Kathryn Wu
@Kathrynwu088
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Founder @Openmartai (Backed by @ycombinator)
Joined August 2023
One @ycombinator company previously spent days scraping Google Maps to find all 1-3 location restaurants with decent Google reviews. Now, they can do it within five minutes using Openmart. Get yourself a demo at
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Great book by @james406! The first time I read it was during YC, and many things seemed ambiguous. The second time, three months later on a flight, I was clearer about our level in this game. Will read it again with my cofounder after another three months.
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Yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator company find all accounting firms and gave their sales team a location visualization in 5 minutes. They had spent months building an internal system for the same purpose.
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First successful referral to @ycombinator!! Persuading my talented friends to start a company and go through the darkness together, and seeing great people win is such a blast.
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Yesterday, we helped a Series B company find all medical supplier companies on Gmaps and determine what they sell in just 5 minutes. Previously, this company had built an internal system that provided less comprehensive results, and it is no longer being maintained.
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Today, we helped a @ycombinator company find all hair salons and their booking software. Itâs cool to see many founders working to improve SMB operations. Time for the next-gen booking systemâevery 10 years, the cycle repeats. Old software gets revamped, or new ones take over!
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12 months ago, we recorded our @ycombinator app video. 6 months ago, Richard pitched us at Demo Day. 1 month ago, we signed with a dream company and got featured by TechCrunch. Todayâs Demo Day again. This yearâs been one of the most fulfilling of my 27. Onward!
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Thank you @ycombinator for an awesome alumni event! It was amazing to see friends from all over the world. Until next time! đ„
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while everyone else enjoys life, doing startup requires you to stay focused and accountable. That's why startups hire cracked ones. Staying away from all the fun is not easy.
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Yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator company find all insurance agencies on Maps that are hiring, arenât "insurance carriers," and mention "business/commercial" insurance on their websiteâin just five minutes. This used to take a BPO days to go through each one.
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plan to write a version for Gen Z salespeople like me, mainly focusing on the many mistakes I made and the lessons I learned. đ«
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Yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator company qualify 10k Instagram seller accounts in bulk, enrich, and prioritize the big opportunities for them since we have tons of SMB data. Before this, they were spending $30k per month on BPOs.
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One @ycombinator company used @openmartai to enrich a file of SMB restaurants within five minutes and found the owner names and contact information for an additional 30% of the restaurants. Previously took their BPO team a day to enrich.
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In the last YC batch, most of us were still figuring out what we wanted to do at the beginning of the batch. This batch, most of them have already launched on YC. looks like mvp got developed faster and capital became more and more efficient nowadays.
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We are kinda profitable already since we have traction + @mercury also pays interest rate. đ
ty Mercury! .@openmartai wonât raise large amount of money đ° before making sure our product is ready to scale even we have the option to do so. :) Thanks to the technology and @deel -.
A YC startup in the middle of fundraising found a way to cut their costs by 2/3. Now they don't need to raise at all. They can make it to profitability on the money they already have. Bet you can guess what will happen when they tell investors they're shutting down the raise.
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Spent several days in Hawaii and realized that startup founders can't really "often" have fun in the typical sense (drinks, casual chats with friends, good food, and views) while working on a startup. It's very, very hard to switch contexts between having fun and doing meticulous.
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The reason why you need to apply for @ycombinator.'s fall batch: It's about the community. We learned best practices from hundreds of people. Being surrounded by smart individuals can improve your IQ over time. I never considered myself as smart as those around me, but my brain.
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On a uber right now, driver is listening to @ycombinator âs podcast about pivoting stories. I canât even escape from startup stuff for one night, can I? đ.The driver did ask me whether I want to switch to songs, though.
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Yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator company find all custom home builders in the US within five minutes and exclude certain types like general contractors and others. Previously, searching with other data providers required extensive filtering efforts over several days.
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Last week, we helped a @ycombinator company target restaurants with bad Yelp reviews for a more focused marketing approach. After uploading the data to Meta ads, they saw 3-4x higher click rates in ads and booked 30-50 demos. Other industries have seen similar results.
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After @ycombinator, I'll call the group office hour a group therapy session.đ
.Group 3-F đ.I will post every time we meet until we no longer meet.
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getting product-market fit is rare for seed-stage startups, so itâs better not to fake it. Be honest about platform limitations. Initially, we overpromised and underdelivered, leading to disappointment. Lowering expectations can work better than promising everything.
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The reason I reply to some cold messages now is because I know how hard it is at the beginning of a startup. It gets harder for sure, but Iâll never forget who helped with the first check, the first customers, and all those early supporters. It makes me want to give back.
