BC STARTUP
Saved by @SteveeRogerr

My day job is growing startups.

I've worked with a few hundred by now.

Here's how to grow your podcast, newsletter, blog, YouTube, and Twitter.

Hope this helps! A thread:

 Growth marketing, a timeline:

2015: "We need to go viral."

2017: "Well, we raised $25m of VC. Let's dump it on Facebook ads."

2021: "Wow. We should have been focusing on content and building a great product."
How to grow a podcast:

• Be YouTube-first; do video
• Split eps into 8min YouTube clips with SEO’d titles
• Get guests that are searched for on YouTube
• Consider not publishing bad eps
• Exchange eps with other shows
• Niche is fine, but be widely accessible
How to grow a YouTube channel:

• Describe the video's value in the first five seconds
• Ask a question you don't resolve until the last five seconds
• With YT algo, 1 amazing video > 10 good videos
• Quick cuts don't give people time to ask if they're bored

—Mr. Beast
Some tips for growing newsletters:

• Plug it at the end of a tweet thread.
• Swap plugs with other newsletters.
• Send a sample issue upon signup to excite people for future issues.
• Consider twice-monthly over weekly. My poll revealed people are fatigued with newsletters.
Two major SEO factors I look for:

1. The click-through rate of your page title.
2. Searchers not needing to return to Google after clicking your page. How?

• Write for depth
• Link to more topics they might want instead
• Start w/ a summary to show they're at the right place
Getting content ideas:

• Buzzsumo shows competitors' big content. Write about those topics
• Google Trends shows breakout topics in your industry. Cover them
• Search Reddit for good content that didn't go big. *Credit* (!) your source, remix the insights, and push it broader
Here's a LOOSE idea of which customer acquisition channels to prioritize based on your business model.

This isn't set in stone—try many channels over time.
Getting Twitter followers:

• Learn copywriting—punch + clarity
• Respond to big accounts quickly w/ insights
• Write for retweets: focus on insights + stories
• People retweet novelty, inspiration, tribal affiliation
• Bio should say why ppl should follow. See mine: @julian
To see how competitors are running acquisition:

• View their Google Ads via Ahrefs
• View their popular blog posts via Buzzsumo
• View their Facebook ads via the Facebook Ads Library
• All of these also reveal which landing pages they're using
If you want more content on startup marketing, give me a follow. I post threads 2x/week like this.

You can see past threads here: @julian

More from Julian Shapiro

Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
Elon Musk is on record that he makes decisions using the same technique as Jeff Bezos.

I found YouTube videos of them explaining it.

A thread on thinking more clearly:

This thread is about mental models.

Yes, Twitter has enough of these.

BUT, people never answer the question:

How do I use mental models for everyday decisions? How do I put them into practice?

Mental models are frameworks for thinking.

They simplify complex situations so you can reason through them easily.

They help you make good, long-term decisions without needing to know everything about a situation.

Your hunter-gatherer brain is not wired to use the best model for every decision.

However, in every generation, a few humans manage to rewire their biology:

They force themselves to think in models constantly.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos appear to be two of those people. They're on record about this.
RESEARCH , ALL
Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
How can some people write so beautifully?

1/ Two of my favorite writing techniques:

Writing technique 1: Don't always be direct

Instead of saying "the day was hot," you could write "even the bugs were looking for air conditioning."

That's what I call a second-order description: describe the *impact* caused by the hot day—instead of saying it's a hot day.

Why? Poetic writing is often one step removed from a straightforward description of the events.

The more steps you're removed while still communicating your point, the more "elegant" it might feel.

For example, let's start with a plain statement:

"The day was hot."

With a second-order description, you'd describe the heat by stating the effect it has on its environment:

"The day melted our popsicles." (Without mentioning the heat.)

Readers infer that the day was therefore hot.

As C.S. Lewis said:

"Instead of telling us a thing was 'terrible,' describe it so that we’ll BE terrified."

