Jon

[Serenity @aleabitoreddit]

I've reached 900k followers, thank you everyone!

Just some reflection, it's actually a nightmare at higher counts...

Which is new to me, since I started at almost nothing earlier this year.

1. Threats of safety, which I don't enjoy.

- Random new accounts sending personal threats
- Mysterious foreign accounts, sending coercive messages the moment I mention a foreign ticker

If I hold an opinion about a stock, I'd prefer not to have anyone show up on the street with a knife at night since it's safety risk at this point...

Never felt like I'd have to take that into consideration for holding an opinion.

2. Egregious media narratives

- Lot of outlets try to dismiss my ideas like $RPI or $SIVE as "meme stocks" or me as "meme trader" when I talk about supply chain chokepoints or fundamental catalysts to revenue due to AI.

Without ever covering the core ideas or hyperscaler mapping I've done.

I let success validate my ideas, but it's annoying when they can just pretend their claims like "___ will imminently crash as a fact" which ends up not happening.

Or that "___" is just a retail meme stock without mentioning $JBL, Ayar, $GFS or others for CPO scale up or pluggables.

I'm grateful to some outlets, like in Belgium for $XFAB coverage, but many others try and paint their own narrative rather than covering a very nuanced thesis objectively.

- When I mention a ticker in a foreign market, some try to frame me as some "adversarial account"!

I'm just sharing ideas, and I'll always disclose positions/financial interest if I have them.

If I say I have none, they just make up some narrative that I'm some foreign institution or random group inside their country that does.

Some have even tried hilariously forging screenshots of me to harm my reputation, which was annoying to deal with. Since it's easier to textedit a photo and spread it around than it is to dispel disinformation.

Lot of institutions know me personally by now.

I just don't go broadcasting my identity to random people in the media/public, since personal security gets expensive and I just want to live about my day.

3. Endless X bot spam

- I have endless hundreds of comments a day trying to link external communities pretending they're me.

I manually delete, and block thousands of these accounts, sometimes hit regular people by accident.

And it's extremely exhausting to the point my fingers cramp certain days.

Even if I give the most blatant warnings in bio, people still get scammed and think it's me. Then I get blamed for it too.

I actually had a conversation where someone asked if a scammer was me.

I said no verbatim, then they double checked like 2-3 more times because they didn't believe I said no because someone had the same username on another scam platform.

In another world, maybe we'll get automod type tools. But until then, it's mentally exhausting dealing with all of this. But I do so anyways since I don't want my followers to get scammed.

4. Endless engagement baiting

- I have tons of people making up fake stuff about me, tagging me in posts, randomly bashing my ideas while missing any technical nuance in order to get me to comment or farm views.

It's a catch 22 since the moment I reply, they get a lot of views, which was their goal. And if I don't reply it just looks like I'm avoiding something (which is not true).

I'm very transparent, I always try and entertain people who disagree first. But when it gets into personal attacks or leading questions/disinformation rather than substance then I don't engage.

It's a little sad though when people I've interacted with end up caring more about engagement over relationships down the road.

5. People missing the nuance

- I share ideas pretty often and I always maintain I don't want people to copytrade or blindly follow, which is why I haven't set up any copytrading apps.

Before it was just posting with a few $RDDT friends on ideas like $AXTI, $NBIS, or $ALAB, and people were more knowledgeable traders.

Then seeing if markets validate my guesses like with InP substrate bottlenecks.

But because many turned out directionally right, to the point it became a central talking point between China/US trade relations, lot of random folks started to follow my account last few months.

But many of them miss nuances with float dilution, or material updates along the way such as rate hikes, and I get blamed if a thesis changes.

Now since there's so many random people, even if I share an idea about $CBRS last Friday.

At market open I had people panicking over a 2% drop, asking me if I did something to a $44B+ company, even if it went up 20%+ today.

Now I have compliance review for posts, which delays things a lot but makes sure people don't get the wrong idea. And I have to be careful about my timing, so I post new ideas when markets close.

Before, it was just sharing ideas the moment I had them during lunch or in the shower, so this is becoming a headache.

6. I post my core ideas for free. And I've always said this from the start.

I actually made my subscribers chat literally by accident, and set the bare minimum amount on purpose since I didn't want to take people's money. But kept it so I could avoid the bots and not spam the main timeline with random thoughts/scrapped research.

I think me becoming the #1 most subscribed to person on X was literally by accident.

But lot of weird narratives out there when media or others don't believe that I just genuinely want to share my ideas for free.

And that people shouldn't need to pay $300 in a paywalled community to see them.

_

Not sure if people want to read it all, but just some things I've gone through.