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One @ycombinator company previously spent days finding imaging centers and their decision makers to sell their image recognition technology. Now, they can do it within five minutes using @openmartai's AI leads finder . Get yourself a demo at
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Seed stage investors out there, please meet founders and bet on people who are resilient, lifelong hustlers, since everyone can have a big idea. Betting on people who have suffered before and still remain very positive will be one of my core beliefs/thesis if I have my own fund.
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The teamâs cooking up something exciting! Many @ycombinator founders scraped data elsewhere and sent it to us for enrichment. Starting this week, weâre automating it all for local businesses. đ Listen to YC advice: Build for what users do 5 mins before & after your platform. đ
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Weâre hiring a Chief of Staff to work in-person with us in the Bay Area. This person needs some experience in product, sales, customer success, and operations. I know itâs a lot to ask, but if you know anyone or want to chat, please reach out!.
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In the past month, weâve developed a way to help big companies like major delivery apps and POS systems detect businesses before they appear on maps, using unstructured data from sources like local news outlets, social media posts, and more. We believe this is going to be a
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Today is the last day to apply to @ycombinator. @openmartai learned a lot from the three-month journey. Here are several key things we benefited from YC in the thread. đ.If you happen to sell to local business, please DM me!
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15 days until @ycombinator âs demo day -.Four days after using our tool, some customers already closed a great deal. Itâs not huge amount, but I believe in @openmartai âs potential to unlock large dealđ°đ°đ°ïŒ
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A lot of respect to some of my fav @ycombinator female founders in this batch!! đȘđȘđȘđȘ.@aymannadeem @peggy_wang @upekabee Didnât have time to do a selfie with some other folks! Letâs do it next time!!
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The top learning I got from my @ycombinator experience is that everythingâuser traction, social media presence, product qualityâimproves little step by little step in the past several months. I never expected us to achieve strong product-market fit in several months like Airbnb,
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20 days until @ycombinator 's demo day, Lots of people have been asking us about the experience of building in public. Personally, I'm okay with it because I don't worry about posting the best content on the internet. Being carefree is something I've sort of picked up about some.
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People are posting more on social media after YC since being shameless is important to get more customers. No one reaches product-market fit that quickly, and getting more harsh feedback from people is the key.
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The first group office hour after @ycombinatorâs demo day - we talked about what might make our company die. The topic was heavy, and we sort of promised ourselves that we would all work out often and ensure we stay healthy. đȘ.Thank you Lukas for playing group partner role for
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Itâs so great to meet all women founder in @ycombinator âs current batch on this special day. Happy international womenâs day!!! â€ïžâ€ïžâ€ïž. @lina_colucci @peggy_wang @KumlehnMaria
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Happy weekend!! .@ycombinator alumni demo just started! Canât wait to see all great work by my batch matesđ«Ąđ«Ą.
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Product demo videos and regular posting on Twitter actually got us higher quality leads than a fundraising announcement. This is kinda within our expectation!.
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Key takeaways from @bryan_johnson: Stress impacts longevity. Manage it by sleeping early, exercising, and eating healthy. Can use Whoop & Eight Sleep to monitor and improve sleep. I slept at 11:30 pm last night and feel great today!
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At the beginning, we treated more like a game after leaving our job. In the worst case, Richard and I would go back to big tech companies. After going through @ycombinator , we have become much more ambitious; every percentage of the company matters. We.
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Being around positive, vivacious people will make you feel like nothing is impossible. Sometimes I feel thereâs a chance @openmartai can grow to be a $1 billion business. Thatâs also the effect of @ycombinator - it taught me to dream big!
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YC ended but friendship continues! .This past weekend, @openmartai organized a fun event! Richard and I brought our dogs to help some of our close founder friends destress a bit at Dolores Park! Thanks to all for dropping by! We might organize another dog therapy session in two
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Why are so many companies trying to send emails to the W24 batch this week? It's the busiest week ever. Some service providers even followed up with me three times with a subject line saying 'Got a break from demo day?'. Back in the days when I was at Pinterest, we were working.
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My co-founder @RealRichomie will present @openmartai soon at @ycombinator âs demo day!! .Letâs watch out for it đ«Ąđ«Ąđ«Ąđ
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New feature update! Yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator company track newly opened restaurants with owner info in the Bay Area that fit their ideal customer profile. Their sales team jumped on it and pitched their solution to one of the stores this afternoon. âïž
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So grateful for the @ycombinator community. Through their network and referrals, weâve reached our first 10 mid-market+ customers. Now, weâre focused on refining and learning. Have an idea? Winter â25 apps are open and will due soon!.