Let's go deeper now:
ALL
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Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
14 steps for acquiring your startup's first customers:

1. Pay to interview people who've successfully grown a startup like yours. You can find them via LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

2. Ask them which 3 channels (ads, SEO, etc.) you should prioritize for acquiring customers.

3. Ask for examples of companies who run these channels well.

Some channels to ask about:

• PR
• Ads
• SEO
• Influencers
• Sponsorships
• Organic social
• Word-of-mouth
• In-depth content
• Referral incentives
• Product-led invites (think Slack, Zoom, Dropbox)

4. Reverse-engineer how those companies run their channels well:

A. Map each step the customer takes between the channel and becoming a happy customer.

B. Study what makes each step great: its pitch, its design, and its user experience.

Here's an example of steps.

• Someone sees your Facebook ad ← Channel
• They visit your page
• Enter their email
• Trial the product
• Pay for the product
• Stay engaged
• Refer more users

(Tools like Ahrefs + FB Ad Library show you competitors' ads and landing pages!)
ALL , MARKETINGTWITTER , STARTUPS
Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
THREAD: 10 significant things that the best startup founders get right.

(From my notes helping 400+ founders grow their startups.)

The smartest people I’ve met:

They retrain their minds to enjoy being wrong.

They get a dopamine hit when proven wrong because they’re excited to be closer to the truth. The truth is addictive.

In contrast, if you refuse to lose a debate, your brain keeps running old firmware.

I don’t know one highly effective person who isn’t strongly biased toward taking action.

They defer the stuff that doesn’t matter, and they always finish the stuff that does.

It's about rate of iteration and persistence, not brilliance.

The successful people I know have mastered delayed gratification:

They let themselves feel a dopamine hit when they do something that makes their future selves better.

They've learned to value their future self as much as their present self.

Success in life really appears to be two things:

1. Point yourself in the right direction.

2. Do the work even when you're not in the mood to.

(And privilege.)
STARTUP
Julian Shapiro
Julian Shapiro
@Julian
How can some people write so beautifully?

I think I've figured it out.

THREAD: The four elements of writing style:

Pardon me while I open a wormhole into your brain and thrust style advice into it.

See, that’s an example of style.

I could have just said: "And now let’s learn about style."

Four elements of style I'll cover:

• Your voice
• Your presentation
• Engaging the senses
• Engaging the imagination

Part 1: Your voice

Ask your friends what it's like to talk with you.

Perhaps they’ll mention your:

• Tone of voice
• Sense of humor
• Eccentricities
• Viewpoints

Convey those traits in your writing, and readers will recognize your voice.

In other words, voice is not your choice of words. Voice is your unfiltered self.
WRITING

More from Startup

Justin Welsh
Justin Welsh
@thejustinwelsh
Today, my little one-person business crossed $3M in revenue.

It took 1,187 days, I ran zero ads & operate at a 94% margin.

Here are the 20 steps of my wild & strange journey:

Hope it's helpful to someone.

[🧵 thread]

1/ Created lots of noise

When I was just getting started, I looked at attention as my friend.

I wrote content every day before I even had a business, just to find my voice.

I started on LinkedIn.

I shared my thoughts & observations about building a SaaS unicorn as the CRO.

2/ Honed in on signals

Inside all of that noise was some signals.

Sometimes I bombed, and sometimes I struck a chord.

The more I looked at what resonated, the more I doubled down.

This allowed me to understand what people cared about.

So, I kept writing & talking about it.

3/ Built a service business

My experience building SaaS was resonating. So I began creating more and more content about that.

Founders sent me DMs asking questions.

I responded to every single one.

Once I had prospects in my funnel, I started consulting.

4/ Found my ideal customers

Inside your customer base is more signals.

What are the commonalities between the customers you love & those who love you?

Mine were early-stage SMB SaaS in the healthcare space. A space I was experienced in & loved.

That became my ideal customer.
STARTUP
Atharva Kharbade
Atharva Kharbade
@athrvakhrbde
Startup Bharat: @naval & @balajis

The full Clubhouse session in text

Thread Continued

1/

Naval: The Boston ecosystem has always regretting that they've sort of lost these companies.

India has to make sure it doesn't lose as entrepreneurs. And the way to do that is to give them the freedom to innovate. Everyone should be an entrepreneur.

