Max Bern

2x founder (1 exit). Building in public. I talk about the stuff other founders are too scared to. Failure is just pre-revenue success.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@Shahbaztwt Much of the meat API is still in place like legal, compliance, etc

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

judged a college hackathon this weekend. 36 hours, 52 teams.

one team built an ai notetaker for other ai notetakers.

that's what we've been building for 3 years. theirs works.

i gave them second place and an offer to work with me.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@thejustinwelsh too late

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

an investor who stopped replying to us in july posted about how much he loves backing bold founders.

i commented "still bold. still here. still waiting on that follow-up."

he deleted it.

i left it again from the company account.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@manxlab the SaaS golden era

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@RajatR2D2 @EmmyWss me (I thought my energy could produce more money)

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@paulg @ycombinator

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@itsmeMehak_ artificially generated ideas. try one and if it doesn't work then try again

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@a16z eventually I'll understand this from first principles

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@marclou I'd be lucky if mine worked on mobile

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

blocked off my whole calendar for the month so we'd look busy.

a potential customer tried to book a demo. there were no open slots, so they went with someone else.

i've blocked off tomorrow to process it.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

got professional headshots done for the raise.

the photographer asked what the company does, so i told him.

he shot for 45 minutes. i explained it the whole time.

every photo is me mid-sentence.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@marclou Your personal meatspace is the moat. AI cant shake hands, yet..

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@johnarnold @netflix upload full movies on X, I've seen how they perform

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@InternetH0F Startups are exposure therapy. Turning fear into $15 MRR 💪

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@var_epsilon My lead engineer is setting up Claude to take on this role. No position is safe

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@itsmeMehak_ It hasn't been automated yet

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

pitched a fund this morning. she gave us 20 minutes.

she asked how many customers we have. i said it depends how you count.

she asked how i count. i said generously.

she wrote something down and underlined it.

she asked who our competitors are. i said honestly, nobody's doing what we're doing. she said she'd met 5 of them this week.

at the end she said it's not a fit right now, but to keep her posted.

i've sent her 4 updates since lunch.

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

@oprydai I like to take things down to its finest parts, build them back eventually

[Max Bern @StrtupFounder]

before we built anything, i emailed 50 people to ask if they'd pay for it.

48 said yes. a few said they'd pay double.

we launched 3 months ago. none of them have paid.

every morning i forward them their replies.