How I built 21 startups in 2 years

Marc Lou
12 Feb 202410:29

Summary

TLDR视频讲述了一位软件工程师在2021年11月被解雇后,如何通过快速构建21个副项目,其中10个发展成为盈利的初创企业,并最终实现了每月55,000美元的收入。视频中分享了寻找创业点子的三种方法:解决自己的问题、解决普遍问题以及通过体验新生活发现新问题。强调了快速构建和发布产品的重要性,以避免期望过高导致的失望和创业失败的风险。提出了构建产品时应遵循的原则,如只构建核心功能,避免免费用户模式,并考虑一次性支付而非订阅模式。最后,视频还提到了作者使用的技术栈,并鼓励观众关注其YouTube频道,以获取更多关于创业和产品开发的信息。

Takeaways

  • 🚀 **快速迭代**:快速构建并推出产品可以减少失败时的损失,并快速学习市场反馈。
  • 💡 **解决自身问题**:通过解决自己遇到的问题来找到创业点子,这样即使失败也能获得个人解决方案。
  • 🌟 **通用问题**:针对普遍问题(如提高收入、改善睡眠质量)的产品有更广泛的市场。
  • 📈 **避免免费用户**:免费用户很少转化为付费用户,应避免提供免费计划以减少潜在的收入损失。
  • 🔍 **简化功能**:只构建产品的核心功能,避免不必要的功能以加速开发过程。
  • 💰 **定价策略**:选择一次性支付而非订阅模式,以验证市场需求并简化销售过程。
  • 🛠️ **技术栈选择**:坚持使用熟悉的技术栈,除非有充分理由,否则不要改变。
  • 📝 **记录与分享**:通过社交媒体分享学习过程和经验,可以建立观众群体并提高个人品牌。
  • 🌐 **全球化视野**:即使产品针对特定行业,也应考虑全球市场需求,以扩大潜在用户基础。
  • 📈 **增长策略**:通过Reddit、Twitter等平台推广产品,利用社区和网络效应增加曝光度。
  • 🎯 **持续学习**:不断学习新技能和尝试新事物,以发现新的创业机会。

Q & A

  • 视频中提到的个人在2021年11月被解雇后开始做什么?

    -视频中的个人在2021年11月被解雇后开始构建副业项目。

  • 他成功将多少个副业项目转变为盈利的初创公司?

    -他成功将10个副业项目转变为盈利的初创公司。

  • 他目前作为独立创业者的月收入是多少?

    -他目前作为独立创业者的月收入是55,000美元。

  • 他提到了哪三种找到初创公司想法的方法?

    -他提到了三种找到初创公司想法的方法:解决自己的问题、解决普遍问题以及通过体验全新的生活来发现问题。

  • 他是如何通过解决自己的问题来创建Zenvoice的?

    -他通过解决Stripe支付后客户需要正式发票的问题来创建Zenvoice,这是一个围绕Stripe API构建的小工具,允许Stripe商家的客户通过一个特殊链接输入电子邮件地址,然后检索和下载他们的购买发票。

  • 他提到了哪些可以寻找初创公司想法的个人生活领域?

    -他提到可以在工作场所、个人爱好或者通过尝试新的活动和旅行来寻找初创公司的想法。

  • 他为什么建议快速构建和发布初创公司产品?

    -他建议快速构建和发布初创公司产品是为了减少失败时的损失,避免期望过高导致的失望和疲劳,同时快速学习市场营销、产品发布、客户支持、税务和法律等各方面的知识。

  • 他提到了哪些产品开发时应避免的问题?

    -他提到产品开发时应避免提供免费用户和复杂的订阅模式,因为这可能会减少实际收入并增加销售难度。

  • 他建议在产品开发中应该构建哪种类型的功能?

    -他建议只构建那些对用户来说绝对必要的功能,即那些不可或缺的产品特性。

  • 他对于定价策略有什么建议?

    -他建议避免免费用户计划,并且推荐一次性支付而不是循环订阅,以便快速验证需求并简化销售过程。

  • 他提到了哪些技术栈用于构建Zenvoice?

    -他提到了使用React和Next.js作为前端框架,Stripe处理支付,Tailwind CSS作为组件库,MongoDB作为数据库,以及Mailgun处理电子邮件事务。

  • 他如何分享他在构建Zenvoice过程中的学习经历?

