Ahlem Mahroua

#marketing without the markup | ex-Google | turned $100k→$13M in 4yrs as CMO | 400+ founders trust me to build their authority 🔥

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

The same idea can be brilliant for one founder and a disaster for another.
A strong business idea isn't just something that sounds good.
It's something that works for your specific situation, your skills, your network, and your financial runway.

Evaluate accordingly.

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

@Lovable Built my entire new personal website https://t.co/6TjuFKL7Jt in 2h with
@Lovable
✅ SEO proof
✅ Security checks
✅ Published on a custom domain

Does that make me a #vibecoder now?

Gotta love the #AI era ps: 1st make it exist, then make it better

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Built my entire new personal website https://t.co/6TjuFKL7Jt in 2h with @Lovable
✅ SEO proof
✅ Security checks
✅ Contact form working
✅ Published on a custom domain

Does that make me a #vibecoder now?
Gotta love the #AI era

ps: 1st make it exist, then make it better

[MATT GRAY @matt_gray_]

Distribution is the only moat AI can't copy.

[Justin Welsh @thejustinwelsh]

Most people are building someone else's idea of a great life.

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

And that's why you'll always hear me telling the founders I work with, a #business and its growth is just math.
Not magic, maths.

Do the maths first, the rest will follow.

Simple but briliant insight by @matt_gray_

[MATT GRAY @matt_gray_]

$5M/year online:

- $416k/month
- 139 customers at $3k/month
- 7,000 visitors/month at 2%
- 233 visitors/day

Build the math first. Build the system second.

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

I want the answer too, the barrier to building is so low, the real moat now is #distribution and actual #traction.

[Wise @trikcode]

honest question:
is anyone actually making money from these weekend AI projects or are we all just building for localhost and Twitter screenshots

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Ah the infamous #VC echo chamber of growth vs resilience.

Just saying, maybe you should care more about bootstrapped entities that are the real backbone of the economy, not VC backed

You optimize for 100x exits; bootstrapped companies optimize for economic survival.

[Ivan Burazin @ivanburazin]

PSA: no one cares about bootstrapped founders.

That’s because bootstrapped founders help no-one but themselves.

[Justin Welsh @thejustinwelsh]

The most unreasonable decisions lead to the most interesting lives.

Quit your job. Move to a new country. Start a business. Break up with that bad partner.

Ten years later, everyone will ask you how you got so lucky.

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

@markproduct Google

[Pierre-Eliott Lallemant @pierreeliottlal]

We went from 0 to 2,200 paying customers in under a year by following @ycombinator's 15 rules:

1/ Do things that don't scale. Get your first 10 customers by hand.

2/ Launch now, not when it's "ready". A mediocre product in front of real users teaches you more in a week than 6 months of polishing in the dark.

3/ Charge from day one. If nobody will pay, you don't have a startup, you have a hobby.

4/ Talk to users every single day. The roadmap you need is sitting in your customers' heads, and they'll hand it to you for free

5/ Always hunt the 90/10 solution. For almost any feature there's a way to capture 90% of the value with 10% of the effort.

6/ There are only two real jobs: write code and talk to users. Everything else (conferences, press, VC coffees, corp dev calls) is fake work.

7/ You pick your customers as much as they pick you. 10 users who love you beat 1,000 who kind of like you.

8/ Growth is an output, not a strategy. Grow before product market fit and all you're buying is churn.

9/ Do less, really well. Pick one or two metrics and judge every task against them.

10/ Know if you're default alive. Paul Graham's question: on current growth and current burn, do you reach profitability before the money runs out?

11/ Don't hire until it hurts. Headcount is not progress, it's burn. Every great startup was embarrassingly small for embarrassingly long.

12/ Momentum is the only real moat in year one. Ship something every week, even something tiny.

13/ Every great startup is badly broken at some point. The game isn't avoiding fires, it's how fast you put them out. Again. And again

14/ Ignore your competitors. Startups die of suicide, not murder. In year one, the only company that can kill yours is your own

15/ Startups rarely die from running out of money. They die because the founders fall out. Brutal honesty with your cofounder is the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy

Good luck !

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Digital #Marketing Platforms #UAE: Pick The Efficient One in 2026 (Not The Trendy One)

Founders waste thousands on wrong platforms.
Here's how to pick the right digital marketing tools for UAE businesses based on budget, buyer, and business model.
👇
https://t.co/2Sed2HOyYa

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

@prajvysya @16vchq I like the value prop

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

@16vchq AI marketing agency for SMBs.
Business state their goals, agents create the strategy and operate everything based on goals.
Business model: full saas or AI services agency .
Verticalised marketing: for lawywers, for beauty services, for restaurants...

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Distribution is the new moat

[Thomas Trimoreau @TTrimoreau]

Why do most 99% startups fail?

- poor product
- poor marketing
- poor distribution

[Thomas Trimoreau @TTrimoreau]

Why do most 99% startups fail?

- poor product
- poor marketing
- poor distribution

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

@grok any other millennial have that feeling? Why do you think it's the case?

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Any other millennial feeling the urge to move to a remote island, open a café for surfers and just live off the sea?
Only me?

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

Why are we doing this to ourselves though 😅

[Hubert Thieblot @hthieblot]

The founder’s life:

– Try something new.
– Get punched in the face (repeat).
– Pivot from the “brilliant” idea that failed.
– Lose sleep, feel entirely alone.
– Your runway is now negative.
– Hear “no” 1,000 times.
– Realize that nobody will save you.

Keep going anyway.

[Ahlem Mahroua @AhlemMhr]

finally something sensible read on Forbes

[Forbes @Forbes]

Quote of the day. #qotd

[Nicolas Dessaigne @dessaigne]

A founder asked me how to build an AI-services business without it turning into a consultancy. My answer: the whole game is in how you charge.