Nick Slobodinuk

Helping founders test their idea before betting their savings on it. Montréal entrepreneur, honest about the hard parts. VC Capital ready to deploy 🔥

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

I read ten founder posts today and saw one pattern.

A student demo with zero views. 1,393 site checks and one lead. 65% of Product Hunt launches stuck at 0 or 1 upvote. A $4M seed round with no customers. A company at $20M ARR that's still unfundable.

Almost everyone built first and asked later.

The ones who made it weren't smarter. One team pivoted 8 times before reaching $200M ARR. They kept asking the market until it answered.

Building is the easy part now. AI will edit your clips and write your code. It can't tell you if anyone cares.

Discounting won't fix that either. It just brings you the clients who care the least.

Before you build, find one person who will pay. Then build for them.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@Codie_Sanchez Your spouse is the only investor who never sees the deck but still eats every bad quarter.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@Codie_Sanchez Every business I've grown got there by raising prices or adding an offer, never by cutting costs. What was your first real income jump?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@arvidkahl Love it. Biggest untested piece: would podcasters trust it enough to publish without listening first?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@dickiebush Writing my priorities down every week is what exposed which deals were really moving. Do your readers ever push back on the priorities?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@danmartell Finishing one ugly thing beats starting five perfect ones. Shipping is the only teacher that grades honestly.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@JimmyStacksCoin Population 3 is where everyone starts. What's the one thing you're assuming your first real follower wants from it?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@joannezchen Running deals taught me age matters less than who's sitting across the table. What do young founders get wrong most about partners?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@julesbockelee Best decision you can make early. Share the misses too, that's where people start trusting you.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@DavidRaymondRP That folder is not guilt, it's a filter. The idea that keeps coming back is usually the one worth testing.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@JeffreyP99 Positioning is often the symptom. Have you confirmed the people seeing it actually have the problem?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@voosiki Solo works until one assumption breaks. Which one have you not tested yet: that people will pay, or that they will find you?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

What a week of talking with founders taught me: the launch is rarely what kills you. It's building before anyone asked, quitting right before it works, and ignoring the boring admin. Find real pain, ship what people ask for, and keep going when nobody's watching yet.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@Kedeodev Every deal I've closed taught me the boring admin decides if you survive, not the launch. Which one surprised you most?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@thejustinwelsh How do you tell from the inside when success has started costing you the people around you?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@DanHartleyuk In the businesses I've run, the deals that worked started with a problem people were already paying to fix badly. How do you tell real pain from polite interest?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@MyseonScott Consistency with no audience is the real test. The ones who pass it are the ones you hear about later.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@andrewchen Betting on yourself is easy to say and hard on a Tuesday with no sales. Still the best bet.

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@jspujji What makes you sure founders would pick the slower profitable path if VC money was on the table?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@Codie_Sanchez In every partnership I've had, the unfinished projects cost more than the failed ones. Which one did you almost quit?

[Nick Slobodinuk @NSlobodinuk]

@SahilBloom What makes you sure execution can be judged early, before the results show up?