the lessons I've learned scaling my startups: > 90%+ of users pick google sign in. just make it the default. > strip all formatting from your emails. send from a real name, not "company team." watch your open rates jump. > add "how did you hear about us?" to onboarding. makes marketing 10x easier. > 99% of people sliding into your dms with "opportunities" are wasting your time. protect your calendar. > creator sponsorships cost less than ads but eat more time. pick based on what you have more of. > building a good product is just relentlessly asking "what does my user actually want" and doing that. > copycats show up the moment you get traction. they'll clone everything. they still won't catch you. > i couldn't build something good if i wasn't using it daily. > always check logs right after pushing updates. > bugs are fine. slow fixes aren't. > people notice good ui/ux design even if they can't explain why. > first 10 paying customers are harder than the next 100. > always refund people who ask. not worth the energy or the bad review. give them 2 months free too. > marketing is just running experiments fast. steal from what works for similar products. > cheap accountants cost more in the long run. > users will hop on calls way more than you'd expect. these conversations are cheat codes. > strong testimonials let customers sell for you. > you won't have a "pmf moment." only way to know is when people tell their friends about your product (word of mouth) > even when things are going well you'll have days where you think it's all falling apart. it's not. keep building.