The secret to being a prolific creator is right in front of you 👀 (Startup Watching #243)

By Andrew Askins • Issue #243 •

Happy Thursday Watchers!

I had an awesome experience with a new product today. I’ve been trying out the tool HypeFury.

I really like the tool for a few reasons (this is not sponsored):

It supports scheduling threads, which are where I’ve seen the most growth on twitter
It’s designed to help you get in a creation flow and keep creating

It’s still fairly new though, and felt like it was missing a couple of important features, so I went to make a request.

First off, they include “Request a feature” in their core navigation which is brilliant for an early stage product.

But within MINUTES of me submitting a request I had gotten a response from a founder and he tweeted at me to let me know they were already in the process of rolling one of the features out.

THAT is how you leverage customer service to create word of mouth growth. I’m now so stoked I’m writing about their tool in my newsletter, even though the name is awful.

Cheers from Charleston ✌️

Andrew

FEATURED

I went on a bit of a rant last Sunday. The result was this thread 🧵 I’m trying to stop thinking so much about results, and really focus on process. Build the muscles first, optimize later.

Andrew

@AndrewAskins

The secret to being a prolific creator is right in front of you, but it's so fucking hard to do

Stop giving a fuck what others think

11:01 AM - 3 May 2020

MVP

This team of 2 got into YC, closed 39 customers, and is now shutting down 💳

I haven’t read a startup postmortem in a while, but this one was well done. They talk about fundraising lessons learned and product mistakes. It does feel like in the end they blame it on Covid, which is valid but feels lacking. I also dig the way they broke up the post into smaller, more digestible posts.

medium.com • Share

How to use symbols to reuse elements in Webflow ♻️

I’m sharing this video for three reasons:

It’s a good primer on a key feature of Webflow for anyone wanting to learn.
It does a good job of teaching a key piece of product development - developers refer to this practice as creating DRY code (don’t repeat yourself)
Webflow has been getting a ton of love for their video tutorials. It’s a good example of how going above and beyond on the “boring” stuff can help your product stand out.

www.youtube.com • Share

UI cheat sheet: dropdown field 💧👇

This is a really great primer for anyone wanting to level up at product design. Dropdowns are everywhere, but getting them right is tricky.

uxdesign.cc • Share

GROWTH

When you have no idea what happens next 🏛

One of my favorite pieces on preparing and the Coronavirus yet. Tl;dr - the best way to prepare is to study history rather than worry about forecasting.

www.collaborativefund.com • Share

16 social case studies from Jack Appleby 👟

This is an awesome collection of social marketing case studies. Jack breaks down Star Wars promotions, the launch of the Nintendo Switch Lite, Russel Westbrook’s shoe release, and more. Really fun to read through.

twitter.com • Share

Consider A/J testing 👩‍🔬

A quick read from Seth Godin. I found this post from Tyler Tringas on twitter, who pointed out that A/B testing often doesn’t work at an early stage because you don’t have enough data.

seths.blog • Share

FUN

Fake doctors, real friends 👨🏻‍⚕️👨🏽‍⚕️

If you’re a fan of the TV show Scrubs you’ll LOVE this. Zach Braff and Donald Faison (JD and Turk from the show) are rewatching the entire series and talking about it in their new podcast. They’re also interviewing other characters and taking audience guests.

I’m three episodes in and started watching along with them. It is DELIGHTFUL. They get into tons of background and stories, and they’re best friends in real life. It’s one of my all-time favorite series, and this is such a fun way to revisit it.

www.iheart.com • Share

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By Andrew Askins

Curated knowledge, inspiration and background stories from the startup world. Delivered to your inbox every Thursday or Friday 📬 | Find me @andrewaskins.