justin • vp of growth

Composing AI-native growth and product systems. VP of Growth @heyapupabove. Co-founded a $50M+ DTC brand. Writing The Compositor on Substack.

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@mpappas74 @modulate_ai Vapi integration planned for the api?

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@KodyNordquist offer

[Rajvi @rajvishah30]

today someone in office said that “worrying is the worst way to use your imagination” and that’s easily the best thing Ive heard all week

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

continually surprised by the number of times I run into situations where the default first step for a solution or a process isn’t just checking to see how throughly the market has solved a problem already.

[mark pincus @markpinc]

PROVEN BETTER NEW

Too many founders fail for the wrong reasons.

They try to make every feature new and end up with most of them worse - instead of isolating their one innovation and copying everything else from what's already proven to work.

Proven Better New is a framework for failing for the RIGHT reasons. Fail fast on the one bet that matters. Don't lose time and users over stuff that already works.
I remember at Zynga having real fear when we heard Sid Meier was developing a social Civilization game. And then when EA announced SimCity Social. 

Both times our PMs called the games DOA within an hour of launch. Why?

They didn't copy our onboarding (FTUE), which was already proven to work. Instead, they used standard game industry tutorial flows.
Nobody ever saw their innovations. Our PMs knew that any hyper-casual busy adult audience would give up by the 3rd click. 

Shilling my new book, out June 23rd: https://t.co/a6OgyOIqsr

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@MikeLukashewich oooh nice

ya, as a consumer have observed lots of people doing weird coupon code referral affiliate hacks

doing a ‘marketplace style’ creative would make a ton of sense.

anyone try that?

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

OBSERVE existing funded product in adjacent space
↓
IDENTIFY which side of the transaction it serves
↓
MAP the other side — who is NOT being served
↓
BUILD for the unserved side
↓
DESIGN the interaction layer where both sides meet
↓
OWN the interaction = own the value chain

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@itsluizneto love it. your dm's aren't open, follow me and send a dm, would love to connect on an upcoming project we are looking at to get your feedback and recs

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@garrytan I left granola for @NotionHQ notes and haven't looked back, but this does feel like an incremental product development for the space. will have to check it out

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

meta account has been disabled for no reason for a total of 11 days now, stuck in review que.

ping the ticket every day, still nothing.

delays longer because of recent layoffs? idk

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@recap_david NEWSLETTER

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

great growth hack:

onboarding flow includes a > love the 'remove old keyboards to always see blue by default and get 3 months free'

to make sure in future sessions they always are the default.

great product, great disto hack @OmarAbcXyz123 congrats on the launch

[Omar Abdelaziz @OmarAbcXyz123]

Wispr Flow on Mac was truly a great invention. It literally saves me multiple hours every single day because every new feature I build starts with a 5 minute prompt to Claude that would have been 20 minutes of typing. Everyone that's tried it can't go back.

But the same is not true for iPhone. There's so much friction having to switch keyboards to Wispr every time you want to say something and then switch keyboards back to the Apple one every time I want to edit.

That's why we built the Blue (YC S25) Smart Dictation Keyboard for iPhone! It gives you a 4x speedup when you can speak and an (almost) Apple-level keyboard when you can't, completely eliminating the switching friction.

Blue on iPhone is stickier than any product I've ever worked on while I was at Google. People don't use it 3 days a week one time for 2 minutes. They use it 100 times a day. 80% of their typing is dictation. They tell me Blue has changed their life and they can't see themselves ever going back.

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

this is your yearly reminder...

the fastest and cheapest way to increase your internet speed is to just run a hard line from your router to your computer.

your welcome.

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@MitcheIl sennnnnddddddd itttttzzzz

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@runtraffic haha love it.

the best cold sales development approach there is

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@AustinDix0n juice

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

PROPAGANDA I'M PUSHING:

