Pontus Lenell

28 y/o that built a multi million dollar web agency. Now building multiple companies. I retweet useful stuff for myself and others in my situation

[Dalton Caldwell @daltonc]

The strongest sort of marketing is a true story.

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

Oh I forgot! We reached 3000 website customers! 🍾

[Startup Archive @StartupArchive_]

Sam Altman on the importance of momentum and why burnout doesn’t come from working too hard

“I was told, and I thought for a long time, that you get burned out from working too hard. At least in my own experience, what I’ve found is that burnout actually comes from failing and things not working.”

Sam continues:

“Momentum is really energizing. The lack of momentum is super draining. And I find that I have infinite energy to work on things that I find interesting and that are working, and almost none to work on things that I either don’t find interesting or aren’t working.”

He offers the following advice to startup founders:

“I think you see a lot of founders try something and fail, and they assume that they just can’t work hard enough or don’t have enough energy or passion or whatever. And that’s actually not true. It’s just that that thing didn’t work. And what you should do is shut that company down, go on vacation, and try again.”

He concludes:

“When you look at really successful people and say, How do they get all those things done? It’s that they have the benefit of momentum. And momentum is energizing.”

Video Source: @ycombinator

[Startup Archive @StartupArchive_]

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang: “I really discourage 1-on-1s”

Jensen famously has 60 direct reports. When Stripe founder Patrick Collison points out that this isn’t conventionally considered best practice, Jensen shares his reasoning:

“I don’t do 1-on-1s, and almost everything I say, I say to everybody all the time. I don’t really believe there’s any information that I operate on that only one or two people should hear about… I believe that when you give everybody equal access to information, that empowers people. And so that’s number one… Number two, if the CEO’s direct staff is 60 people, the number of layers you’ve removed in a company is probably something like seven.”

Patrick offers to steal man the other side of the argument:

“1-on-1s are where you provide coaching, where you maybe talk through personal goals and career advancement, where maybe you give feedback on something that you see somebody systematically not doing so well… Do you not do those things or do you do them in a different way?”

Jensen responds:

“I give you feedback right there in front of everybody. In fact, this is a really big deal. First of all, feedback is learning. For what reason are you the only person who should learn this?… We should all learn from that opportunity… Half the time I’m not right, but for me to reason through it in front of everybody helps everybody learn how to reason through it. The problem I have with 1-on-1s and taking feedback aside is you deprive a whole bunch of people that same learning. Learning from other people’s mistakes is the best way to learn.”

Video Source: @stripe

[Jared Friedman @snowmaker]

One of the mega trends in this YC batch is the wave of consumer AI companies.

Consumer was stuck in the doldrums for years, but AI has brought it back in a big way.

Here are the 21 consumer AI companies that launched today. 🧵

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

🚨 Feedback wanted: I’ve built an app called Histoury so you can walk on Fun Fact History Tours in Rome or any other city. 🏛️

Wander like you’re on Google Maps, but get notified with fun facts about nearby attractions as you explore.
Try it here: https://t.co/8Cm3Pqhtp7

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

🚨 Feedback wanted: I’ve built an app called Histoury so you can walk on Fun Fact History Tours in Rome or any other city. 🏛️

Wander like you’re on Google Maps, but get notified with fun facts about nearby attractions as you explore.
Try it here: https://t.co/8Cm3Pqhtp7

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

Just launched Histoury - your personal History Tour guide! 🏛️ Wander like you’re on Google Maps, but with a twist: get notified with fun facts about nearby attractions as you explore. 🚶‍♂️✨ Seeking feedback to enhance your experience. Interested in a test walk? Comment below!

[Webtec 🚀 @Webtecwebagency]

Our CEO shares his tips on Goal Setting & Healthy habits running a 70-person company

https://t.co/4yYHCUaOFA

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

Did you just raise money for your startup?

Have a coffee and some high fives. Save the champagne for the finish line because you have a race to run and the starting gun just went bang.

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

Remember that this moment is not your life, it’s just a moment in your life. Focus on what is in front of you, right now. Ignore what it 'represents' or it 'means' or 'why it happened to you.'

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

7 keys to a productive life:

1. Wake up early
2. Limit interruptions
3. Make a little progress everyday
4. Say no (a lot)
5. Learn from your mistakes
6. Pick yourself back up when you slip
7. Waste no time measuring yourself against other people

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

The very best books I read this month.

If you didn’t know, every month I send one email with 5-10 amazing books that I read, reviewed and think you’ll like. The email is simple, quick and free. Sign up at https://t.co/5b1OVTRafQ

[Jared Friedman @snowmaker]

The real reason startups do so much better in SF isn't because it's easier to raise money or hire employees, even if both of those of are true.

It's because you become the average of the 20 people you spend the most time with. If you live in SF, those 20 people are probably successful startup founders. If you live anywhere else, they probably aren't.

[Neil Patel @neilpatel]

Founders, want to pick my brain? No need, here are the issues and answers that are covered on 80% of my calls.

Marketers tend to focus on the wrong channels when prioritizing. Paid ads, SEO, email, and then blogging tend to drive the most revenue from a marketing perspective. But for some weird reason, people spend more time on organic social.

It’s hard to win by spending more money on ads than the competition. You have to figure out how to win by spending less money. For example, give away stuff for free as it is cheaper than ads in most cases. We gave away marketing software for free that others charge $100 plus a month for. Orabrush gave away free tongue cleaners and made money by selling other oral care products.

Google’s PMax doesn’t work as well unless you feed them the ideal customer as a conversion and don’t pass the rest in as a conversion (even if the rest are “real” conversions).

You’re not leveraging enough marketing channels. The average person is on 6.6 social networks according to Demand Sage. Posting on multiple platforms doesn’t derail focus as most accept the same format types. Just repurpose your content.

Content isn’t king… high-quality content is. Test your content out on X, take your winners, and turn them into short-form videos and blog posts that you can post on the rest of the social channels. You do this because X doesn’t penalize you for posting low-quality content.

Providing more information on your landing pages typically decreases lead volume, but it creates better quality leads and you’ll typically see your sales reps close more revenue, and that increase more than makes up for the decrease in lead count.

AI-created content that doesn’t include E-E-A-T is most likely to screw up your overall site’s rankings in the long run.

Influencer marketing is one of the cheapest forms of paid ads. You just have to find micro-influencers.

The key to content marketing is the actual marketing. Focus more energy on promoting your content than just creating it. And promoting your content involves participating in the community.

If you don’t have tons of money, your best bet isn’t to spend money on marketing, it’s to create something for free and give it away. It will build up your top-of-funnel fast.

86% of the time more traffic doesn’t mean more revenue. Focus on the bottom line.

It takes 10 or so years to build up your brand. That’s when word-of-mouth marketing really kicks in. In the long run it will be responsible for the majority of your sales.

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

@oscarantana Viral

[Sean Kelly @seanpk]

Peter Thiel recruited Reid Hoffman, Chad Hurley, Sam Altman, David Sacks, and Keith Rabois. Also partnered with Elon Musk.

He's used these 4 questions time and time again to identify 20-year-olds who would go on to be billionaires.

Test yourself with these questions:

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

There is no greatness without stillness.

If you've ever thought about reading my book Stillness Is The Key, now is the time. The ebook is currently just $1.99.

Get yours here: https://t.co/CWYEPeCOVo

[Pontus Lenell @PontusLenell]

@reachvaldo 🥇

[Ryan Holiday @RyanHoliday]

23 pieces of career advice I wish I’d known earlier.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking to make a big change, or aiming to reach new heights in your current role, I hope you’ll find something here that helps you navigate your own unique path: