Build With Ryan

I've just got the incredible news of a 3% pay rise today. A full year of efforts, going above and beyond. Culminating in a pay rise barely inline with inflation. Here are the reasons, I need to get out of my 9-5 🧵:

I've just got the incredible news of a 3% pay rise today. A full year of efforts, going above and beyond. Culminating in a pay rise barely inline with inflation. Here are the reasons, I need to get out of my 9-5 🧵:

Getting a product out there doesn’t have to cost $200. Claude pro is more than enough to ship an idea ($20). Hosting and database can both be done on free subscriptions. This puts more emphasis on the ideas, the problem you are solving, the market you choose and the distribution channels.

Nobody talks about the cost of vibe coding. Claude, cursor, vercel, supabase. You’re paying $200/month in tools to build a product making $0.

@siddharthwv People are quick to scream luck without seeing: - The long nights - The Parties missed - The Sacrifices made But yeah ok - it’s “luck”

It's cringe until you make their monthly salary in a day. Then you're "the guy who got lucky."

@delveroin If the followers are engaged then the 50K followers. Marc Lou is a great example, where he has hit, after hit, after hit because he builds products for his engaged audience

Which one would you rather have right now? - 50k followers - $1k MRR Be honest

7/ The Close So that's why i've decided to start building. Not to get rich or build an empire. To remove myself from a system that rewards my effort with a measly 3% One paying customer at a time. The 9-5 gave me the reason. Building will give me the exit. Who else is quietly working their way out?

6/ Schedule & Freedom 🗓️ Needing permission to take a Tuesday off. Holiday requests blocked because Angela booked it off first. Leaving early to pick your kid up from school and feeling like you're asking for a favour. Your time. Your schedule. Your life. Owned by someone else.

@marclou Ai makes every part of the building process easier. This is another downside of building a chrome extension. Every time you want to deploy a feature you need to wait 3-5 business days to get it approved.

Building startups in 2026: 1. User requests a feature 2. ⌘+C / ⌘+V in Cursor 3. Live minutes later It's nice

Who are your target customers? One realisation I've come to late. My target customers are eBay sellers. Whilst they are considered businesses, they are often a one person team trying to keep costs as lean as possible. Selling to someone who wants to minimise spend is such a hard sell. Sell to people who are incentivized to spend.

@sflorimm People assume you need to build a business around your vibe coded products. Thats not the case - You can build highly personal software that make your life easier.

At some point you will get an urge to vibe code an app. It’s very important that you listen to that urge and just get started.

@sweatystartup Great piece Nick. Your advice rings so much louder than the same dross you hear on social media.

How to grow a business the old fashioned way:

@tomhan245 MRR and revenue are just one metric to look at. Are there any signs of life? Amount of active users? Etc There are hundred of stories where products burst in to life. Don’t be so quick to close it down if there are signs of life.

I've been marketing for a few months and still no sales.   I’m deciding whether to move on to the next one or keep going.   If this were you, what would you do?

@TeeDevh A key copywriting tactic is to sell the emotion not the feature. What emotion is your user going through when they hit this pain point? Then your product or feature becomes the bridge from that negative emotion to the positive one.

Marketing question: How do you make people want your product without actually mentioning it? Especially on Reddit, TikTok, Instagram… Curious how others approach this 🤔

@mhp_guy There are only a select few who want that status. For me I’d choose a lifestyle business and being a great dad and partner - all day.

Most of the most successful biz leaders of all time were jerks and/or terrible husbands and fathers. But they're all we read about, talk about & emulate. That's a problem. It's very possible (& even common) to become a billionaire and also be a great person. But seemingly impossible to be a generational business GOAT and also be a great person.

@thesamparr I’ve got to agree. Imposter syndrome is the sign you are doing something that challenges you. If you ain’t growing, you are dying.

I asked 1,000+ founders in Hampton (all doing at least $3M ARR): do you still get imposter syndrome? Here's what they said: Matt (multi-exit founder, 10+ years in): "Imposter syndrome never goes away. It just changes shape. Early on it's 'do I belong here?' Later it's 'am I the right person for this level of responsibility?'" Ryan (serial entrepreneur): "I call it Growth Syndrome now. If you have it, you're in the right place. It means you're doing something new." Jason (bootstrapped, profitable, very chill about it): "My current operating philosophy is that I'll always have it, and it's actually a key driver of growth. The weirdest part is when people reach out saying how much they look up to me. Internally I'm screaming: I have no f*cking clue what I'm doing. I'm just guessing like everyone else." Sarah (built and sold a software company): "Most really successful founders are quintessential psychopaths. They don't feel it the same way. For the rest of us, it just means we're sane." Kim (sold millions of books, zero paid marketing, grew up with a drug-addicted mom): "I've never had it. Not once. I didn't have the luxury of thinking I wasn't good enough for one second. Because I have to be good enough. There was never going to be a backup plan." Thoughts on this?