weisser
@julianweisser
Followers
21K
Following
53K
Media
3K
Statuses
24K
Founder/CEO making things for builders! @solofounding | @joinodf co-founders | @mergedotclub microgrants | @StampList visas | @builderswhorun | 200+ šš°
Joined January 2008
"you need to have a co-founder"."where's your co-founder?"."who's your co-founder?". Great co-founding teams build incredible companies. But after working with thousands of founders in @joinodf, I've seen enough @solofounding successes to know there's another valid path.
13
21
337
āThe truth is Iām really in pursuit of greatness. I know people donāt talk like that but I want to be one of the greats. I'm inspired by the greats. I want to be up there.". - TimothĆ©e Chalamet
107
715
8K
This video hasnāt left my mind since yesterday. Thereās a difference between believing in legal immigration and being in favor of cruelty. This does not represent the America I love.
@shivon We shouldn't tolerate cruelty ā no matter where it comes from on the political spectrum.
103
64
2K
Solo founders are underestimated. Let's change that. Today we're launching:. Solo Club ā a community for solo founders at all stages. Solo Founders Program ā a 3-month program for 6 solo founders in SF. Apply now.
175
115
2K
Build a list of people you want to work with someday. ~100% of them will be unavailable when you write their names down. You'll probably believe you'll never actually get a chance to work with >80% of them. Keep at it long enough and you'll be stunned by how wrong you were.
38
147
2K
Crazy when you talk to startups in India and they're like, "We have 60 team members and we've raised $3M.".
45
26
2K
Me: "How far of a walk is it to [address]?". airbnb host: "10 minutes". (books airbnb). Me: "Wait. it says 25 minutes on Google Maps". airbnb host:
8
18
1K
s/o to the vc who once told me "we'd be interested investing if you get sequoia or someone like that on board" . he was entirely serious. i had just dropped out of college. said "if that happens why would i need you?". he's no longer a vc
63
34
1K
One of the most powerful combinations has got to be Midwest earnestness and Bay Area ambition.
68
95
1K
always awkward when a non-technical founder refers to their technical co-founder as "my CTO".
72
23
1K
For those who say the NFT art market is irrationalā¦may I introduce you to the art market?.
33
93
1K
People often ask: āI moved to SF - what do I do now?ā. Me: you build. Them: āno, but like, what about the events and stuff? how do I find out about them?ā. Me: you donāt need to go to events. Them: āā¦ā. Focus on building, selling and your health. Rest is avoidance.
41
32
1K
Waymo has roughly the same amount of vehicles in SF as UPS. Parking tickets last year for each:. Waymo: ānearly 600ā. UPS: āmore than 5,475ā. Whereās the article about UPS being āslappedā with ānearly 6,000ā tickets?
23
31
1K
Yeah, dunking on young people who are pursuing their ideas isnāt the own you think it is.
36
8
874
For decades, the startup world has pushed one narrative: you need co-founders to succeed. What if theyāre wrong?. The case for @solofounding:
40
86
894
Announcing something new tomorrow. ā¤ļø to access alpha.
138
5
795
All I want to do is help the smartest people of the highest integrity solve the biggest problems.
18
46
734
"I'm not super liquid right now" is the socially acceptable way of saying, "I'm broke," in tech.
14
36
684
I'm hiring (part-time) a techno-optimist who is obsessed with curating ideas. About you.- infovore.- think librarians/curators are essential.- love all mediums.- you love digging and aren't only consuming obvious podcasts/videos/articles/books.- love experimenting/building w/ AI.
65
26
705
Trying hard is back. So is ambition and an obsession with doing great work. For some of course it was never gone. Now we must destroy the culturally cancerous term cringe.
10
53
677
The startup graveyard is full of companies that mistook investor validation for customer validation.
15
151
651
Back pain? This is the one book you need. I know someone who only read the description (!) and some Amazon reviews (!!) and their back pain went away.
43
24
638
Saying āI donāt like NFTsā is like saying āI donāt like websitesā. Saying āI donāt like DAOsā is like saying āI donāt like LLCsā.
32
74
579
Reply to a young founder on Reddit:. Young founders face the exact same ābiggest obstacleā as older founders: spending time on anything other than talking to customers or building. Almost everything will pull you in the wrong direction towards distraction and fake work.
10
42
588
The sudden urge to move operations to Snapchat's old office in Venice.
31
12
516
Just saw a company that has $2.5M ARR and a team of 6. Another is $5M ARR - bootstrapped and profitable. AI is raising the bar for what is possible with limited cash and headcount.
25
33
492
Iād rather look stupid doing something ambitious than normal doing something safe.
5
66
482
For my birthday I have one request: . Take someone seriously before anyone else does.
47
18
491
Seinfeld on writing:. āThereās no writerās block. Thereās lazy, thereās scared, but thereās no writerās block. Just sit down and realize youāre mediocre and youāre gonna to have to put a lot of effort into this to make it good. Thatās what writing is.ā
5
28
473
An investorās patience is not reflected in the term sheet. Sometimes it really matters.
