Harley Sugarman

Bootstrapping is better for founders and employees 🤝 Aligned Incentives: Founders and employees share a common goal for sustainable growth and success 🏆 Long-Term Focus: No pressure for rapid exits and hiring for the sake of a large head count 📈 Ownership: Fewer dilution rounds = larger share of the company’s equity What do you think?

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PSA: If you send a founder product nits + feedback with concomitant screenshots/mocks you instantly vault into being an S-tier user. (Friction logs are even better, of course.)

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tl;dr - We're pausing NoCode Pros as a paid community for a few months. Why is this happening? John Krueger and I started NCP last summer to help our journey growing our own low code agency, DreamLabs. Our hypothesis was that the best way to level up and achieve flourishing would not be to read some books or guru videos. Instead, we wanted to learn directly with and from other practitioners, fellow nocode / lowcode agency owners in the trenches building their own businesses. Our hypothesis was correct. Over the past 8 months we've applied the insights, lessons and connections made through NCP to achieve our goals as an agency, expanding from a team of 2 to over a dozen. We're now so busy with the agency we can't in good faith maintain the NCP vision at the same time. So we're temporarily pausing NCP to focus on stabilizing our agency. The idea is that after we're built in more foundational stability, we can open up time to return to NCP and bring it to the next level. We appreciate all the NCP members' participation, engagement and support as we learn and grow together. Upwards 🚀

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Common founder hiring mistake #5: (most founders don’t think this applies to them) Failing to run structured interviews. Most founders think they’re great at interviewing. Chat with candidates, ask about their background, maybe throw in some tough technical questions. But without clear structure, interviews easily veer off course. You fail to systematically assess candidates on consistent criteria And your team asks disjointed questions based on what intrigues them, not what predicts performance. Suddenly you’re debating candidates without alignment on what good looks like. And critical factors get overlooked. Your new goal: Well-crafted interview plans. • Start by defining explicit evaluation criteria upfront for each interview stage. What specific skills or traits make a candidate successful in this role? • Then design focused questions that ladder up to those criteria. Dig into relevant experiences to determine if candidates meet your standards. • Share question bank, desired responses, rating guidelines and interview best practices with all interviewers. Make sure everyone assesses candidates the same way. • Take time to calibrate on what strong, medium and weak responses look like for key questions. Prevent bias by keeping evaluations evidence-based. With rigorous process, your team reaches alignment faster on quality of hire. And you avoid hot-take debates after missing key signals in interviews. P.S. Dover’s expert recruiters help our customers create interview plans based on best practices AND train the team on how to be amazing interviewers.

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Sometimes I get so caught up opining on public software companies as a loosely (at best) qualified pseudo-analyst that I forget to talk about all the fantastically crazy stuff happening at Superfiliate.. Not today! It's safe to say we've had the most exciting months in our short history, and I want to shout out what was one of our best-received product releases thus far. Social Listening and UGC Collection Built on the back of a formal Meta / Instagram integration, our customers (at no cost) are now able to see all the content they're tagged in on IG and instantly download that content, request usage rights, add it to a Superfiliate landing page, and much more. The integration makes our users' lives MUCH easier as they're not switching platforms constantly. As importantly, merchants are able to identify creators/partners they aren't formally working with but are already tagging them on social. The best creators are the ones who love your product, and nothing says that like an organic post. More social platforms coming soon, but I'll let you guess who that might be 👀 It's truly a pleasure watching Anders Bill and the product, design, and engineering teams ship impactful, beautiful features at such an impressive clip. Investing in great people and processes compounds over time, and we're seeing that in a very real way right now, and it's only going to continue. Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast As we say, rah rah!

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How to pitch: The company has zero traction —> “We’re early” You only have 2 customers —> “We’re working with design partners” You currently have no revenue but hoping some pipeline finally closes —> “we’re on track to exit this year at $3M ARR” You’re in the natural kill zone of a FAANG —> “We view them as partners rather than competitors” There’s no way the tech can actually work —>“We’re manifesting the future” And of course: One of your developers uses Co-Pilot to write some front end code —> “We’re an AI company”

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This is partly what why I prefer bootstrapped businesses. VC-backed companies can be rocket-fuelled skates with unnecessary pressure from boards. And unless you know exactly what you're doing, there's a high probability going in the wrong direction. #bootstrap #product #tech #vc

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Tons of new business owners are missing out. You can get up to $100,000 in AWS credit (as in, no-payback) to build a proof-of-concept if you have an idea and a website. AWS Activate is the program. If you're a founder and you're looking to build cost-effectively before you have paying clients, check it out.

