I've helped ~2000 entrepreneurs in their journeys.

There's 1 rare factor that makes the difference between success and failure.

🧵 Here's what you should implement:

I'm passionate about helping startups scale.

Thankfully, I had great opportunities to work for organisations that ran programs for startups.

Notable:
• EU India Innocenter @EUI_Innocenter,
• T-Hub Foundation @THubHyd,
• Techstars Startup Weekend @startupweekend.

Two specific terms to understand before jumping into "Why startups succeed?"

⮕ What are 'startups': new entities in search of scalable biz models by testing various hypotheses (value prop, TG, distribution, pricing, etc).

⮕ What is 'success': significant product-market fit.

The top 5 reasons for a startup's success:

➊ Idea/Product
➋ Business Model
➌ Team/Execution
➍ Funding
➎ Timing

(no specific order)

Let's see which ONE reason matters the most. 👇

1. Idea 💡 - uniqueness? any differentiators? can we create competitive moats around it?

I've organised StartupWeekends & such hackathons to help people validate their ideas & come up with a prototype or a biz plan.

⮕ You can build a business with any decent idea.

The best startup pitches aren't pitches.

They're conversations.

I've helped startups raise over $20 million.

Here are 13 things to include in a killer pitch deck:

1. Title Slide

Include your logo and a one-liner to describe your business.

Use this slide to do your personal introduction and connect the dots between your story and the company you are building.

2. Problem slide

Most investors won't be experts in your sector so use this slide to contextualize the problem.

Key things to cover:

- What is it
- Who has it
- Why does it matter

Remember make it super simple for them to understand.

3. Solution slide(s)

How are you going to solve the above problem you just stated?

Make the slide simple and effective.

4. Solution slide(s)

Make an impact by contrasting the situation if you did not exist

When you're starting with your business idea, you will be looking at how successful businesses have accomplished their success. You will see a lot of different sizes, markets, and business models. But they all have one thing in common: they've built a system that works.

Their long-term and short-term goals may have changed through the years, but the system that has kept them running never has. That system is the core of every business.

A sustainable bootstrapped business is successful when you have found a repeatable, reliable, and resilient system to continuously provide a value-producing product to paying customers at a profit.

Since "system" is such an abstract term: look at it as a set of rules and guidelines, like a recipe. To make a tasty omelet, you will need to mix the right ingredients and cook them for the right time, at the right temperature, using a specific technique. A business is the same.

Having a recipe in place will make the transition from the Preparation Stage into the Survival Stage less chaotic. But, it's still important to think of the core growth engine of your business before you start selling your product to your audience.

99% of people suck at writing cold emails.

I get about 1,000 emails per day, here's what catches my eye 🧵

Clear introduction with social proof.

There's no need for "Hope you're doing great" or "How's the weather in NYC?"

Get to the point: "My name is Nik, I run Sharma Brands, and we scale DTC brands like JUDY, Poo~Pourri, and Bacardi."

Setup the context.

It's helpful to understand the lens through which you're reaching out.

"I saw you just launched Jambys, and we work with Eight Sleep. I wanted to explore what a partnership looks like."

Explain what you bring to the table (aka, why should I care?)

Add numbers, facts, and/or more social proof.

"We've been featured in Oprah's Favorite Things, and have a customer database of over 125,000 sleepers."

Go for the ask.

Don't waste anyone's time. Definitely don't ask if you can ask a question.

"We have an idea for a collaborative product that we want to send to our and your existing customers."

9 Google courses with Certifications

A Thread👇

1. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing:- This is the basic Digital marketing course by Google with 26 modules in it created by professional Google

2. Google Analytics Academy Courses:- This course gives you an understanding of Google Analytics along with Google Tag manager fundamentals

3. Google Ads Certification:- A Google Ads certification allows individuals to demonstrate that Google recognizes them as an expert in online

4. Google Android Development Training:- Google has created this course for learning android Development for Beginners as well as Experienced

3 months ago, I wrote my first smart contract

Today, I won the biggest web3 hackathon in Toronto and joined @musicoins as a blockchain developer 🚀

Here is my updated web3 developer roadmap

A mega thread 🧵

1. What is Web 3.0?

Web3 is the next jump in how people use the internet.

- Web1 was the "read only" era. 🔍
- Web2 was the social media revolution. 👯

And Web3 is decentralization. ⚒️

2. What is the metaverse?

Metaverse refers to the virtual decentralized world and community 🌏.

Decentraland = metaverse. ✅
Somnium Space = metaverse ✅
NFT spaces = metaverse ✅

Here are Mark Zuckerberg thoughts on the Metaverse 👇

3. How does web3 work?

Currently, when you connect to a website, you are connecting your web browser to a webserver.

All of the code you write is stored on that web server.

With blockchain... it's different. Everything is stored on the blockchain instead.

4. The challenge of web3

So the challenge of getting into web3 is figuring out how to work with the blockchain.