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In the past week, three people talked about co-founder issues with me since YC's deadline is approaching, so Iâm trying to matchmake for a friend who's looking for a co-founder. I found it's a pretty hard job to doâeven harder than building a company.
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TikTok is going to be banned. We just helped a @ycombinator company build a TikTok lead qualification tool. If youâre selling to creators, brands, or anyone and want us to qualify your leads before they disappear, reach out today or tomorrow. Letâs chat!
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Today, we met multiple investors who passed on us at investor reception. I give them @openmartaiâs business card. No hard feeling at all since most of them are very nice people. Would love to keep in touch and best of luck!! :) Tbh, I am always grateful for rejections, and.
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New feature alert! Last week, we teamed up with a @ycombinator company to provide trendy and hot restaurant data, updated weekly. Now, their sales team can jump in early with the latest infoâno more wandering around neighborhoods to spot new openings.
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Took tons of econ, marketing, and stats classes⊠but turns out, building something of your own has way less to do with theory and way more to do with learning by doing.
When I talk to students they often think that if they want to start a startup one day they should be learning about economics or finance. I tell them they should instead be learning how to build things. Building is the root.
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Iâm blocking off all Fridays for focused workâno more sales calls or follow-ups. Only 20%-30% of people show up to Friday demo calls, and most arenât qualified. Sunday works better for chatting or following up with customers based on the response rate.
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Todayâs been a race against time, but thank you for growing with us on Twitter! We started using social media in February, taking a leap of faith to build in public. The love and feedback from strangers have been incredible. Weâre not perfect, but we know what to improve.
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Once in a lifetime experience!! :) @RealRichomie @gustaf . Thank you @gustaf for giving us the opportunity!! Always grateful!
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Our quarterly offsite at Los Altos - Feel more energized after embracing nature. Weâre hiring our first engineer in the US! Apply through our yc job portal.
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Introduce our location table -> we helped a @ycombinator company find specific restaurant owners across multiple locations. They previously relied on BPOs to call and gather data, costing $1,000 to $5,000 with a week-long turnaround. The same applies to healthcare, where
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PostHog, built by @james406, has completely changed how we run things. Back when I was at big companies, feature changes were often based on assumptions (sometimes just my own ideas đ
). Now, every UX tweak has real backing, thanks to replay insights from PostHog. Game changer!.
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Weâve noticed that people are looking for contacts across various industries and verticals since we launched Openmart. Just yesterday, we helped a @ycombinator find all non-chain gas stations across the US, along with the decision makers' names and contacts, in just minutes!
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After graduating from YC, @openmartai started to learn more from its customers again. Itâs not easy to build a product people want to use daily. Weâre on it! đȘđȘ.
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Last few days to apply for @ycombinatorâs fall batch! đđAfter hundreds of customer interviews, what pain points do you know about your customers? Send me screenshots of your application, and I might roast it! #YCApply #Startups.
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A week after @ycombinator 's demo day. We finally got the comprehensive list of customers! Sometimes, I get a bit OCD when organizing things. Once I start organizing, I need it to be 100% correct. This way, I can track how many customers actually converted, how many ghosted, and.
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Looking back, many people who hung out with us often in the middle of last year have all started companies or are actively exploring. Itâs like when everyone around you is doing it and trying to explore something new, starting a startup doesnât feel as risky and uncomfortable.
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Thanks to the @ycombinator community for an awesome marketing and sales night, organized by @ChrisJBakke and @JamesonZaballos. Learned a lot with @davj, @pritika_mehta, @yuxinzoo, and more! If you're a technical founder looking for someone who writes great marketing content, work
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What a great night with friends after the alum demo day! Always feel so energized after seeing those people! . @coffeewithone @yrebryk @soohoonchoi @richardfzhang @JinjingLiang @HendrixLiu29208 @stacksyncdata @greptileai
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I've realized that the startup world is quite small. There aren't many great startups existing at the same time. Startups come and go; you just need to keep it alive with a little bit of patience. What about those big incumbents: first they ignore you, then they laugh at you,.
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We are so excited to be at the AI Startup Hackathon today with @octolane_app, @openmartai, @retellai, & @amidlabs @tryfondo .Lots of amazing SF builders here! đ ïž
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18 days until @ycombinator 's demo day. How do you choose a co-founder? Most startups fail due to co-founder breakups. Before Series B, people are all trying to find product-market fit, so there is usually no real failure on the idea itself. @RealRichomie and I met each other.
