Derek Johanson

I'm projecting to exit my AI startup Microwaves.ai in ~6 months (just 180 days after I started it today). Here's how and why I plan to sell it for $2.84M on @acquiredotcom A thread 🧵 👇 (ChatGPT helped me come up with this thread idea which is pretty cool)

Here’s a writing mistake I make several times a year… I’m selling a product on “how to write tutorials”. I started by writing about the benefits of being known an as expert (more attention, higher rates you can charge). This was the mistake. Because then I said… The way to become an expert is to write tutorials. Then I described all the benefits of writing tutorials which include becoming known as an expert. I could have just skipped right there. This mistakes happens a few times a year bc it’s natural to think that people will easily connect the dots and follow the logic chain… and most will. But the entire piece loses its impact bc there are 2 separate “aha” moments, not one. The best writing has 1 aha moment. You get the aha at: “oh, being an expert will make me money. “ AND… “Tutorials will make me money!” The best products (or ones that sell the most) can skip right to the main benefit without the explanation or first “aha” moment. And really, the less “aha” you need the better if you want to sell a lot. The quickest fix for most people will be just chopping that first build up content (ie, “become an expert” in my case) and putting it directly in as a benefit of the main idea. “Tutorials position you as the expert.”

I believe this IRL community is called "earth", @danielcberk

Claude code has been very dumb these past 24hours. Introducing bugs, realizing the mistake, and then taking ages to solve them (or just NOT solving it all). Here's my calendar for the day thanks to CC. I guess I'll do some newsletter writing today.

@chrisorzy i would never do that

@DJohanson Did you read the article

Being "level headed" about new technology has NEVER made me rich. But the opposite is true. I've *maybe* wasted some time at worst but I've never regretted learning. It all comes down to not caring about the opinions of others & JUST BUILDING something you like. My 2 cents

These are the exact same: 1. “You’re going to start an ‘online’ business? That’s cute. Let’s see if you sell anything.” 2. “You’re going to vibe code an app? That’s cute. Let’s see if you sell anything.” You’re just an old head now. You sound like a boomer.

Rebranded real quick. Much better: bodyagent.ai

1593

Whoever becomes my 1600th follower will win an app, vibe-coded by me, that you can sell to @HubSpot for high 7 or 8-figures just like @thepatwalls

@chrisorzy Are there other forms of living?

A lot of people on this website with self induced AI psychosis: CDS: Clanker Derangement Syndrome

This txt from a smart/successful friend who I showed whipe.ai Same friend stopped using his whoop strap… Data insights do nothing for you after awhile (why ppl quit wearables) It’s about an agent that schedules your life for you based on insights

Everyone is scared of letting AI do their thinking for them. It's more about letting it do the right type of thinking for you. I say let it think about my schedule, diet, meaningless emails. I'll keep thinking about other more important shit. Like baseball.

peak entrepreneur

We’ve reached a country-wide BRO mindset level to the point where I CAN say: > I don’t eat bread & gluten cuz I’m trying to get a six pack But CANNOT say: > I don’t have crohn’s but gluten makes me feel terrible all the time, bloat and get red

@chrisorzy if it wasn't so beautiful in NJ in february I'd tell you to utilize the hp of an airplane to get out. but i'd never say something like that

This thing does not have the horsepower I need. What’s the biggest, best snowblower you can buy?

@parkerworth All the accolades & the massive amount of followers I have on social

What motivates you to work hard?

How I've figured out correlating "messy" or random income with health behaviors... The problem a lot of freelancers and service providers have is this: "My revenue is all wires, ACH into my bank, random venmos and pretty messy in general." What I’ve been able to do is this: I have my whipe.ai bot adding events to your calendar and tracking them. Those events can be: > work related > or health related So if you’re doing client work, you’d tell your bot - "That work session was on X project or for X client". Then, later, when that "random" cash comes in for the project, the bot automatically asks you about it, “What was that payment for?” Then you can say, "That was for work on X project". AI can then go back and look at the health behaviors surrounding project work X. It'll also compare it to other project payments, etc. and look for patterns. The calendar integration unlocks it all. My income as a business owner is more predictable (comes in via Stripe) but the bot still does the same correlation - "what project/writing block did that revenue come from?" It looks at health behaviors around that income and then automatically schedules work sessions AND health behaviors that will make me more money. Here's a screenshot of what my whipe.ai bot sent me on telegram today where it scheduled my day and is also encouraging me to meditate bc that leads to more income later.

I keep telling you that the most cracked devs in our industry are vibe engineering, while the mid ones are still skeptical, it's hilarious

Built this here: copyhour.space

@LukeBarnett So instead of criticizing... create.