message sent, but this fee arrives in our prototype governance token. which has no value. Would this be a transactional model? although the token has no value yet. Or would this be technical innovation?

freemium model

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

What model would “freemium” products count as?

customer validation

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Another question, any tips on how to negotiate the validation? In most cases big clients don't want their logon on the homepage of the products they use.

trial periods

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

The very right approach is to start with value, not price. At JetSoftPro, a software development service, we work closely with startups, and the question of the trial period and when it will really play as an advantage is one of the most difficult

competitive pricing

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Can you expand more about what you mean by losing 25% of your customers to competitors? we should keep lowering our prices until we only lose 25% to our competitors?

learning vs. building

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hi, Marc! I have one question for you. What is better: building my own projects with current knowledge (even if I'll make lots of bad decisions in terms of realizing features) or completing courses first, and only after that moment start to build.

video production

he screwed my startup

very cool Marc! Out of curiosity: what camera and editing software did you use to produce this video?

react query

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Do you use tanstack/react query ?

community engagement

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hey, why don't you have a Discord server? I think it would be a great way for this community to come together

value-based pricing

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

The very right approach is to start with value, not price. At JetSoftPro, a software development service, we work closely with startups, and the question of the trial period and when it will really play as an advantage is one of the most difficult Very interesting Tom. Thanks for sharing. I have one question about the value equation: you mentioned that you need to clearly define the equation with your champion and then charge roughly 1/3 of the value the clients receive. Do you disclose this directly to the champion (i.e. "you keep 2/3 and we keep 1/3"), or do you just present it as a price (in your example $ 700k)? If you choose the latter and later find that the value they get after the pilot is much higher, how would you go about raising the price then?

hiring qa specialist

My Next $1M SaaS

Great video as always :). Have you ever considered to hire a QA specialist to test all of your apps?

deployment tools

How I Find $50K/Month Business Ideas

I wonder what the initial cost is to deploy a project on production. Of course, starting with your magic tool "ship fast" ;)

shirt

My Next $1M SaaS

Whats that shirt from? So nice

transactional business model pricing

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

How do you price your service if your business model is transactional ?

content language

BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

Salut Marc ! Mille mercis pour ton contenu trĂšs inspirant. Ta vidĂ©o est vraiment gĂ©nial. Est-ce que tu produit du contenu en français ? MĂȘme si je comprends trĂšs bien l'anglais, c'est toujours plus agrĂ©able de consommer du contenu dans sa langue maternelle. En espĂ©rant que tu es en train de surfer Ă  l'heure qu'il est.

community building

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hey, why don't you have a Discord server? I think it would be a great way for this community to come together

oura ring and sleep problems

BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

You put back the Oura on ? I though it gives you sleep problems
 I have huge sleep problem. I also have one but that doesn’t help much.Maybe it’s a dev entrepreneurial thing idk. Always thinking and having so many ideas

examples of non-scalable actions

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

What's something you've done at your own startup that is a good example of "doing things that don't scale"?

apple's business model

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

What is the business model of Apple according to the nine business models? What type of business model does apple have according to the nine business models explained in the video?

tarpit idea assessment

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Oh and also, can you tell me if my startup idea is a tarpit? I'm making a copilot for letting you know when it's time to buy printer ink 😂 My idea is to solve tenant-landlord problems at the scale of mid-sized rental companies that have approximately a few hundred tenants. My company will help these mid-sized landlord groups register as a REIT and issue shares, which they will then reward to tenants in exchange for on-time rental payment. Tenants are usually managed only by negative reinforcement, if they damage the property, they lose their security deposit, and that's it. But with shares of ownership, even a tiny fraction, the tenant will get to experience the ownership incentive, and this will lead to reduced damages, increased on-time payments, and help meet the requirement of having 100 different shareholders for the tax-advantages of the REIT structure.

Anybody want to steal this idea or work with me on this? Or is this a tar-pit idea?

startup scaling tools

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

Scaling a startup comes with its own set of unique challenges. From managing growing teams to ensuring product quality and delivery speed, there are many hurdles to overcome. Has anyone used tools like monday dev to help manage these challenges? Specifically, I'm interested in features like automations. How effective have these tools been for you in scaling your startup?

startup sustainability

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

A tarpit idea can become a decent idea all of a sudden if there is demand on the consumer side. Few years ago(in 2015) I wanted to start a company that conducts mock interviews for people looking to prepare(India). I saw that a lot of people have earlier started such companies, some were B2B (conduct screening interviews for other companies) and some were B2C. None of them were making much money, some got shutdown. But, a lot of pay after placement kind of edtech startups came in 2020, heavily funded, They needed mock interviews for their students so that they can get them placed asap. And then these mock interview prep companies started making decent money.

