20 CEO lessons taking HubSpot to $20 billion

The Biggest Winners in AI Right Now

Half a year ago, it seemed like AI and LLM startups would breathe life into an anemic venture startup ecosystem. Now, it's clear that isn't exactly how things are materializing. But there are early winners in the space, which this thread outlines. Currently, success seems like it belongs to incumbents quickly deploying cutting-edge AI using internal teams and open-source technology. How do you think this will take shape over the next few years?

It's Not Your Fault, But It's Your Problem

As a founder, you'll encounter plenty of situations where you have to handle circumstances you didn't cause and aren't your fault. But some circumstances will meaningfully impact the company, so they are still your problem. Many are experiencing this challenge as it relates to securing funding. If you're experiencing any of these roadblocks, it's time to get creative and find ways to work with or around these challenges. 

Entrepreneurship Isn't Genetic–It's Memetic

Though plenty of people have argued that entrepreneurship requires you to have a set of innate skills you're born with, Arvid Kahl makes the case that it's more about the ideas and values we adopt over time. If you more closely examine how entrepreneurs were raised and what motivates them, you'll find intriguing similarities–here are several of them. 

Mitigate Losses From Cybercrime

There is a company called Abnormal Security that I think will make big waves in the tech world. They are focused on protecting companies from email attacks, which will continue to pose a bigger and bigger threat in the future. I'm curious how tools like this will change the software security landscape over the next few years.

Lessons From the Fastest-Growing Consumer Product Ever

It's been several weeks since the launch of Threads, the fastest app ever to reach 100 million users. It's arguably the most successful consumer product launch ever. This is an excellent read about some early lessons we can learn. A few that stood out to me: The right timing is critical, and don't underestimate the power of distribution.

Lessons Learned Making One Product a Day

Hide Shidara decided to launch 30 products in 30 days. This is a recap of how the first week went. While it seems crazy to launch a product in one day, I can see how this challenge would be a forcing function for taking action, learning faster, and getting comfortable launching imperfect minimum viable products. I'm looking forward to seeing how this project turns out at the end of the month.

Is Copy AI Useful for Indie Hackers?

AI copywriting is hitting the mainstream. Some people swear by it, and others say it doesn't produce strong enough copy. It has its place and is best used for idea generation, copy brainstorming, and trying out new language to attract and expand your audience. Here's an example of what using a tool like copy.ai could look like in practice.

Why Education Technology Startups Don't Scale

Scaling a successful education technology company is tough, even when offered to customers for free. Countless challenges make it hard to grow, but one of the toughest is how geographically siloed the education space is. Eventually, you'll have to choose between diluting product-market fit or deprioritizing growth. How would you tackle some of these problems?