Zack

Engineer at day. Builder at night.

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

what a privilege it is to be exhausted by an ambition of your own choosing

[Alex Kwon @startupoppa]

if your startup does not have product market fit yet, you do not need a CMO, you do not need a head of growth, you do not need a designer polishing screens nobody asked for, you do not need a project manager coordinating work that should not exist yet, and you definitely do not need twelve people in slack yapping about culture.

pre PMF you need two roles and almost nothing else actually makes sense: a builder and a seller.

the builder is the person who ships the thing every day, talks to users, kills features that do not matter, and keeps the product moving toward something people might actually want.

the seller is the person who puts that thing in front of humans, hears the objections, closes the first ten customers, and figures out if anyone will pay before you hire a team to scale a product that still does not work.

everything else is theater. hiring marketers before you have retention is how you burn cash explaining a product people bounce from.

hiring specialists before you have demand is how you create meetings instead of users.

hiring operators before you have chaos worth operating is how you end up with process and no product.

two people (or one) who can build and sell can get you to the only signal that matters: strangers using it, coming back, and paying.

after that you can hire. before that, extra roles just hide the fact that you still do not know if the thing is real.

builder. seller.

that is the whole company until the market tells you otherwise.

[Zack @zaacktbb]

The best advice comes from random conversations. Met this cab driver tonight—he left me with a few lessons:

1. If you never fail, you’ll never grow.
2. If you don’t do it right, don’t do it at all.
3. An apple tastes better when you share it.
4. Good things require sacrifice.

[Zack @zaacktbb]

Web app update📊6 months in, user activity is still holding up.

Brought in a UGC creator, but conversion isn’t there yet.

If the tool wasn’t useful, why is one user still paying and anonymous activity still climbing?

Still figuring it out. Still shipping.

[Zack @zaacktbb]

Been sacrificing sleep to the grind. Purely running on the urge to be financially free. After I hit 10k MRR, then I’ll start sleeping in.

[Zack @zaacktbb]

Lately I’ve been distracted — worrying about jobs, quitting, and savings.

But I see it now.

If it doesn’t move me toward financial freedom, it’s just noise.

[Zack @zaacktbb]

Just crossed S$100 MRR — wild to think I used to grind 27 hours a week for it.

[Zach Yadegari @zach_yadegari]

Finding influencers is only HALF of the challenge🙄

You MUST ensure the content captivates AND converts

I scaled Cal AI to $1 million MRR following these rules 🧵

[Zack @zaacktbb]

It is satisfying to witness your own product validation

$25 earned in 3 months — small start.

I’m curious to see how much we’ll make in the upcoming weeks.

[Zach Yadegari @zach_yadegari]

It's really interesting how so few people truly understand how distribution works. There is no magic sauce. If it's a sole-user experience, you just need to learn how CAC : LTV works and then how to operate social media platforms on both the organic and paid side. If it's a social experience, you need to learn how k-factor works (much harder). Stop doing stupid shit like throwing flyers out of airplanes.

[Elena @xElenaYangx]

an EXHAUSTIVE list of marketing channels for apps:

- UGC campaigns
- Influencer marketing
- App Store Optimization (ASO)
- Affiliate marketing
- Celebrity endorsements
- Podcast sponsorships
- AI generated video slideshows (TikTok/Reels)
- Paid Meta ads
- Exclusive beta / invite-only drops
- Paid TikTok ads
- Referral programs
- Paid Google ads
- Paid YouTube pre-roll
- Paid Snapchat ads
- Paid Pinterest ads
- Paid Reddit ads
- Billboards (high-traffic urban areas)
- Transit ads (subway, bus, airport)
- Out-of-home (OOH) digital screens
- Newsletter sponsorships
- SEO content marketing
- Founder-led social content
- Twitter/X thought leadership
- LinkedIn content marketing
- Viral challenge campaigns
- PR / media placements
- Product Hunt launch
- Reddit organic seeding
- Discord community building
- Facebook Groups
- Email marketing / drip sequences
- SMS marketing
- Push notification campaigns
- Waitlist hype campaigns
- Cross-app partnerships
- Co-marketing with complementary brands
- Meme marketing
- Street team / guerrilla marketing
- Pop-up activations
- Event sponsorships
- College campus ambassador programs
- Nano-influencer gifting
- Unboxing / haul content seeding
- Before/after transformation content
- Testimonial video ads
- User story spotlights
- Live shopping / TikTok LIVE
- YouTube long-form review seeding
- Google Display Network
- Retargeting ads
- Lookalike audience campaigns
- CTV / streaming ads (Hulu, Peacock)
- Spotify audio ads
- Influencer whitelisting / dark posting
- Stunt marketing / PR stunts
- Viral giveaways
- Gamified loyalty programs
- Leaderboards / social proof in-app
- In-app referral incentives
- Day-in-the-life influencer integrations
- "Get Ready With Me" style content
- Shoppable social posts
- AI personalized ad creative testing
- Trend hijacking / newsjacking
- Community challenges with prizes
- Branded hashtag campaigns
- Collab posts with complementary creators
- Rate card influencer deals + usage rights
- Duet / stitch seeding on TikTok
- Google Performance Max campaigns
- App install campaigns (Meta / Google UAC)
- Blitz launch (coordinated same-day drops)
- Limited-time offers / urgency marketing
- Free trial + freemium conversion funnels
- Influencer affiliate codes
- Brand ambassador programs
- Word-of-mouth incentive loops
- Press kit outreach to journalists
- Award submissions (App of the Year, etc.)
- Featured placement pitching (Apple/Google)
- Cross-promotion with other apps
- QR code OOH campaigns
- Branded content on Spotify playlists
- Twitch sponsorships / streamer integrations
- Review seeding on app stores
- Case study content
- Webinar / virtual event marketing
- AI influencer / avatar marketing
- Syndicated content partnerships

No, you can't add to this list

[Zack @zaacktbb]

Web app update 📊 User activity rising & retention showing strong early signs.

Not where I want yet, so weekends are just more time to build.

Keep shipping. Keep posting. Keep building.

Busy year ahead — stay locked in 💪

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

look real hard at the green box

every category under 10% on this chart is a department still running on manual effort and tribal knowledge.

that’s where stress lives

that’s where budgets live

turn one of those workflows into a repeatable AI agent

that’s vertical saas 2.0

[Zack @zaacktbb]

@feelzyou Join a toastmasters club

[Burak Eregar @burakeregar]

👨‍💻 vibe coders' security handbook:

here is the top 10 most critical security risks in 2026

as a vibe coder, you don't know what you don't know

so i made you a list that you can simply add as a rules/skills file or use them in your prompts to secure your app

here we go👇

[Kevin Xu @kevinxu]

basically this

[Machina @EXM7777]

stop consuming content and go create value
quit chasing shiny objects that distract you
focus on fundamentals that actually matter
commit to building one thing for 6 months
find mentors who have achieved the same
fail repeatedly because you're learning
work every single day no matter what
see small improvements showing up
fail even harder the second time
keep grinding through the pain
collect small daily victories
embrace the struggle fully
never quit the process
improve relentlessly
repeat the cycle
love it all