Same is the case with mental health startups in India or other countries where the consumers are not interested in paying for a solution, either group therapy or therapy or medications to manage their issues.

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

6:56 Michael I'm not sure how this example demonstrates how new tech (in this case GenAI) is now making previously unviable ideas more viable? Is there a palpable/profitable demand for computer generated podcast content? Or a problem this is actually solving? Couldn't someone have just typed up a summary of a research paper or a scripted topic and had good text-to-voice software make it sound like a podcast 5 years ago? Personally I feel like most people loyally listen to podcasts more for the host & guest (human) personalities/humor/opinions/etc. I wish you guys would've used this topic to share your perspectives on how GenAI-centric startups right now may actually have parallels to tarpit pitfalls. As someone who is actually working with GenAI tech, I'm feeling more and more every day that the "AI is the hammer and everything is a nail" mentality is still running rampant in businesses, but for many use cases, the jury is still out on whether the revenue or productivity gains are anywhere near the costs. đŸ€”

real estate tech innovations

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

My idea is to solve tenant-landlord problems at the scale of mid-sized rental companies that have approximately a few hundred tenants. My company will help these mid-sized landlord groups register as a REIT and issue shares, which they will then reward to tenants in exchange for on-time rental payment. Tenants are usually managed only by negative reinforcement, if they damage the property, they lose their security deposit, and that's it. But with shares of ownership, even a tiny fraction, the tenant will get to experience the ownership incentive, and this will lead to reduced damages, increased on-time payments, and help meet the requirement of having 100 different shareholders for the tax-advantages of the REIT structure.

Anybody want to steal this idea or work with me on this? Or is this a tar-pit idea?

non-scalable actions in startups

Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale

How can i get Letter of intent if im working on hard tech?Are LOIs part of doing things that dont scale?

historical data of successful companies

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

What about not knowing yet what to develop and launch during early customer discovery? What about Deeptech products that take time? What about the data of many succesfull companies that took many months, even years before launching publically, eg, OpenAI?

I understand the value in launching as soon as you can have something functionnal packaged, but 2 months as a general rule? What if through discovery you decide to change product altogether? What should you do then, cancel the first one? Maintain it?

technical innovation

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

We developed a POW layer 1 blockchain prototype designed especially for sending wallet-to-wallet messages, which allows users to mine tokens from the browser, where we charge a fee for each message sent, but this fee arrives in our prototype governance token. which has no value. Would this be a transactional model? although the token has no value yet. Or would this be technical innovation?

future of coding

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Dalton and Michael, what are your thoughts about the future of coding?

market demand

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

A tarpit idea can become a decent idea all of a sudden if there is demand on the consumer side. Few years ago(in 2015) I wanted to start a company that conducts mock interviews for people looking to prepare(India). I saw that a lot of people have earlier started such companies, some were B2B (conduct screening interviews for other companies) and some were B2C. None of them were making much money, some got shutdown. But, a lot of pay after placement kind of edtech startups came in 2020, heavily funded, They needed mock interviews for their students so that they can get them placed asap. And then these mock interview prep companies started making decent money.

Same is the case with mental health startups in India or other countries where the consumers are not interested in paying for a solution, either group therapy or therapy or medications to manage their issues.

technology evolution impact

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

6:56 Michael I'm not sure how this example demonstrates how new tech (in this case GenAI) is now making previously unviable ideas more viable? Is there a palpable/profitable demand for computer generated podcast content? Or a problem this is actually solving? Couldn't someone have just typed up a summary of a research paper or a scripted topic and had good text-to-voice software make it sound like a podcast 5 years ago? Personally I feel like most people loyally listen to podcasts more for the host & guest (human) personalities/humor/opinions/etc. I wish you guys would've used this topic to share your perspectives on how GenAI-centric startups right now may actually have parallels to tarpit pitfalls. As someone who is actually working with GenAI tech, I'm feeling more and more every day that the "AI is the hammer and everything is a nail" mentality is still running rampant in businesses, but for many use cases, the jury is still out on whether the revenue or productivity gains are anywhere near the costs. đŸ€”

deep tech products

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

What about not knowing yet what to develop and launch during early customer discovery? What about Deeptech products that take time? What about the data of many succesfull companies that took many months, even years before launching publically, eg, OpenAI?