2/

Everyone has a phone should be able to get a job through the phone. There's one level beyond that, that comes after that, which is everyone has a phone, should be a creator for the phone. And that's what platforms are enabling.

3/

There's the old, famous New Yorker cartoon with a dog on the internet, on the computer and it says on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog. Well, yeah, on the internet, nobody knows who you are or where you are or what you are. All they care about is your output

4/

And that is incredibly liberating for a country that's so large and has such a good English speaking population, India can win, it just has to remove shackles.
STARTUP
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DotComCJ
DotComCJ
@DotComCJ
>> How To Start a Lead Gen Agency <<

This step-by-step process will help you sign $5K - $20K clients in NO TIME.

Learn how to:

✅ Find Leads
✅ Book Meetings
✅ Sign Clients
✅ Scale Processes

// 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 //


1/ Make sure you understand the lead gen process.

You NEED to know your shit before you pitch ANYTHING.

A few services you can offer to generate leads:

> Cold email
> LinkedIn outreach
> Facebook ads
> SEO

The list goes on.

Just perfect one of them & you’re SOLID.

2/ Find a niche to pitch your services to.

NICHE DOWN.

Use this doc to find an “untapped” niche:

https://t.co/aYptSNsZw6

I’d suggest choosing 1-3 to start with.

& focus ONLY on these.

3/ Find leads for outreach:

Sign up for a free @IcyLeads account at https://t.co/mz2kYnEko1 to find key decision-maker contact emails for outreach.

You can find emails from the list of niches provided above & filter out job titles such as:

> CEO
> Founder
> Marketing

Etc.

4/ Once you have a list of leads to pitch your services to:

It’s time to write your cold email outreach sequences.

Your cold emails should speak DIRECTLY to the prospect you’re reaching out to.

You can find some winning cold email templates
STARTUP
Jon Brosio
Jon Brosio
@jonbrosio
How to build a $100/day digital side hustle.

A dead simple guide to get you started:

Since 2020, I've:

• Built an online audience of 80k+
• Sold $150k+ in digital products
• Secured $50k+ in contracts
• Generated 100M+ views

It all helped me build a side hustle that allowed me to leave my 9-5.

If I had to start from scratch, here's what I would do:

1. Find your "niche-of-one"

This is found at the intersection of:

• What you're good at
• What is already popular
• What is currently profitable

The three ingredients of a profitable, money-making side hustle.

2. Start on Twitter

Why?

Twitter is the best audience building platform because:

• You can DM creators
• You can collect rapid data
• You can quickly execute on publishing
• You can mix short and long form content

(And we'll leverage the content later)

3. "Borrow" your core audience

Most people:

• Publish into the void
• Purchase shares & retweets
• Join expensive engagement groups

To grow in the beginning.

There's another way...

The "Waffle House Marketing Strategy"

Check it out:
STARTUP
Sumit Grrg
Sumit Grrg
@sumitgrrg
I've read all of Jeff Bezos's 23 years of Amazon shareholder letters twice now.

It's an MBA of its own.

Here's what I learned about startups, entrepreneurship, investing and more:

Your customers are loyal to you right up until the second that someone else offers them a better service.

Listen to customers, but don't just listen
to customers also invent on their behalf.

Here's Jeff Bezos on coming up with the Amazon Kindle:

We set ourselves the incredibly audacious goal of improving upon the physical book.

So don't be afraid to set big goals.

And remember that if you don't execute well, it will be done by someone else.

Many of the problems you'll face will have no textbook solutions, and so you should happily invent new approaches.
STARTUP , COMPANY STUFF , AMAZON

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Mo Rajabifard
Mo Rajabifard
@morajabi
👨‍💻 Last resume I sent to a startup one year ago, sharing with you to get ideas:

- Forget what you don't have, make your strength bold
- Pick one work experience and explain what you did in detail w/ bullet points
- Write it towards the role you apply
- Give social proof

/thread


"But I got no work experience..."

Make a open source lib, make a small side project for yourself, do freelance work, ask friends to work with them, no friends? Find friends on Github, and Twitter.

