... most important and challenging experiences you ll have as a founder is fundraising. I pitched VCs across London and San Francisco. Some spent 15 seconds on my deck. Some took the call just to diligence a competitor. One told me to ask for more money. Oh, and I found out your pitch is probably being recorded and run through AI. This is the high-impact version of all of those lessons to save you time, energy, and emotional damage. Please ... ... eyes light up. Notice when someone leans in. Pay attention to which anecdotes connect universally, and which ones don t. Sometimes VCs see patterns you don t. They ve seen hundreds or thousands of pitches. They might notice a competitor

... through those ever-busy hospital halls, something quietly clicked: this wasn't it for me. I loved the science genuinely. But what I loved even more were the people and the problems. The intellectual challenge of diagnosing complexity. The deeply human stakes. I just didn't need the blood and guts to get there. That Fall, I landed a role at a tech startup , and everything changed. I'd found my version of medicine high stakes, fast-moving, and deeply

... matches overnight. Users thought it was a spam attack "60 matches in 10 minutes, is this broken?" Yes, it was. We rebuilt it completely. Now it runs 3x/day, 3 quality matches per agent. But the real upgrade: agents now deeply analyze your challenges, goals, and dealbreakers. Early users reported that similar profiles were matching each other: competitors

... when it comes to actually applying, filling forms, reviewing details, completing steps, behavior still clusters around a desktop, work-context flow. We re not concluding don t build mobile. We re questioning when deep mobile investment actually moves activation, versus when a focused, low-friction desktop experience matters more. What signal convinced you that mobile was worth building deeply

... their followers trust them? Or is it a passive audience? One of our creators posted about Ting and you could see the immediate trust convert directly into signups. That doesn t happen unless you spend time reviewing their history deeply. Are they bot comments, real people, constantly a lot of engagement, is it hit or miss, do views/comments look on the up or down generally? The real deal If you pick the right creator for your product/audience, chances are they ... ... improvement conversation, so you can walk away feeling like you got an even sweeter deal. Comment from PRIYANKA MANDAL(@priyankamandal): It's really solid breakdown, Dan. I like the founding creators idea treating them more like long-term partners vs

... brands and products grow by combining data, storytelling, and technology. With a Mechanical Engineering background and 6.5 years spent preparing for the Indian Armed Forces and Indian Civil Services, I ve built discipline, structured thinking, and resilience qualities that deeply influence how I approach problem-solving and product growth today. I ve been fortunate to work on diverse projects: Driving website traffic from zero to 40,000+ monthly visits through content-led strategies. Building a KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketplace ... ... automate and scale user support. Today, I focus on product-led growth, gamification, and AI-powered engagement blending creativity with data to craft strategies that not only acquire users but retain and delight them. Outside of work, I m deeply

... Been checking out Cursor, an AI code editor that deeply integrates AI into your workflow. Think natural language coding, smart predictions, and asking your codebase questions. It's trying to push AI further than, say, VS

... teams, giving access to GPT, Claude, Gemini, and more. But teams weren t just chatting with AI, they were collaborating. So we re making a bold shift. PoliteAI is becoming an AI-native communication platform Think Slack, but with deeply integrated AI that helps you write, summarize, translate, plan, and more right inside every conversation. Group chat, DMs, threads Built-in AI Assistants that actually help Lower, more straightforward pricing We believe the future of work isn t just "chat ... ... moving the servers, the service is back now. Also, thanks for the thoughtful question! Yes, we re adopting a freemium model: teams can get started for free with core chat and collaboration features. What makes us different is how deeply

... head of their technical team. So much so, we deployed senior solutioning leaders into their office for over a year. Our team helped: Shape the technical specs Co-create the pre-qual for the RFP And spent months deeply involved in the RFP process By all traditional markers, we were in a strong position. Then we lost the deal. Not because the competitor