I understand the value in launching as soon as you can have something functionnal packaged, but 2 months as a general rule? What if through discovery you decide to change product altogether? What should you do then, cancel the first one? Maintain it?

blockchain business model

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

We developed a POW layer 1 blockchain prototype designed especially for sending wallet-to-wallet messages, which allows users to mine tokens from the browser, where we charge a fee for each message sent, but this fee arrives in our prototype governance token. which has no value. Would this be a transactional model? although the token has no value yet. Or would this be technical innovation?

market analysis

My Next $1M SaaS

me guessing your saas idea: a google analytics killer

  • you use it
  • it's for solopreneurs who you care about
  • it's a painkiller (not a vitamin)

lending business model

Startup Business Models and Pricing - Startup School

Where does lending business fall into

cost-based pricing

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Is there a benefit in pricing relating to cost now that AI is having more impact on the ability to reduce operations cost? Say the product is aimed at SMBs, with the goal being to obtain a high volume of these customers and largely keep them to a zero to very low touch, then does it make sense to set prices at "no brainer" levels and have those dictated largely by costs?

market segmentation

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Early stage startup shouldn’t be selling $700K enterprise software. Enterprise doesn’t just buy the product, they buy support, training, customization, and stability of the product, early stage startup can’t provide that.

Start with lower market then go up from there.

enterprise software sales

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Early stage startup shouldn’t be selling $700K enterprise software. Enterprise doesn’t just buy the product, they buy support, training, customization, and stability of the product, early stage startup can’t provide that.

Start with lower market then go up from there.

communication of pricing

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Very interesting Tom. Thanks for sharing. I have one question about the value equation: you mentioned that you need to clearly define the equation with your champion and then charge roughly 1/3 of the value the clients receive. Do you disclose this directly to the champion (i.e. "you keep 2/3 and we keep 1/3"), or do you just present it as a price (in your example $ 700k)? If you choose the latter and later find that the value they get after the pilot is much higher, how would you go about raising the price then?

sales targeting

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

This was a great video, I really enjoyed watching it.

If you have a product where the person experiencing the problem everyday and searching for a solution is a lower level employee who must have approval from the higher ups to purchase new software, do you do cold outreach to them or to their higher ups?

cold outreach

Enterprise Sales - Startup School

This was a great video, I really enjoyed watching it.

If you have a product where the person experiencing the problem everyday and searching for a solution is a lower level employee who must have approval from the higher ups to purchase new software, do you do cold outreach to them or to their higher ups?

support and training

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Early stage startup shouldn’t be selling $700K enterprise software. Enterprise doesn’t just buy the product, they buy support, training, customization, and stability of the product, early stage startup can’t provide that.

Start with lower market then go up from there.

learning vs experience

THIS mistake cost me $1600

Hi, Marc! I have one question for you. What is better: building my own projects with current knowledge (even if I'll make lots of bad decisions in terms of realizing features) or completing courses first, and only after that moment start to build.

adjusting pricing based on pilot outcomes

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

Very interesting Tom. Thanks for sharing. I have one question about the value equation: you mentioned that you need to clearly define the equation with your champion and then charge roughly 1/3 of the value the clients receive. Do you disclose this directly to the champion (i.e. "you keep 2/3 and we keep 1/3"), or do you just present it as a price (in your example $ 700k)? If you choose the latter and later find that the value they get after the pilot is much higher, how would you go about raising the price then?

immediate price inquiry response

How To Price For B2B - Startup School

What do you do when a prospect emails you what is the price so we can decide if we want to try it or not?

product pivoting

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

What about not knowing yet what to develop and launch during early customer discovery? What about Deeptech products that take time? What about the data of many succesfull companies that took many months, even years before launching publically, eg, OpenAI?

I understand the value in launching as soon as you can have something functionnal packaged, but 2 months as a general rule? What if through discovery you decide to change product altogether? What should you do then, cancel the first one? Maintain it?

startup ideas

he screwed my startup

shitFast is wild đŸ€Ł stuff like this is definitely a huge problem with digital products though, fix for this would be a billion dollar company, whos building this?

artificial intelligence

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

AI travel companion itinerary maker - still Tarpit ?? 6:56 Michael I'm not sure how this example demonstrates how new tech (in this case GenAI) is now making previously unviable ideas more viable? Is there a palpable/profitable demand for computer generated podcast content? Or a problem this is actually solving? Couldn't someone have just typed up a summary of a research paper or a scripted topic and had good text-to-voice software make it sound like a podcast 5 years ago? Personally I feel like most people loyally listen to podcasts more for the host & guest (human) personalities/humor/opinions/etc. I wish you guys would've used this topic to share your perspectives on how GenAI-centric startups right now may actually have parallels to tarpit pitfalls. As someone who is actually working with GenAI tech, I'm feeling more and more every day that the "AI is the hammer and everything is a nail" mentality is still running rampant in businesses, but for many use cases, the jury is still out on whether the revenue or productivity gains are anywhere near the costs. đŸ€”

