david

learning @engagevc @techsquarevc

[Animesh Koratana @akoratana]

https://t.co/9W4ldW04zs

[Grant Lee @thisisgrantlee]

We grew from zero to $100M ARR and 70M users in <2.5 years, profitably

it cost us millions in experiments to learn what worked

1100-word post on every growth hack that got us here

I'll cover:
1. How to launch a feature in one day
2. How to find top 0.01% talent and keep them
3. What to focus on (and what not to)
4. Influencer marketing
5. You can't wish culture into existence
0. The thing that matters the most

1. How to launch a feature in one day
Our feedback loop:

10am: we come up with a new idea, or triggered by user insight.
12pm: designers code a prototype using Cursor.
4pm: we find new users to record themselves testing the feature (Voice Panel, UserTesting).
6pm: we watch the recording.
8pm: we know if the feature can be launched, if it needs refining, rebuilding, or if we should just drop it.

This is a way for you to actually watch and hear from your customers as they struggle through your product. You can hear in their voice where they're confused.

Sometimes you think you came up with a cool prototype. But as soon as users test it, they get stuck or have no idea how to use it. It's very helpful to have them explain how they're trying to use this feature.

When you see them confused, double click there. If they light up, you know you've hit gold.

That's how we often ship a feature per week. And not any feature; a feature with good odds of being well received.

In a month, we might improve our product in ways that would otherwise take a year.
Speed compounds.

2. How to find and keep talent

Finding Talent
- The best hires came from our network and cold inbound.
Someone once sent me a great message on LinkedIn, out of nowhere. We got on a call. 3 weeks later, he was hired full-time on-site.
- When someone joins, ask them “Who’s the best engineer you’ve ever worked with,” and reach out right away.
- Only open a role after you’ve felt the pain of doing it yourself so that you know what 'Great' looks like. (I ran marketing solo for nearly a year before hiring).
- Look for depth. In interviews, ask, “What’s a new skill you’ve learned recently? Can you teach it to me?” Keep asking 'why' and see how far they go. The best candidates go deep.

Keeping Talent
- A players want playing time. Hiring others takes time in the field away from them. Careful.
- Retention takes care of itself when you keep the bar high for hiring.
- We'll do regular tender offers so employees' vested shares actually get them liquidity from time to time.
- Give them ownership. Our hires are more 'full stack'. Designers can code in Cursor, engineers talk to users, marketers have design literacy. This way, they can own more of what they do and compensation can be proportional to the value they create.

3. What to focus on (and what not to)

In March 2023, we rebuilt Gamma to focus on one thing: users must feel the magic in the first 30 seconds.

We reworked everything in the process and became AI native.

In the 2.5 years before this, Gamma went from 0 to 60k users.
In the 2.5 years after this, Gamma went from 60k to 70M users.

What changed? What we focused on.

As we scaled, the temptation was to go wider - add more things. But we went deeper - make the current thing easier, faster, more delightful.
Every new feature, hire or campaign had to be tied directly to user value.

Gamma 3.0 does exactly what Gamma 2.0 did, just 10x better.

The most common error of a smart engineer is to work on something that should not exist - Elon Musk

4. Influencer Marketing

This is a strong amplifier for word of mouth. Anytime we scaled up an influencer program, we saw a disproportional increase in people that came through word of mouth. And when we invested less, we saw a deceleration.

What you need to know:

- 10% of your content will generate 90% of reach. When something works, figure out why and replicate it 100 times.

- Give it 6+ months, select multiple creators, and be willing to spend $10-$20k/mo. It'll not work until it does. When it does, it'll explode.

How to get it right:

- List creator personas with relevant audiences. Use freelancers/agencies for outreach.
- Pay base + viral bonus. What you reward will happen more often.
- On TikTok, use new accounts. Same chance of virality as old ones but without previous audience, so you can test.
- Test all platforms (TikTok, IG, X, LinkedIn), track specific creators/hooks that work. Triple down on those.
- Add "How did you hear about us" to onboarding. Measure leads, not views.
- Document 20-30 winning formats, then hire top creators to train others on these.
- Never write scripts, creators know their audience better than you do.

The formula:

Go broad -> See what works -> Scale it.
Virality isn't luck. It's discovering the hooks/formats that resonate with your audience and exploiting them.

5. Culture

People got this concept backwards. They think, 'I'll write down some principles and tell everyone they need to follow them.'

But you can't wish culture into existence. It's not what you hope it was. It's what you do.
Culture is a habit. A moving average of the past 60 days. It's not steady. Behavior molds it.

One day I looked around, identified the traits I admired in our teammates and wrote them down. Then I realized, 'That's our culture'.

Now we had to nurture it. We have an internal Slack channel where people give praise to teammates for a specific thing they did.
I note these things and try to reinforce them.

Don't just let anyone into your ecosystem. They always change it in some way. Hire up.

0. Have a word of mouth worthy product

Are users bragging about having found your product? Are they sending it over to friends and people they work with? Do they feel relieved when they open your app?

Until then, stick in a room with your team and get it right. Nothing of what I said above will save you if you don't get to this stage.

It doesn't matter if it takes 6-12 months. Digital products can go from $0 to $1bn in a few years if you solve a worthy problem.

If you try to speedrun through this step, you'll always be behind. 10 years will have passed and you'll be stuck at the same place.

Closing up, these are the main things that helped us grow Gamma.
Hope you find our playbook useful.

