👉 What Happened on Tech Twitter Last Week - Apr 19th

💀 RIP internet tailwinds, 📈how to get your first 2K users, 🚨Google slashed marketing 50% and more!

Apr 27, 2020

Yo! It’s Brett again. With most of the Tech Twitteratti getting their fill of pontification on Clubhouse, the audio chat room app that I wrote a song about last week, you would think that Tech Twitter would be more low key than usual. Nope!

Here’s what happened on Tech Twitter last week starting April 19th:

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💀 RIP Internet Tailwinds?

Founders Fund investor, John Luttig wrote a post suggesting that internet tailwinds are stalling out. What does that mean?

Starting companies isn’t going to be as easy as it used to be. Massive internet businesses have already been built and consumer behaviors around them have been set. Founders today will need to choose between building in obscure spaces (e.g. Construction Supply Chain CRM for LATAM) or engaging in difficult and expensive direct competition with incumbent tech companies.

Definitely click in and read the whole post:

John Luttig @absoluttig

the internet tailwinds that propelled meteoric growth in Silicon Valley are stalling. what next? zero-sum games between web startups, the operationalization of SV, new financial infra, VCs investing in visions over numbers, and R&D beyond the internet.

luttig.substack.comWhen Tailwinds VanishThe Internet in the 2020s

While I agree with John, it’s a sad thought that the wild party that the tech industry has been for the last decade is coming to a close (or at least running out of nice alcohol). Here are some alternative, more optimistic perspectives:

Balaji S. Srinivasan @balajis

I like John but disagree with this piece. Due to COVID: 1) Screen time is way up 2) We are digitizing medicine, higher ed, K12, and many other previously resistant verticals 3) Debt will be a bad choice in uncertain times So, the tech model has plenty of room to run.

John Luttig @absoluttig

Erik Torenberg @eriktorenberg

Strong piece arguing that tailwinds have stalled & any remaining will go to incumbents IMO it's a decade too early: - Billions don't have smart phones - Crypto & VR - Most of world unbanked - 90% of commerce still offline - B2B marketplaces largely offline - Ed-tech, healthcare

John Luttig @absoluttig

📈 How to get your first 2k users?

Wondering how great consumer products got their first 2K users? Read Lenny’s thread or his newsletter to find out:

Lenny Rachitsky @lennysan

Consumer app founders: How did you get your first 2,000 users?

Here are some answers:

Sarah Leary @sarahleary

@lennysan @Nextdoor we meet with neighborhood Founding Members face-2-face or via phone, listened, and served their needs. They in-turn invited the next circle of members. There are no shortcuts.

mikaelcho @mikaelcho

@lennysan First 20k: Hackernews post. Then, wrote one post a week on Medium using images from Unsplash. 20k-300k: email newsletter. 10 photos every 10 days. Reason to keep coming back. Easy to forward to friends.

Ryan Hoover @rrhoover

@lennysan I wrote about how we got our first 2K users for @ProductHunt back in 2014

fastcompany.comHow We Got Our First 2,000 Users Doing Things That Don’t ScaleSo you need a crowd to launch to. Here’s the way we got one.

thatguyBG @thatguyBG

One step further: 99% of products should launch AS A waitlist. Best way to evaluate demand for a new concept is to see how many people will wait in line (and also put down money) for it

Greg Isenberg @gregisenberg

99% of products should launch with a waitlist Nothing builds demand like it b2b or b2c. Doesn't matter

Take note, now is the perfect time to start a consumer app:

Niko Bonatsos @bonatsos

So, if you are in college now or super bored because of the WFH pandemic and want to build a consumer startup... now is a great time! After all, your opportunity cost is low and consumers are eagerly experimenting with new stuff (till they go back to school/work, etc.).

😂🤯🤔 Other Great Tweets

Vladimer Botsvadze @VladoBotsvadze

product design vs. experience design

Starman @RealLifeStarman

Thank you to @elonmusk and @SpaceX for making us proud to be human #ElonMuskDay

DELIAN Asparouhov @zebulgar

The following two photos are provided without commentary Only our thoughts and prayers for those poor souls destroyed in today’s digital massacre

Ruben Harris - IG: @rubenharris @rubenharris

26 million+ Americans lost jobs in the last few weeks due to COVID-19 Most of them are trying to learn skills for jobs so they can work from home Want to see? Check out the discussions on our homepage: careerkarma.com Here’s our organic search traffic since March 🌱

Sar Haribhakti @sarthakgh

Wow This cash machine has virtually never slowed down. If they are doing this, it must be really really bad :

cnbc.comGoogle to cut marketing budgets by as much as half, directors warned of hiring freezesThe budget cut, which spans the second half of the year, is more drastic than leadership originally described.

Nikita Bier @nikitabier

An interview question that I use to filter out product managers who are not scrappy or are internet illiterate: You have 48 hours to make money on the internet. How do you do it?

Henry Freedland @henryfreedland

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Sequoia Capital is a funder of: • Zoom, the video comms startup • Loom, the screencasting startup • Noom, the wellness/weight-loss startup • Xoom, the money-transfer startup

Eric Geller @ericgeller

OMFG nytimes.com/2020/04/24/tec…

✌️Thanks

Thanks again for reading! I’ll leave you with an epic Fornite performance by Travis Scott, which btw propelled his new song to #1 in the charts. The future is virtual!

Jon @MrDalekJD

HOLY... the Travis Scott event in Fortnite was the one of the COOLEST events yet! Absolute UNREAL!

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Social Studies 📘🧠

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