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

I'm working on a legal defense strategy co-pilot for presidential candidates and ex-presidents. Tarpit idea?

music discovery innovations

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Love these videos! I’m working on a music discovery app - I feel tech has changed and I have twists that make it “no longer a tarpit” (but isn’t that what they all say?). Hmu if anyone’s interested in a Zoom demo, please help change my mind :) Email in bio

ip protection

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up venture started, I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Unfortunately, he was a secret enemy who kept himself close in order to gain access to my technology (aka Corporate espionage) Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

non-disclosure agreements (nda)

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

minimum viable product (mvp)

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Also sometimes the problem is that i can't dedicate enough time for product cause haven't free time, maybe i need to quit my job and do my thing. It was super interesting point of view, love it: Quotes ''founder often find reasons to launch later because they are afraid'', ''focus on building something 100 people love'', ''when you are super small with the jankiest mvp you should absolutely launch''.

corporate espionage

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up venture started, I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Unfortunately, he was a secret enemy who kept himself close in order to gain access to my technology (aka Corporate espionage) Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

concept clarification

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

Must say that this video was too conversational for me with too little structure. The problem why friends of mine are confused about tarpit ideas is because it's unclear how to identify them. This video was more of a "heres another vague definition and lets add a bunch of qualifying factors to it for 10 min"

novelty projects

Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel

I’m working on an airline for penguins so they can finally fly. Is this a tarpit idea ? 🐧

digital product issues

he screwed my startup

shitFast is wild đŸ€Ł stuff like this is definitely a huge problem with digital products though, fix for this would be a billion dollar company, whos building this?

conflict of interest in investment

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Hopefully everybody watching these videos understands that Y Combinator has a conflict of interest; in that they are investors, so they burn their own cash the longer it takes their portfolio companies to launch. The conflict is in that fact that they participate in the upside, regardless, but very rarely, and to a much lesser extent, share the same downside of a founder, if and when there's a premature launch.

intellectual property (ip) protection

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Hey everyone, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NDAs and IP filings before sharing ideas. Recently, I noticed some startup advice suggesting not to require an NDA signed before sharing your pitch, claiming it would deter interest. However, this can be extremely risky! As a struggling single mom of three/inventor in technology, I had my former 'senior advisor' (who was already a multi-millionaire) sign an NDA when disclosing my idea, thank God. Seven years after my invention/start-up I found out that he was building my business model out with a major bank who bought my invention/business model for almost $100 million! Do NOT give your ideas freely! Your ideas take THOUGHT POWER! A lot of people are too dumb to think, so they look for smart, creative people to do it for them, but the only difference is that they have money and the connections to make YOUR idea/concept happen. These types should be held LEGALLY accountable! Lesson: NDA'S, Copyright, and file IP. Then you have a case;)

tech-heavy vs tech-lite startups

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

This advice seems apt for B2C tech-lite startups. Tech-heavy B2B is a different arena.

timing the market

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

Some say, "Timing the market is everything," while others argue, "It is impossible to time it." Both perspectives hold truth. While a company like Apple makes headlines with every misstep, a startup often goes unnoticed—like a tree falling in an empty forest. The key takeaway? Don't overburden yourself, striving for perfection in your initial release. Early adopters are generally forgiving.

Having worked with two promising startups, I witnessed firsthand the consequences of excessive R&D at the expense of customer acquisition. Despite our products being loved by users and boasting cutting-edge technology, we ultimately lost funding. Today, with the advancements in AI, those startups could have potentially transformed into multi-billion dollar enterprises.

The lesson is clear: Launch sooner, learn faster, and adapt. The market rewards those who take calculated risks and prioritize customer engagement over perfection.

hiring

My Next $1M SaaS

Great video as always :). Have you ever considered to hire a QA specialist to test all of your apps?

content in french

BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE

Salut Marc ! Mille mercis pour ton contenu trĂšs inspirant. Ta vidĂ©o est vraiment gĂ©nial. Est-ce que tu produit du contenu en français ? MĂȘme si je comprends trĂšs bien l'anglais, c'est toujours plus agrĂ©able de consommer du contenu dans sa langue maternelle. En espĂ©rant que tu es en train de surfer Ă  l'heure qu'il est.

unresolved narrative

he screwed my startup

Did I miss something or did you never reveal what your father in law said in the beginning