13
16
462
"Cynicism is not a neutral positionāand although it asks almost nothing of us, it is highly infectious and unbelievably destructive. In my view, it is the most common and easy of evils.". If you read one thing this weekend may it be this from Nick Cave on cynicism and hopefulness
5
99
445
You donāt want to tell your future kids that you were waiting for a technical co-founder or VC funding to get started in 2025.
14
31
443
News: Iāve taken the baton as CEO of @beondeck . shared the following with our community:
94
13
421
Impressive early stage founder asked me how to interact with a massively successful CTO.
18
6
427
If you email meāeven if I don't know youāI will respond. (so long as it's not spammy). So many people did this for me when I was younger and it had a major impact on my life. My email is on my website.
23
13
417
Most people think companies die because they run out of money. The reality is they run out of hope first. Momentum is everything.
17
14
409
Saw that the top YouTube creator made ~$30M this year. My reaction: āThatās all?ā. Compare that to the film or sports industries. Itās still early days for online creators.
18
23
394
If youāre a solo founder DM me ā I work with many incredible solo founders who have found success and want to see about supporting you as well.
After 8 years helping founders at YC, it seems clear that being a remote, solo founder is extremely hard. Those founders almost never lack skill or ability - it's the opposite. But when things are hard, no one else is there to bring them up and back on track.
28
7
390
Many problems can be solved with the following:. ā¢ increased sleep.ā¢ mindfulness.ā¢ exercise.ā¢ better diet.ā¢ less drugs (caffeine, sugar, alcohol, etc). Somehow we view the above as āsacrificesā and seek to solve our problems without resorting to these costly prescriptions.
10
75
362
New experiment for ODF23: pay-what-you-want. ODF22 was our best cohort (NPS/economics) but we wanted to try something new. Not changing: no equity to join, no right to invest. We're not a VC's dealflow hack. We help more people start the best companies together. Apply!
43
52
377
If you believe this and youāre over 30 then youāre falling for cope. You lack focus, time, and desire ā donāt let yourself off the hook by blaming neuroplasticity.
26
11
364
The number of acceptable excuses for not building whatever you want is approaching zero.
8
34
370
I'd love to see more people included in web3. Iām giving away a @crypto_coven (minting + gas). @jacksondame @divine_economy @patrickxrivera @packyM are matching! š¤. See image for how to enterāļø. š tag relevant folks/RT.š QT if you'd like to match usālet's get more matches!
118
60
355
Number 1 rule of startups: you should always be surprised by how few people are working on somethingā¦not how many.
6
18
364
The best startup ecosystems:.1) SF Bay Area.2) The Internet.3) NYC. Great news: anyone can live in the second-best startup ecosystem in the world. if you are based in SF or NYC you get the ability to live in 2 of the top 3 simultaneously!.
19
14
355
You can just DM people. My DMs are open ā I love hearing from people I do not know who reach out in a personalized way. If I can I will try to help or point you in the right direction.
14
9
359
Junior dev roles are disappearing at startups. Everyone wants senior. I suspect many junior level devs will end up learning through doing on their own / with others. That will lead to even more products/startups created and them not wanting traditional senior roles later on.
25
12
341
News: weāre killing the word cringe. Effort and greatness are replacing inertia and mediocrity.
4
18
318
If youāre ever worried about coming off as too confident as a founder remember there are investors whose sole tech experience is a couple years of corp dev who will say a wildly profitable self-funded startup is past its prime and should have had investors keep them accountable.
9
7
316
The best thing we can teach people ā especially younger people ā is that you can literally just do stuff. If you have an idea you can go and try to make it happen. It won't always work out. But it does not need to always work out for it to be worthwhile.
6
45
311
@bobdylan Love how Dylan insisted they add a completely made-up scene:
"What do you care what other people think?".- Arline Greenbaum.-- Richard Feynman.--- Bob Dylan
6
18
302
That domain you want is either owned by . - someone within 1-2 degrees of separation of you in the Bay Area . - a completely random 60-year-old in some obscure part of America.
13
5
297
Reminder: you only need 417 businesses paying $200/mo to hit $1M ARR.
reminder: you need about ~4k people paying $20/mo to hit 1mm ARR.
3
11
293
Announcing Odd Jobs ā unusual opportunities for the abnormally ambitious. @alecreiss and I have seen the impact of nontraditional roles and projects ā now weāre experimenting with curating the most interesting ones. Text +1 (415) 812-7942 to unlock our 1st drop.
30
14
287
The "at-risk" model can be powerful yet feels under-explored. @opendoor: takes on risk of selling the house.@virtahealth: fees at risk for treatment until diabetes is reversed.@LambdaSchool: tuition fee at risk until student gets job.
12
32
281
We are returning to a funding environment where more founders are raising small initial rounds (~$500k) at sane valuations. Many professional investors can no longer participate in theseātheir check size is too large to fit. This is a big moment for small check angels/funds.
20
29
280
Mental health is directly linked to physical health. Diet is particularly influential. We rarely discuss it.
9
23
271
VC is mostly lead investors chasing the same investments and smaller funds trying to get allocation in whateverās popular with lead investors. To be clear, a company being āhotā is not inherently good or bad. But the investors I like back startups other VCs completely miss.