For example, let's say you make a Timer app. You already know how to make & host it normally.

Now you have to learn how to make & host it with Blockchain.

How to build a sales team:

To start, a note of credit to the great Jim Herbold from Box.

He was my hands-on mentor for many years. Bolt sales would not exist without him.

Much of this is learned wisdom from him.

Ok, here we go 👇

1/ Close the first deals yourself, end-to-end

It’s impossible to now how to construct a sales team without first knowing how to conduct a sale.

Some founders try to hire before this step.

Doing so is skipping a crucial step of getting intimate with your product and customers.

2/ Document the learnings

At Bolt we wrote a 50+ page sales playbook which included
- Email scripts
- Cold call scripts
- FAQ and Rebuttals
- Negotiating tactics
- Closing tactics

With this handy, new salespeople ramp 3X-5X faster.

3/ When ready, always hire in pairs

If you hire just one salesperson and they can’t sell your product, you’re in trouble.

Why?

You don’t know if the problem is the person or the product!

Hire two, and you have a point of comparison.

In February, I launched my first DTC brand.

I put my name, $, and reputation on the line.

It was an utter failure.

Here is the story and what I learned 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

1/ After ~10 years of running Ampush as CEO, I stepped into the chairman seat.

Ampush had helped countless brands build and scale customer acquisition including: Dollar Shave Club, Birchbox, Stitch Fix, and many others.

I had the obvious idea: why don’t I start a brand?

2/ I was eager to get back to “early days entrepreneurship.”

I spent 2020 both decompressing and anxiously thinking "what's next"

Investing? Another company? Something else?

I love the process of building businesses so I went for my dream: A venture studio.

But now what?

3/ After going in circles towards the end of 2020, the new year started.

I realized: I have to stop thinking.

I have to start DOING.

I’d build the venture studio from the ground up. So now, I needed an idea.

4/ I have seen so many brands grow from obscurity into huge success.

What I wanted to learn:

- How cheap/fast can I stand up a store
- What does it take to get a supplier?
- How do 3PLs work?
- Will my expertise in growth help me win?

I brainstormed ideas with my wife…

7 Websites you Won’t Believe Exist 🤯

These Websites are very important for you if you are a Web Developer or App Developer

Including One *BONUS* Resource!!

A Thread↓

1️⃣Photopea
Online Photo Editor lets you edit photos, apply effects, filters, add text, crop or resize pictures.

🔗https://t.co/dz98Lavnzt

2️⃣Blobr
Get Your branded API portal, manage access and monitor usage

🔗https://t.co/wTgLIvHHrW

3️⃣Launch by NoCodeDevs
Launch is the place to discover, launch, and support all of your favourite no-code tools

🔗https://t.co/LUDnkyV2mG

4️⃣Erase .bg
AI Powered image background removal tool, 100% free

🔗https://t.co/i7E1FhiJyj

Ten 90-day challenges for your mind, body and soul.

A thread...

1: Structured thinking

Our mind is buzzing with thoughts.
But when we start speaking, we fail to structure them.

What is needed, is a way to pace our thoughts.

That is where writing helps.

Writing is the slowest form of expression.
When we write, we are not just thinking about what we wish to communicate, we are also selecting the most important thought from all other thoughts.

Write everyday for 90-days.
And always conclude with a "This tells me that ________"

2. Confident speaking

We get conscious when it comes to public speaking.
Even if we are confident of the content.

Record a video of yours for 90-days, on ANY topic.

Do not share it with anyone.
Review it, identify improvements and correct them the next day.

3. Sugar craving

Whenever you feel like having sugar, drink a glass of water and then have sugar-free chewing gum.

Water fills your stomach.
Gum satiates your sugar craving.
Because you are chewing it, you can't have anything else.

90days and you won't crave for sugar anymore.

Frameworks provide clarity in complex situations.

Here are 20 useful frameworks (on startups, investing, writing, & life):

The Feynman Technique

To learn anything:

Step 1: Identify a topic.
Step 2: Try to explain it to a 5-year-old.
Step 3: Study to fill in knowledge gaps.
Step 4: Organize, convey, and review.

True genius is the ability to simplify, not complicate.

Simple is beautiful.

Directional Arrow of Progress

"Study the undeniable arrows of progress." - @wolfejosh

The future is extremely difficult to predict—but there are clues.

Look at the trend line of progress and where it's pointing—directionally, not precisely.

Invest (or build) accordingly.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Place all of your tasks on a 2x2 matrix of urgency and importance.

(1) Important & Urgent
(2) Important & Not Urgent
(3) Not Important & Urgent
(4) Not Important & Not Urgent

Prioritize, delegate, or delete accordingly.

The Regret Minimization Framework

The goal is to minimize the number of regrets in life.

When faced with a difficult decision:
(1) Project yourself into the future.
(2) Look back on the decision.
(3) Ask "Will I regret not doing this?"
(4) Take action.