[david @davidarthr]

@kanomalie @voynow see: vista equity partners

[Josh Machiz @Machiz]

today i'm joining @lightspeedvp as Chief Marketing Officer.

after doing thousands of IPOs at Nasdaq and building Redpoint's exceptional platform team, i've learned:

it's not just one launch video. it's the relentless drumbeat that get you heard.

and that's what i'm here to build for Lightspeed and our founders.

let's make some noise!

[david @davidarthr]

@notdanilu glup glup 🔥

[david @davidarthr]

@IamKingWilliams i think those filmmakers exist they just don’t have the needed support to fully realize their vision. agree with your points in the thread about some type of fund. a friend made this short series a few years ago

https://t.co/z69q2KmUvv

[sarah guo @saranormous]

don’t be afraid to get dressed:

in my early 20s, I dressed more in the Silicon Valley uniform (company t-shirt, hoodie, jeans) - because a friend told me not to “scare the engineers by reminding them you’re a woman” and because I looked even younger than I was, and felt nervous about being taken seriously

after meeting, working with, and befriending some very “serious people,” I dress how I want — and love to help friends and founders glow up their style game

own of my very favorite things about the tech ecosystem (and engineers in general) is its attitude of fundamental meritocracy. most people care about the quality and interestingness of your ideas and work rather than where you come from or what you look like. they have internet friends. they read your code and your writing

style is self-expression, an equalizer, a remark on the culture you know, an inside joke, and a weapon for self-esteem. I love to “dress for the future I want,” eg techno-utopia. I also dress for the places and moments and communities I love, or love the idea of: the rebellion of the American west, the preppiness of New England boarding school, the crafted lines of French workwear, the femininity of a Mad Men dress, the unabashed fun of Japanese street, the “move 37” t-shirt

you don’t need to be wealthy or conventionally attractive to have great style. you just need to have a point of view. great style gives the wearer confidence, the most attractive trait of all. be who you are!

[Felicis @felicis]

Here’s to the founders. We see what you see.

We just raised $900M - our largest fund yet - to back those who are brave and daring enough to imagine the radically new.

[david @davidarthr]

@baseten i feel compelled to infer

[david @davidarthr]

@spirosx can you roll them over to a roth IRA?

[david @davidarthr]

@spirosx for anything ESG/climate related — the EU. everything else — the US. i’ve seen some supply chain companies do well in the EU too

[david @davidarthr]

@emilyinvc you’re like a triple platinum certified hater

[david @davidarthr]

@VirtualElena this is great

[david @davidarthr]

@spirosx contrarian is what you make it atp

[Chris Klaus @cklaus1]

Georgia Tech founders #2 in YC's latest batch. GO Yellow Jackets!

[Avichal Garg - Electric ϟ Capital @avichal]

Ironic that we got free AI from a hedge fund and $200/month AI from a nonprofit.

[david @davidarthr]

@spirosx agreed

[Spiros Xanthos @spirosx]

After 3 companies and 2 exits, here's my contrarian take: Venture capital isn't a measure of success.

In fact, sometimes it takes you further from success by raising the bar too high, too fast. Yes, some businesses need VC funding.

But I've seen too many promising companies shoot themselves in the foot because of their obsession with raising venture capital and considering it a win.

Build a real business first. The capital will follow.

Innovation doesn't come from building technology in a vacuum.

Real innovation happens when:
1. You work closely with customers
2. They push you to solve harder problems
3. You hit a wall where no solution exists
4. You're forced to create breakthrough technology

That's why customer obsession isn't just about sales—it's about driving true technological advancement.

[ami @amiyoshimura_]

I have some bittersweet news

We're shutting down both of our spaces in soho

After almost a year and a half - we've built two soho spaces with a combined 12k sq ft, grown the community to hundreds, helped launch hundreds of companies and projects, and created a place for relationships, friendships, and business deals to blossom

But it wasn't a good fit anymore

The space was slowly falling apart (it's an old building with tons of elevator, plumbing, and other issues), we couldn't see ourselves in the space long-term, and we were ready for new beginnings

So we went to search for a place, and by luck a place we've been eyeing for the past two years had just landed on the market

But it was a huge risk (more then you'd think and a HUGE bet financially)

@anantvasudevan and I thought about it day and night figuring out if this was the best move

Consulted a ton of our friends, the community, and everyone around us who had mixed opinions

We decided f*ck it

We'll have to make it work

So we got the space (!!) in the heart of flatiron

Signed the lease 2 months ago

And started building it out with workers on site day in, day out

We've moved the whole community in gradually over the past month and the vibes are immaculate

So why this space?

1/ Long-turn economics worked better in our favor relatively for the quality of space

2/ Better space, better member and community experience (we'll release more pics this week)

3/ Building towards our vision of creating a hub (and engaging with the new renaissance) rather than a lackluster social club or workspace

We'll be sharing more this week on details of the space, the launch, and the process of building this with our dearest friends and the community

But for now, if you're interested we just opened up applications again for the next cohort

Applications haven't been open for almost 6 months

Since then, we've had close to 900 people join the waitlist and ask about apps

We're doing a more official announcement tomorrow, but if you want to get ahead and submit an application, head over to https://t.co/1boWi09kBx

So much love to everyone who's been on this journey with us and continues to support

Much love,

[Justen Ross / Jus10 @justenross_]

• 1st co star role on TV
• 1st role in a movie
• Disney Showcase
• Became an Unbothered Cartier
• Became a staple in ATL open mic scene
• Multiple viral moments
• Had a successful heart procedure
• Became a full time artist
• Mom is cancer free

2024, you alright with me