It's not as much fun at higher numbers and it would be nice to go back to when I was smaller.

Regardless, I'd rather not turn this into a job, or make it feel like one.

Will probably take a break when I hit 1M as a milestone and do something else that will help out the community like sharing my research pipelines and such.

Think a lot of my friends at 10-50K follower counts, seem to experience some of these issues too. But problems get magnified a lot at this level.

I never needed the X creator fees or anything, just wanted to share ideas for fun if people wanted to listen.

And didn't expect any popularity, but it's nice to see that people find my ideas compelling.

[Finn Mallery @fin465]

the full Go-To-Market playbook from 0 to $1T company in one visual:

📂 Go-To-Market
┃
┣ 📂 Foundation
┃ ┣ 📂 Market Definition
┃ ┣ 📂 ICP Development
┃ ┣ 📂 Buyer Personas
┃ ┣ 📂 Jobs To Be Done
┃ ┗ 📂 TAM / SAM / SOM
┃
┣ 📂 Positioning
┃ ┣ 📂 Value Proposition
┃ ┣ 📂 Differentiation
┃ ┣ 📂 Category Design
┃ ┣ 📂 Competitive Positioning
┃ ┗ 📂 Positioning Statement
┃
┣ 📂 Messaging
┃ ┣ 📂 Core Narrative
┃ ┣ 📂 Messaging Framework
┃ ┣ 📂 Taglines
┃ ┣ 📂 Objection Handling
┃ ┗ 📂 Message Testing
┃
┣ 📂 Pricing
┃ ┣ 📂 Pricing Research
┃ ┣ 📂 Packaging Tiers
┃ ┣ 📂 Pricing Metrics
┃ ┣ 📂 Discount Policy
┃ ┗ 📂 Pricing Page
┃
┣ 📂 Channels
┃ ┣ 📂 Channel Strategy
┃ ┣ 📂 Inbound
┃ ┣ 📂 Outbound
┃ ┣ 📂 Partnerships
┃ ┗ 📂 Channel Testing
┃
┣ 📂 Sales Motion
┃ ┣ 📂 Self Serve
┃ ┣ 📂 Sales Led
┃ ┣ 📂 Product Led
┃ ┣ 📂 Sales Playbook
┃ ┗ 📂 Demo Scripts
┃
┣ 📂 Content Engine
┃ ┣ 📂 Content Strategy
┃ ┣ 📂 SEO Content
┃ ┣ 📂 Case Studies
┃ ┣ 📂 Lead Magnets
┃ ┗ 📂 Sales Enablement
┃
┣ 📂 Launch Plan
┃ ┣ 📂 Launch Tiers
┃ ┣ 📂 Launch Timeline
┃ ┣ 📂 Press & PR
┃ ┣ 📂 Launch Assets
┃ ┗ 📂 Internal Alignment
┃
┣ 📂 Demand Generation
┃ ┣ 📂 Paid Ads
┃ ┣ 📂 Email Campaigns
┃ ┣ 📂 Webinars
┃ ┣ 📂 Events
┃ ┣ 📂 Social Selling
┃ ┗ 📂 ABM Campaigns
┃
┣ 📂 Pipeline
┃ ┣ 📂 Lead Scoring
┃ ┣ 📂 Lead Routing
┃ ┣ 📂 Qualification Framework
┃ ┣ 📂 CRM Setup
┃ ┗ 📂 Pipeline Reviews
┃
┣ 📂 Conversion
┃ ┣ 📂 Trial Optimization
┃ ┣ 📂 Sales Process
┃ ┣ 📂 Proposal Templates
┃ ┣ 📂 Negotiation
┃ ┗ 📂 Closing Playbook
┃
┣ 📂 Customer Success
┃ ┣ 📂 Onboarding Flow
┃ ┣ 📂 Success Milestones
┃ ┣ 📂 QBRs
┃ ┣ 📂 Renewal Strategy
┃ ┗ 📂 Advocacy Program
┃
┣ 📂 Metrics
┃ ┣ 📂 CAC & LTV
┃ ┣ 📂 Funnel Metrics
┃ ┣ 📂 Attribution
┃ ┣ 📂 GTM Dashboard
┃ ┗ 📂 Win Loss Analysis
┃
┣ 📂 Expansion Revenue
┃ ┣ 📂 Upsell Plays
┃ ┣ 📂 Cross Sell
┃ ┣ 📂 Seat Expansion
┃ ┣ 📂 Usage Expansion
┃ ┗ 📂 Enterprise Motion
┃
┣ 📂 Optimization
┃ ┣ 📂 A/B Testing
┃ ┣ 📂 Funnel Fixes
┃ ┣ 📂 Message Iteration
┃ ┣ 📂 Channel Doubling Down
┃ ┗ 📂 Kill List
┃
┗ 📂 Scale
┣ 📂 New Segments
┣ 📂 New Geographies
┣ 📂 GTM Team Hiring
┣ 📂 RevOps
┗ 📂 Repeatable Playbooks