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Building early stage startup momentum? Make sure your speed-to-help is measured in minutes. In today’s environment, you can’t wait days for help. You have to get unstuck fast. With timely advice, execution quickens. Thats the power of a safe-space community that’s built on ‘giving’. It’s our foundational value. You should give what we are building a try.  Zero risk.   DM me to learn more. We’re happy to tee up a call. Happy Wednesday, ya’ll. ———— Please consider ♻️ with founders in your network. As early stage founders, we at times, are a problem away from sinking or propelling forward.

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Today we're launching our newest candidate quality-of-life feature on Ropes - IDE themes. There's a universal dislike for the rigid IDEs that assessment co's force on candidates. These code editors are slow, clunky, and missing the styes/shortcuts that developers enjoy. Developers are unique, and we work in unique ways. Ropes offers two new options to let candidates keep their style: (1) First, many employers on Ropes allow candidates to work in their own IDEs entirely. We've developed a way to gather insights like you were in the room, while allowing developers to use their daily environments. (2) For cases that need a browser-based IDE - we're giving the ability for candidates to choose their style/editor setup before the assessment starts - so they're comfortable when it begins. --- My bet is that if we build a great experience for candidates, we'll be building a great platform for evaluators, too. I hope you'll follow along as we pursue that mission - and we need help! We're hiring founding engineers in NYC - if you're interested, I'd love to talk to you.

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This is not a LinkedIn post. This is a public service announcement 📢 Your company is probably not ready to implement AI, but on May 29, we've got a solution for you. Bobby Pinero of Equals and Scott Breitenother of Brooklyn Data Co. (a Velir company) will join me in an open discussion on all things AI readiness, and solutions to the "garbage in, garbage out" conundrum data teams face with implementing AI. Join the conversation to learn how leaders are successfully implementing AI, and getting ready to scale. We'll be taking live Q&A, and we'd love to hear your questions about AI implementation. Andrew McEwen and I will share Secoda's newest major release, customer stories, and some fun surprises along the way… … here are some emoji hints: 🔥🚒🧯🚯🤖 If you haven't joined a Secoda keynote before, be prepared to be educated and entertained in equal parts by registering: https://lnkd.in/ghgJdMRZ

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VCs rate STARTUPS, should the SBA or BBB (Better Business Bureaus do the SAME? Often a complicated and lengthy process for complaints reduces feedback. By Providing a RATING (like RESTAURANTS receive from the health department (ABCD)) that provides a clear metric 📊 on our local SERVICE PROVIDERS who too often can hide 🙈 TRUE results behind SEO (Search engine optimization) or (PPC) pay-per-click that many seniors and homeowners mistake for objective reviews? Whether raising future FUNDING from investors or calculating VALUE, how can consumers better understand and reward great service? How can COMSUMER PROTECTION learn from and mimic VCs IDEA: Dept of Due Diligence ?

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Hard Truth that many people in tech and specifically Venture Capitalists wont like to hear: 1. GPT models are basically stuck and having stunted growth since ~oct 2022, any groundbreaking development is either by coupling some hardcore backend engineering (related to clever non AGI algorithms or engineering of scale) OR by bluffing the actual demo like gemini/devin/video generator of chatgpt etc. 2. Backend and systems engineering continue to be the CORE of innovation for exponential impact. Hardware engineering contiues to grow at the compounded growth rate that it has been last 20 odd years. If something seems too good to be true it probably is. 3. There has been 0 development in GPT models being able to solve tough problems. Best it can do is scrape the data to check for problems solution and then plagiarize it. Most developed nations are going to ban this.

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To all the founders about to quit and dreaming of a FAANG job or equivalent in pay & prestige, listen up: 1. What you're doing now-- trying to build & grow something new-- is the only "job" that AI and robots won't be taking. 2. The job you are dreaming about is already gone. Push through to fight another day. Be relentlessly resourceful as PG puts it. Your problem needs to be solved and no one is going to solve it for you. If you want help/advice on cutting expenses, sharing upside with community in exchange for build & grow collaboration, and raising capital from your users-- DMs open. There is no greener grass than the type that grows on PMF. Using Slyk IO to launch, grow, and raise fast puts you on the fast track to finding out. Your community can help you get there. I know because I'm doing this with Cadoo . #founders #startups #community

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InVision has experienced the biggest fall from glory in Silicon Valley's recent history. $350M raised with a peak valuation of $2B. And now they are shutting down. Not acquihired or "acquired by private equity" or strategic tuck-in. Just a hard stop. It's so easy to s**t on them. They got out-innovated, they were not product driven etc. etc. But, the truth is most startups that raised monster rounds in ZIRP days could face this deadend. You raised too much money: 1/ So you are too expensive to acquire 2/ So you raised your burn too high to finance a big GTM team 2/ So you got complacent on product 3/ So you got lazy on shipping There will be a lot more inVisions in the next 24 months as startups run out of capital. It's sad. The employees & founders at these companies gave it their all, but raising too much money sealed their fate. For the next gen of startup founders, heed this advice: raise little, keep your burn low, ship fast!