- have a kid. the parents telling you it's hard are not warning you, they're flexing.
- finasteride 1mg. waiting six months to "see how bad it gets" is six months of follicles you don't get back.
- tretinoin. 0.025 to 0.05 to 0.1 to tazarotene. your face in your forties is built in your thirties.
- pills over creams. adherence is the variable. the best protocol is the one you actually do every day.
- 8 hours in bed even when the toddler wrecks 4 of them. stop scoring yourself on what you can't control.
- evening mug: glycine, magnesium glycinate, chamomile. costs pennies. beats every $80 sleep supplement.
- a wfh job that respects your life is worth a pay cut. it's also usually not a pay cut.
- nutricost is the move. third-party tested, single ingredient, half the price of the instagram brand.
- kettlebells twice a week is enough. people doing 90 minutes a day are buying identity, not fitness.
- walk every day. the most underrated longevity intervention and the only one your kid can do with you.
- one drink a week, on a weekend, with people you love. - alcohol is a tax on tomorrow.
- evidence first. if it doesn't have an rct, it's a vibe. vibes are fine, just price them honestly.
- skincare for men is not vanity. same logic as flossing. do it for 40 years and the difference is staggering.
- eltamd uv clear spf 46 every morning. the sun is not your friend, it's just usually around.
- amanda runs the house with me, not for me. partnership is a daily decision, not a status.
- proximity to family is a real input. crunch the tax math, then weigh the grandparent math, which is bigger.
- diversity matters for your kid. not as a slogan. as a daily reality of who they see and play with.
- delete the apps that don't pay you back. attention is the only asset that compounds for you and against you simultaneously.
- meetings should have a decision or they shouldn't exist. agenda or it's a hangout.
- the fsa, hsa, dependent care account — claim every dollar. nobody is coming to tell you the deadline.
- single-ingredient supplements over proprietary blends. if they won't show you the dose, they don't have one worth showing.
- you are allowed to change your mind in public. people who never update are not principled, they're stuck.
- direct is kind. vague is cruel disguised as polite.
- the dermatologist relationship is worth setting up before you need it. same with the lawyer, accountant, and pcp.

GO DO SOME GOOD

[Sean Frank @Seanfrank]

PROPAGANDA IM PUSHING:
- it’s the best time to start a business ever
- have a kid. It’s hard but way cooler than having a dog
- take the wonder drugs. Glp1s are cool.
- walk 13,000 steps a day. It’s easy.
- you can reach any successful person on earth just by posting and trying to find their email for 10 minutes
- meta ads are working the best they have in 4 years
- the world needs more podcasts, not less
- the world needs more creators, not less
- we have already reached the age of abundance
- YouTube is finally a good ad channel
- things are about to get even better
- Tik tok shop isn’t a big sales channel, but the ability to engage thousands of motivated creators will 2x your business by sheer amount of ads
- sauna and cold plunge combo is great for mental health
- think more, it’s better than reading
- you can’t be a millionaire overnight, but you can be a billionaire in a decade.
- get married.
- attention is everything. Good or bad, attention is everything.
- play a physical sport once a week. It’s the only way to get friends together as we get old
- do stuff now that’s high risk, it’s okay to look stupid
- there is a billion dollars in your computer, and 100m in your phone
- want to do cool shit? Ask. Anyone will work with you as long as you have a good plan and can deliver

GO DO SOME GOOD

[Murray Hill Guy @MurrayHillGuy1]

If you're a millennial it's time to pick your midlife crisis:

1. Quitting alcohol
2. Running 10 miles before work
3. Divorce
4. Panic baby at 35 with wife you hate
5. Pickleball
6. ADHD diagnosis
7. Dressing like you did in 2004
8. Blacking out every weekend like you’re 21
9. Weekly hinge dates
10. Ice baths and saunas
11. Board games and craft beer in the suburbs
12. Getting into tattoos
13. Quitting your job to explore your “passions”
14. Plants and the environment
15. Traveling

[justin • vp of growth @jcwinter]

@kamal_razzak scripts

[Bitcoin Teddy @Bitcoin_Teddy]

No debt
Ideal weight
8 hours of sleep
Mental health on track
Right nutrition
Zero Alcohol

This was my peak

I was 8

[Y Combinator @ycombinator]

In a recent batch talk, YC General Partner @t_blom broke down how to build a self-improving, AI-native company.

He walks through how to create recursive, self-improving AI loops, and why founders who get this right will run companies that improve while they sleep.

00:00 — Companies Are Roman Legions
00:54 — Copilots Are the Wrong Mental Model
01:55 — Extract the Domain Knowledge
02:24 — The Recursive Self-Improving Loop
04:12 — The Holy Shit Moment at YC
05:50 — Self-Optimizing Product and Support Loops
06:29 — Burn Tokens, Not Headcount
07:23 — Middle Management Is Over
08:05 — Make Everything Legible to AI
09:40 — Regenerating the YC User Manual
11:19 — Software Is Ephemeral, Context Is Valuable
12:18 — Where Humans Still Matter