[Tyler Denk 🐝 @denk_tweets]

my newsletter has 133k subs, makes a half million $$ a year, and takes me 5 hours a week

the #1 monetization question I get is "how do you actually find sponsors?"

short answer: I don't chase them. I make it easy for them to book me

here's my exact system:

1/ set up a sponsorship storefront

mine is just a page on my newsletter website, linked in the nav

advertisers can see my list size, open rate, and CTR, then book a date directly. no back and forth emails & no negotiating from scratch every time someone wants to sponsor

@beehiiv makes this simple

2/ keep the products super simple

I sell exactly two things:

> a primary sponsorship at $6k (runs every Tuesday)
> a monthly package of 4 slots at a discount

that's it… advertisers shouldn't have to think

money sits in escrow until the ad runs, and @beehiiv takes a $10 flat fee per placement (most booking tools take ~10%)

3/ never send an empty ad slot

whenever I don't have a sponsor lined up, I run a house ad… literally an ad selling the ad slot itself

it shows who my audience is, a few of my previous sponsors, and two CTAs:

> download my media kit, or
> book a slot instantly

4/ mine the click data from your house ad

this is the step everyone skips

I export everyone who clicked the media kit and everyone who clicked the booking link, then enrich that data with AI to figure out who these people actually are

anyone who clicked either link just told me they're interested in sponsoring

//

the last time I ran a house ad, it turned into a $6k
booking and ~50 warm leads to reach out to

between the booking and the leads, I probably have a sponsor pipeline for the next few months. all from an ad slot that would've otherwise gone out empty

follow me if you want more behind the scenes on how to scale a newsletter 📈

[Amanda Orson @amandaorson]

The faster technology moves, the more I think about Bezos' question

What won't change in the next 10 years?

Things I've been writing down over time:

- Humans will always need shelter, food, energy, and healthcare.
- The desire for ownership and the accumulation of wealth.
- The physical world will move more slowly than the digital one.
- Every increase in technological capability, especially AI, will require more energy.
- People and businesses will continue to need access to capital.
- Capital will continue to seek returns that exceed inflation.
- Underwriting methods evolve, but demand for credit (loans) is persistent.
- Trust remains scarce and becomes increasingly valuable as content, code, and fraud become cheaper.
- Verified identities and reputation becomes more important as information becomes abundant and synthetic.
- Long-term wealth creation and dynastic (multi-generational) thinking predate modern technology, and will persist.
- Coordination and transaction costs never fully disappear; market friction will continue to justify the existence of firms and intermediaries.
- People will continue to compete for status.
- Consumers will pay a premium for products and services that confer status.
- Time remains fixed at 24 hours per day.
- But attention is a finite resource and an enduring constraint.
- Products that credibly save time (or enable delegation) have a perpetual market.
- Inaccessible, proprietary data will be a persistent moat. The more inaccessible and difficult to aggregate, the deeper the moat.
- People want accountability, recourse, and clearly identifiable responsibility when things go wrong.
- Regulation consistently lags technological innovation.
- Compliance requirements, licensing, and regulatory moats persist even when machines can perform the underlying task.
- Local knowledge remains valuable and difficult to replicate.
- Heterogeneous markets (like real estate) continue to reward people with deep contextual understanding.
- Incumbent organizations tend to underinvest in disrupting their own businesses, which always creates opportunities for challengers.

Bezos' insight on what wouldn't change in 10 years was "Customers will always want lower prices and faster delivery."

It's boring/ true, but I think that's the point.

Everything we build today can and will be rebuilt more cheaply, faster by someone else.

Build on the invariants, not the trends.

What have I missed?

[Keith Rabois @rabois]

Formula for startup success: Find large highly fragmented industry w low NPS; vertically integrate a solution to simplify value product.

[Spencer Scott @AKASpencerScott]

Honest Review: Blue Collar vs Software

In Jan 2023 I spent $40k to buy a used garbage truck and start a trash company

Today that trash company has around 2,000 customers, 5 trucks, and *should* do $1m ARR

On the flipside

I bootstrapped software company to multiple 6 figures and used the profits to buy a second

The truth...

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

I think it’s time to revisit the accredited investor laws in the US.