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I've recently heard two different stories that illustrate the stark differences in how AI is affecting the job market: - One startup founder said he laid off two junior engineers. Now, he's involved in coding himself (he has a background in software engineering) and uses GPT/Copilot. He mentioned that product development is much faster now compared to when he had the two junior engineers. - Out of this year’s graduates from a top 50 computer science master’s program, only one person received a job offer upon graduation. One student applied to 60 companies and received zero interview requests—not zero job offers, but zero interviews. It seems like AI is making experienced, senior professionals more effective at their jobs, reducing the need for junior employees. But if no one hires juniors, how can anyone become senior? The job market continues to be very challenging. I hope this is just a short-term, interim phenomenon as we figure out how to integrate AI into the workforce. In the meantime, we might also see the rise of tiny companies, including one-person businesses or small (less than 3 people) startups.

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Nick Buzz, an ex Meta employee, generated $850K in revenue in just 10 months with a simple design service - Baked Design. With Baked Design, Nick offers productised design services to his clients. 👉 What are Productised Services? Productized services are essentially services packaged and sold like products. Unlike traditional services that are customized for each client, productized services offer a standardized solution at a fixed price. In the traditional context, an agency business meant that you’d get requirements from a client, send a quote, agree on the price and work on custom pricing and timeline for the client. Productised services are very similar in the sense that you provide services such as web design, design, devops etc. to a client but with a fixed scope at a fixed price. Productised service is a kind of service as a subscription or a fixed service (service as a product). ⚡️For instance, Nick offers unlimited design services for $6317/mo. ⚡️Namya Khan builds landing pages at a flat starting price of $2497 with updates delivered every 48 hours and 2x revisions allowed. She has worked with popular creators such as Easlo, Pascio etc. 👉 Are these services really unlimited? "Unlimited" services are a popular marketing tactic among productized service providers. But are they truly unlimited? The short answer is no. Most "unlimited" services come with certain constraints to prevent abuse and ensure sustainability. Common constraints include - ⚡️Limited Concurrent Request ⚡️Prioritization ⚡️Time Limits For instance, Baked Design offers unlimited design services, but clients can only have a certain number of active requests at a time, ensuring manageable workloads and high-quality output. 👉Why do Clients still prefer productised services? Productised services remove the opaqueness that often comes with a traditional service. Clients prefer productized services because they offer clarity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The standardized nature of these services ensures predictable quality and simplifies the purchasing process, making them an attractive option for businesses looking to streamline operations and focus on their core activities. In case of subscription-based services, clients can pay weekly, monthly or annually and be assured that they have a dependable resource at their disposal - making it a great offering for the client. In case of a one-time purchase-based service, the standardization really helps remove the ambiguity. 👉 Examples of Productised Services ⚡️Design Pickle: Unlimited graphic design for a flat monthly fee. ⚡️WPCurve: Unlimited WordPress support for a monthly subscription. ⚡️AudienceOps: Blog content creation service with a fixed monthly fee. ⚡️Bench.co: Online bookkeeping services for small businesses. Did you like this post? Subscribe to the Builder OS Newsletter to learn about building products, Internet businesses and making money on the Internet. Link in Comments 👇🏻

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The stakes are much higher in 2024 for startup founders. There’s a lot of talk about “it’s never been easier to build”. I think that’s false and I’ll tell you why. Because building software has become more accessible with no code and frameworks, the stakes for quality UX of your startups v.1 are much higher than 10 years ago. So what does this mean for fellow founders; focus, ship less, make what you ship count and make it good and bug free. The stakes feel high for Knolly and although I’m following my own advice, we also have to remember that everything meaningful takes time - ship often and build with your early adopters and community and you will get the feedback loop you deserve without too much surprise come launch day. Let’s build. #startup #founder #software #version1 #Knolly

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I learned a lot of lessons working on PLG during my time at Atlassian‎ and Iteratively, an Amplitude Company‎. Join me tomorrow (June 18) at 10 am PT to get some practical tips during my "How I Amplitude‎" session.  I'll be covering how to use your PLS models to:  - create a shareable scorecard 📨 ‎📩 ‎‎🎯 ‎ - rank leads 🏆 ‎🎖️ ‎ - automate workflows 🏎️ ‎ You'll also learn how to operationalize your models with behavioral data.  There's still time to RSVP (link below in the comments). I'd also love to hear any questions or challenges your team is currently facing. 

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