Bonus points:

- Show you care about the company: I used the company's brand font and gradient for in the resume for my name and "Thank You" note.
- Don't list 15 things and libraries you worked with, pick the most related ones to the role you're applying.
-🙅‍♂️"copy cover letter"

"I got no firends, no work"

One practical way is to reach out to conferences and offer to make their website for free. But make sure to do it good. You'll get:

- a project for portfolio
- new friends
- work experience
- learnt new stuff
- new thing for Twitter bio

If you don't even have the skills yet, why not try your chance for @LambdaSchool? No? @freeCodeCamp. Still not? Pick something from here and learn https://t.co/7NPS1zbLTi
You'll feel very overwhelmed, no escape, just acknowledge it and keep pushing.
LIFE
Cole Escola
Cole Escola
@ColeEscola
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... full of dog food and she said, "I'm pretending this is ice cream! Treat me like a baby!" and proceeded to hump her own arm and I thought, "something tells me this isn't the real Norah Jones"... (117 of 4,625)

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SOCIETY
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The '60s at 60
The '60s at 60
@the_60s_at_60
"The MAD Primer of Bigots, Extremists and Other Loose Ends," from September 1969.

Seen a couple of these panels make the rounds from time to time, so here's the complete set of 10 (something to amuse and/or offend almost everyone).


Chapter 1: The Super Patriot


Chapter 2: The Ku Klux Klansman


Chapter 3: The American Student


Chapter 4: The Right-Wing Extremist
FUN
SK
SK
@sk_diary1
Sri Sanjeevi Rayar Temple located in Ayyangar Kulam,near Kanchipuram,TN

#Thread

Ancient but beautiful temple dedicated to Hanuman. This temple is a legendary one. According to the Sthala Puranam of Sanjeevi Rayar temple,it is associated with an episode from Ramayana.


Legend story -Hanuman was flying from Himalayas to Lanka bearing Sanjeevi hill to revive Lakshmana during battle between Rama& Ravana, a piece of the Sanjeevi Parvat fell at this place.Many believe this legendary story & even today that no one here dies of any kind of poisoning.

From historical background of the temple it is known that temple was originally built by a great scholar &administrator Kotikanyadanam Lakshmikumara Tatacharya. Temple itself&village were named following name of great scholar Tatacharya, who was then popularly known as Ayyangar.

He was the royal preceptor of Vijayanagara emperor Venkata Raya who had his capital at Chandragiri in AP.Upon returning from a pilgrimage,robbers tried to attack Tatacharya at this place. Being a great devotee of Hanuman,he instantly composed a poem in Sanskrit praising Hanuman.


The bandits immediately ran away &Tatacharya decided to build a temple dedicated to Anjaneya at that very place.This Sanskrit poem is called Hanumad Vimshati, has been inscribed in Grantha script inside this temple.The huge temple tank called Tatasamudram, in honor of Tatacharya.
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Reagan Gomez
Reagan Gomez
@ReaganGomez
Black movie goers know which movies are for us and which films aren’t. We really don’t like our stories being made into films that center (and humanize) people that hate us. The filmmakers/studio know that by naming the film “The Green Book”, black movie goers...

...are going to be expecting a story about black people trying to safely navigate the country (real history) and instead will get a white savior film. Like folks went to see Detroit thinking it was about the riots...

Anywhoo, I know Mahershela is fantastic in it. He was the best thing about the trailer. As rich as the history behind the creation of ‘The Green Book’ is/was, as amazing as Dr. Don Shirley’s story is, WHY is this film about a random, racist driver and his family?

This feeds into the ignorant anti-Black American stereotype of “Black Americans don’t have any culture/history/mythology” or whatever. That our stories are still both being used while simultaneously erased in 2018 is wild to me. It’s gonna clean up come award season. 🤦🏾‍♀️

And now, if black filmmakers WANTED to make a film about The Greenbook, guess what it can’t be called🙃. Just like if someone wanted to make a film about the actual Detroit riots, guess what it can’t be called? Then those filmmakers would run into...
CULTURE