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Deepseek employees are mostly born around 1997 or 1998, like my cofounders and me. Most of them didnât even do a PhD. used to think talent of open ai is the moat but looks like itâs not the case.
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Group 3 meetup> Thanks for organizing, @richardfzhang! Make a bet â how many unicorns will there be in this video in the future? đđ«Ą
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Today is Thanksgiving! This year has been a roller coaster for us!. The first 100 customers and the first few people who trusted us will always hold a special place in our journey. Thank you for being part of it!. Throughout our journey, many strangers helped out, like early
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In Hawaii for a few days for a friendâs wedding, wearing @openmartaiâs shirt above the islandđ
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Seed-stage startups sell the chance to work directly with the founder, unlike sales from bigger companies that focus on ROI. Founders bring valuable experience you can't find on Upwork or Fiverr. Our product is about 50% ready. I'll handle the manual work and share my knowledge,.
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We've done a lot of things that don't scale. Today, we made cold calls to 400+ warehouses to figure out the best way to serve our customers. Sometimes, it's more about delivering true value and seeing if some not-so-scalable methods can become more scalable some day. .
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it's all about managing uncertainties.as a gen Z founder, i'll keep posting about my journey of finding PMF. do we have a market or do we not have a market? especially when your product isn't yet ready for big companies or enterprises
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A month ago, I started interviewing my batchmates to document their company journeys. Maybe it'll become a documentary one dayâshowing how great companies are born. đ. Recently, I interviewed @wuweiweiwu . for our GTM podcast. Here are 5 takeaways:. 1. Send effective,
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Iâve decided to stay away from the laptop for a day and go exercise a bit! Hopefully, that will help with deep focus on my work next week!
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My co-founder drew wisdom from @ycombinatorâs graduation ceremony and immediately bought himself some longevity and protein mix to stay healthy. đ .Weâre trying to take action items from W24 post mortem one by one I guess đ
. @bryan_johnson
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Twitter is much better than LinkedIn for building in public. LinkedIn has too many people who are just looking for jobs, while Twitter is where people are searching for innovative solutions.
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Day 280 after @ycombinator's demo day. We now have:.1. Newly opened businesses across different verticals on maps (the best time to sell). 2. Show restaurants' online ordering platforms, helping you send tailored messages. One of our customers got a 12% response rate.
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was thinking about hiring a social media intern for us before, but it looks like writing a post myself will take less time than the managing the person + communication. will probably only consider this after Series A. sometimes you thought someone took something off from your.
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A smart subject line makes me immediately open the email. There are too many AI-generated long emails. We donât need fancy words, just this kind of concise email works I guess
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My co-founder and I were born at the border of Gen Z and Millennials. As people probably know, Gen Z is really into new experiences, but Millennials are more practical when making choices. I feel we are more towards Gen Z, optimizing for life experience. One of the best.
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Startup founders: what are the best hiring agencies that you work with right now? Pls contact me. We're looking for: .Over 4 years of experience in Python backend development.Over 2 years of experience in elasticsearch/opensearch.Over 1 year of experience in developing AI agents.
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A lot of respect to @BessemerVP It released this page to honor the companies they missed. :) .To my fellow batch mates, itâs too early to say, but I wish you all make this kind of list.
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one late growth-stage company CEO messaged me on Intercom and replied to my email within 5 minutes. Founder mode, here we go!.
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We have our internal dashboard. It's not true since it calculated one SAFE toward our income. đ
Hopefully, one day for @openmartai.
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Observations from many people suggest that great founders must be decent and helpful people. A mean vibe wonât get you anywhere.
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Very excited about what our engineering team has achieved in the past two months after full-time building. We pulled 1000 results from competitors to see their ability to fetch SMB owners, and we won on accuracy and coverage. If you want to sell to more SMBs, talk to me!
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kinda realized that being my normal self on Twitter wonât make itâfollowers donât grow from playing it safe. Friends checked out my Twitter and said Iâm just another founder posting demos every day lol.
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If youâre a cracked full-stack engineer in SF eager to work at a startup, please DM me your resume. Weâre building something really exciting!.
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During a past networking event, someone was rude and didnât seem interested in talking. Today, this person sent me a cold message with minimum efforts asking, âWill you buy my product?â Of course not.
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We are growing fast and would love to have a rockstar&cracked founding engineer join us at our Foster City office. Youâll need to be within our networkâsome of our friends know you. If thatâs the case, letâs chat! We have two office dogs, too!
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