Companies are staying private longer, where only accredited investors (aka rich people!) can invest. Retail investors can only come in after IPO, when much of the upside has already been captured.

These rules were created with the best of intentions, to protect regular people from scams - a noble idea. Unfortunately, in practice they've often made it illegal to get richer, unless you're already rich. A regressive tax!

We have to judge policies based on their outcomes, not on their intentions.

These are two possible routes I see:

1) Replace the rule with something merit-based, like a financial literacy test. Pass it and you're accredited. Having a qualification based on competency rather than your bank balance or income seems far more fair.

2) Remove the rule entirely. Let consenting adults assess their own risk. Disclosure requirements stay and fraud enforcement stays to punish bad actors.

[Cyan Banister @cyantist]

Before I forget this, I am going to share it...

I was once in an Ebola treatment simulation with Jeff Bezos. It was an art project to show people how difficult this disease is to treat under mild temperatures, to imagine what it's like to be a nurse in a tent in worse conditions.

I went in before him and they mark your suit with your entry time and you try to last 15 mins. I lasted, even with an ice vest on, 8 minutes and during that 8 minutes, he entered the tent and we tried to somehow write notes on pads and administer IVs to dummies together.

When you came out, you had to disrobe in the proper order and if you didn't, they let you know each step you fucked up that exposed you. It was brutal.

Pretty sure he was able to hang in there the full 15.

My thoughts are with the responders dealing with the outbreak. They are real angels.

[Jon @thecur1ous]

@Codie_Sanchez SMB

[Austin Rief ☕️ @austin_rief]

Business media is one of the least saturated media markets currently.

People say its too crowded but I think they are wrong.

Thought exercise:

You're a founder doing a press circuit for your company, what are the top 5 media properties you'd want to be interviewed on?

[Jon @thecur1ous]

@AdamGillman X

[Jon @thecur1ous]

@AdamGillman HIYA

[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

[Tyler Denk 🐝 @denk_tweets]

my newsletter has 133k subs, makes a half million $$ a year, and takes me 5 hours per week

the #1 question I get is “how do I grow my newsletter?”

so I wanted to put all my usual answers & advice in one place

hope this helps someone:

[Blake Robbins @blakeir]

i low-key need an intern whose only job is trying every random AI product launch and writing up what’s actually good.

there is remarkable stuff shipping right now. it is just buried under an insane amount of noise.

big opportunity to build the trusted voice/review layer for AI

[Jon @thecur1ous]

@everestchris6 POOL

[Chris @everestchris6]

this OpenClaw bot finds $500k–$1.2M homes without pools, renders a pool into their backyard, and mails the owner a postcard showing the before/after, on autopilot...

here's how pool builders can close $50k+ deals with this system:

- scans satellite imagery for mid-market homes with empty backyards
- filters by lot size, sun exposure & recent ownership change
- pulls the homeowner direct from public records (not shared leads)
- renders a luxury pool dropped into their actual yard
- calculates build cost + home value lift for their specific zip
- generates a cinematic video of their backyard with the new pool
- prints a personalised postcard with the before/after + QR code
- drops it in the mail + hits them with retargeting

every step from sourcing to outreach is automated.

reply "POOL" + RT and i'll send you the full breakdown so you can build this too (must be following so i can DM)

[Jason Shuman @JasonrShuman]

11 years ago I asked a dozen VCs how to get in

One told me three ways
1. Go to an Ivy League school (went to UMiami)
2. Have a successful exit (first startup failed)
3. Work at a top tier high growth startup (didn’t do)

I asked him for a 4th

He said “make yourself invaluable before you have the job”

For the next 4 months I worked 10-12 hours a day to accomplish that

I sourced the top deals in Boston for free and sent them to VCs in New York

I read every book, equity research report, funding announcement and S-1 I could get my hands on (podcasts weren’t big then)

I wrote investment theses and shared market and competitive landscape breakdowns with VCs I met

I put together lists of potential hired and customer intros I could make for each VCs portfolio

And I drove uber at night to make money

The truth is that this job has no normal path.

The only thing that stands out amongst those in my cohort who are still in the game is we’re obsessed with it.

[Bill Gurley @bgurley]

"So You Want to be a VC"

Im enjoying this week in Boston visiting students promoting my new book - Runnin Down a Dream. Not surprisingly, many ask me about trying to break into venture capital. I wrote a letter answering this question 15 years ago. I would send it out when people inquired. I'm making it public for the first time - with zero modifications.

1) I think it holds up well
2) make sure and read my new book also
3) I probably can't help with followups (as suggested in the letter)

Hope you find it useful. Good luck!