Nick Friend

Unconventional lessons I learned after 5x startups, half a billion in revenue, 24 years building companies from scratch, and an exit. Starting with the FOUNDATIONAL:

@WorkflowWhisper Cuban

mark cuban just laid out the exact playbook for making money with AI agents. pick one vertical. learn the flows. become the AI team they never hired. he's right. but he left out the how. i've been doing this for 3 months. here's what it actually looks like: week 1: i called 12 local businesses and asked one question. "what's the most annoying part of your day?" the pool company: "we lose 11 jobs a week because nobody follows up cancellations." the PT clinic: "insurance verification takes 3 hours every morning." the cleaning company: "we quote in 2 days. our competitor quotes in 2 hours." week 2: i built every single one of those workflows. → pool company cancellation recovery - 6 min → PT clinic insurance verification - 11 min → cleaning company instant quote generator - 7 min → dog groomer appointment + waitlist manager - 9 min → pest control follow-up sequence - 4 min average build time: 7.4 minutes. average close rate when you build it live in front of them: 70%. week 3: $10,750 upfront + $1,200/mo recurring. zero proposals. zero decks. zero "let me get back to you." they watched it work. they paid on the spot. cuban said "you don't need a CS degree or VC money." he's right. you need one question, one tool, and the willingness to build it in front of them. i documented the entire framework in a free PDF: → the 1-question discovery script (word for word) → 6 copy-paste workflow prompts by industry → pricing guide (what to charge per workflow type) → the live demo script that closes 7 out of 10 → full MCP setup walkthrough (5 min install) comment "CUBAN" and i'll send it. consultants charge $15K for a discovery workshop. i just gave you the playbook for free. synta(.)io - describe the workflow in plain english. it builds, deploys, and fixes itself. (must be following for DM)

@BrandonCarter 💪💪💪

@MattEpstein16 same thing here - notice it stopped at the exact same time. nothing spending, and we haven't touched a single thing nor launched an ad in days. Also checked GA and traffic is not coming in from FB.

Ads people, I need your help 🚨 Facebook ads decided to stop spending at 4pm today. Budgets haven’t been hit and I’m not running cost caps. I have no idea why. Anyone know how to fix?

If most founders knew that eventually, they’d have to get to $1B in ARR for the math to pencil out Would they ever raise more than a few million in venture capital at all?

@ArnaudBelingaCX Sales-led growth 💯💯💯 The market is the only truth, and selling into it gets you that truth the fastest. twitter.com/theNickFriend/…

What's your favorite startup growth model? Sales-led growth Product-led growth Founder-led growth Community-led growth

@AlanBauchop Thanks Alan!

@theNickFriend Hey Nick I fully appreciate all your tweetin’. super useful, anchoring ideas. Thank you!

"There is no failure, only feedback." @naval

Uncool things that are going to become cool again: - Having a job - Investing in FDs - Going to college - Getting an MBA - Listening to your parents

@driverdaniel67 NEVER. if you can keep your costs low, and keep iterating, you will ultimately find your way.

@lensofleo @albertlieadrian Yep, the early assumptions are almost always wrong!

@theNickFriend @albertlieadrian It also helps you keep a lean and focused team vs. hiring based on what you expect to happen (which doesn’t usually happen)

@DigitalToolMar1 totally agree

@AndreWorrell7 you nailed it Andre!

@theNickFriend Bootstrapping forces you to think creatively and get to the truth faster. Having lots of funds early could be a recipe for delusion.

@jrichlive Need to be careful with introducing your own bias. Some people are better at selling themselves, or have a better appearance...there are subtle ways that you get influenced here. And you can end up making the wrong hire.

"We interviewed 15 candidates. Narrowed it to 3. Invited them all to come meet in person. Wildly obvious in person which of the 3 was the right fit. 1 of the 3 would have never made the final list if first round was in person." WFH very different from "Hire from Home." 🤞

@dagorenouf Similar thing happened in my family… Sometimes it was infuriating, but then you also find yourself using it as fuel!

Sweet revenge when your family sees your startup succeed 😈

@NavalismHQ @naval @tresselapp save

"The overeducated are worse off than the undereducated, having traded common sense for the illusion of knowledge." @naval

@manuelsadacosta @SaveToNotion Thanks Manuel 🙏

@theNickFriend Great one. As always. @SaveToNotion #thread #okrs

The goals you choose will never be perfect. It will be a constant process of refining. What I have just shown you is a simple, startup version of an operational framework called "OKRs", which stands for "Objectives and Key Results".

7. Review & Adjust A few weeks before the quarter ends, you will already know whether the top 3 goals you chose were effective. Will the results be achieved? Did they create the intended behavior from the team? This is where you will review and adjust.