The scarcest resource in VC isnāt capital. Itās courage.
19
14
287
Now is good a time as any to start a company. It might even be a particularly excellent time.
8
23
267
If you love the Bay Area, this might be the best time to move there.
25
2
272
@MorgLiv Ugh, sorry this happened. This city is so beautiful and so frustrating. Hope it doesnāt completely ruin your familyās Motherās Day.
20
0
249
Just got off an awesome @beondeck interview:. Founder started running at 20 years old. He's running a 4:15 mile 4 years later. Runs ~100 miles / week. Roughly 11 hours. I knew the answer before I asked: "Do you listen to anything while you run?". "Nope.". Love it.
20
6
260
@bobdylan One of my favorite ideas from Nick Cave:
"Cynicism is not a neutral positionāand although it asks almost nothing of us, it is highly infectious and unbelievably destructive. In my view, it is the most common and easy of evils.". If you read one thing this weekend may it be this from Nick Cave on cynicism and hopefulness
2
19
254
Some of the most successful companies Iāve backed so far are either solo founders or 4+ co-founders. Complete narrative destruction. Remember this is a game of outliers.
14
8
255
Secret: as a founder you can keep going if you run out of runway.
15
14
239
Most people build community around a product. Perhaps more interesting: building product around a community.
18
18
238
Just talked with founders grinding since 2022. Steady progress until last month when a market shift triggered massive adoptionāin a single month they 2.5x'd their growth from all of last year. They would not have caught this big wave had they not been in the water for so long.
29
5
241
Founders need to be comfortable looking silly for an uncomfortably long period of time.
6
27
225
Founders usually face a bunch of rejection from investors ā much of it front-loaded to the start of a raise. But, like this ODF24 founder is discovering, all you need is one āyesā to get the momentum going.
6
5
239
The Thiel Fellowship doesnāt need more cheerleaders. Anyone with a clue knows how important it is. What needs more support is the broader idea that unorthodox paths should not be off-limits to ambitious and curious young people. The world needs more of those opportunities.
9
22
229
If you're mid-30s you can still make big changes that compound in the decades ahead. What aren't you doing that you could (or should)?.
Have been working out near daily since my mid 30s. At 51 Iām probably in the best shape of my life and am grateful every day for the gift of all the consistency and compounding.
11
4
229
The factory VC model attracted people who were comfortable in the factory education model. Weāre moving into an other era of tech. Itās one where the factory line has broken down entirely. The box checkers will struggle and the misfits and malcontents will carve their paths.
13
27
218
Launching on Product Hunt is "fake work" for many startups. The ideal customers aren't there but it feels productive. Upvotesāeven ones you solicitāare one hell of a drug.
33
12
224
I'm a simple man: I follow anyone attending Socratica Symposium ā. Lmk if you're here! šØš¦ . Hosting a bunch of stuff around Waterloo/Toronto next couple of days :).
33
2
227
The only people in SF who will care what school you went to are some small subset of people who went to the ātop schoolsā and the most daft investors.
19
2
219
Look I'm going to say the quiet thing out loud here for founders who aren't as connected to Silicon Valley. If this is what someone's LinkedIn looks like they are almost certainly going to rip you off.
30
2
214
I just got an amazing investor update where the CEO left sections for other leaders at her company (CMO, Head of Partnerships, etc) to share their own updates and asks directly with investors. Compelling, actionable, and more personable. Big fan.
6
10
211
The @terra_money ecosystem might have more internal flywheels than any other crypto project I've seen. Worth following what is happening with @anchor_protocol, @mirror_protocol, and the rest.
5
41
191
Announcing the Microgrant Guide. We're building a world where no talented and ambitious person is prevented from pursuing promising ideas or personal development. Already $100k raised via the v0 guide on @mergedotclub. Enjoy!
17
12
211
@pitdesi > I am a little sad that this immensely talented man isn't doing something that I consider more useful for the world, but perhaps I shouldn't judge. Logo collector helping logo collectors. Itās like travel points hackers caring more about deals than enjoying travel.
2
5
207
There is nothing more inspiring than watching someone shift an idea from improbable to inevitable through sheer force of will.
2
24
208
There will be more successful Solo Founders in the next 5 years than in the last decade.
2k ā
.
21
9
211
Speed matters, but MOMENTUM IS EVERYTHING. Momentum capital gets your first funding round moving and helps you close a strong lead investor. Here's a big š§µ on how to get momentum in your raiseākickstarting things with angels:.
5
26
203
There's a guy who does $10k/mo in revenue with a service where he writes a message on a potato and mails it to someone on your behalf. Decide if your primary goal is to simply make good money or to solve a big problem. Most of your decisions will be downstream of that.
3
5
204
Inexperienced B2B founders often give up too soon. Inexperienced B2C founders often donāt give up soon enough.
11
16
199
This interview with Ben Horowitz is over a decade old but feels especially relevant to whatās happening in tech today where many previously high-flying startups are now struggling. ā[As CEO] I felt like I could die but I couldnāt quit.ā
3
14
200