    -他通过在YouTube上直播编码过程,分享他在构建Zenvoice过程中的学习经历。

Outlines

00:00

🚀 从失业到成功创业:快速构建副项目的重要性

视频的第一部分讲述了讲述者在2021年11月作为软件工程师被解雇后,如何开始构建副项目,并在今天成功地将其中的10个转化为盈利的初创公司,月收入达到55,000美元。他分享了如何快速找到并构建初创公司的想法,强调了快速构建副项目是他收入增长的关键。讲述者提出了三种找到创业想法的方法:解决自己的问题、解决普遍问题以及体验新生活以发现新问题。此外,他还分享了关于如何避免在创业初期就烧尽所有资源的个人经验,以及如何通过解决自己的问题来确保即使初创公司失败,也能从中获得价值。

05:01

🛠️ 构建和推出产品的正确方法:快速迭代与学习

第二部分深入讨论了如何构建产品,以及为什么快速构建和推出对于避免创业失败至关重要。讲述者强调了大多数初创公司失败的原因是市场需求不足,并分享了个人在2016年创业时的经历,说明了为何长时间的开发而不推出产品会导致期望与现实之间的巨大差距,从而引起创业疲劳。他提倡快速构建最小可行产品(MVP),以快速学习和验证市场需求。此外,讲述者还讨论了产品特性的选择,建议只构建那些对用户绝对必要的功能,并以他正在构建的Zenvo初创公司为例,说明了如何简化Stripe发票处理流程。他还提到了定价策略,建议避免免费用户和复杂的订阅模式,而是采用一次性支付来验证市场需求。最后,讲述者分享了他使用的技术开发栈,并提到了他在YouTube上直播编码的过程。

10:03

📈 2023年的增长和未来规划:持续分享与学习

在视频的第三部分,讲述者分享了他在2023年的增长情况,包括他的初创公司利润的增加以及他如何认真对待YouTube频道,计划每周分享一次视频。他鼓励观众订阅他的频道,以便了解他的进展和学习内容。此外,讲述者还提到了他计划在产品开发完成后,通过Reddit和Twitter等平台进行推广的策略。

Mindmap

Keywords

💡软件工程师

软件工程师是指从事软件开发、设计、测试和维护的专业人员。在视频中,讲述者提到自己曾是一名软件工程师,后来因为被解雇而开始了自己的副业项目,最终转型为一名独立创业者。

💡副业项目

副业项目指的是除了主要工作之外的额外项目,通常是为了探索新的兴趣或创造额外收入。视频中的讲述者通过开展21个副业项目,其中10个变成了盈利的初创公司。

💡独立创业者

独立创业者是指不依赖于任何组织或公司,自己创立并运营业务的个体。讲述者通过快速构建副业项目,最终成为了一名月收入55,000美元的独立创业者。

💡Stripe API

Stripe API是一种支付处理服务的应用程序接口,允许开发者将支付功能集成到他们的应用程序或网站中。视频中提到讲述者利用Stripe API创建了一个名为Zenvoice的工具,帮助Stripe商家生成格式化的发票。

💡解决问题

解决问题是指识别问题并找到解决方案的过程。讲述者强调通过解决自己的问题来找到创业点子,例如他通过创建Zenvoice解决了Stripe商家需要生成正式发票的问题。

💡通用问题

通用问题是指几乎每个人都可能遇到的问题,如赚钱、睡眠质量、健康饮食等。讲述者提到,如果没有特定的问题要解决,可以通过解决这些普遍问题来开始创业。

💡快速构建

快速构建是指迅速开发和推出产品或服务的过程,以减少时间和资源的投入,快速验证市场需求。讲述者分享了他如何通过快速构建副业项目来避免过度投入和期望过高导致的挫败感。

💡最小可行产品(MVP)

最小可行产品是指具有足够功能以满足早期客户的基本需求的产品版本,目的是尽快推向市场并收集反馈。讲述者提到,他只构建了一个核心功能来快速推出Zenvoice,以便尽早获得市场反馈。

💡定价策略

定价策略是指为产品或服务设定价格的方法和过程,这通常涉及考虑成本、市场接受度和竞争环境。讲述者讨论了他如何通过一次性支付而非订阅模式来定价他的产品,以验证市场需求。

💡技术栈

技术栈是指用于构建软件应用的一系列技术工具和框架。讲述者提到了他使用的一系列技术,包括React、Next.js、Stripe、Tailwind CSS、Daisy UI、MongoDB和Next Authentication。

💡直播编码

直播编码是指在实时视频平台上展示编码过程,通常用于教学或分享开发经验。讲述者提到他在YouTube上直播编码Zenvoice的过程,让观众可以看到他是如何调试代码的。

Highlights

在2021年11月被解雇后,我开始了21个副项目,其中10个变成了盈利的初创企业,现在我作为独立创业者每月赚取55,000美元。

快速构建初创企业是提高软件工程师薪资5倍的关键。

寻找创业点子的三种方式:解决自己的问题、解决普遍问题、体验全新的生活。

通过解决自己的问题,如创建Zenvoice来简化Stripe发票,可以为Stripe商家提供更好的服务。

如果初创企业失败,至少你解决了自己的问题,并且更容易向客户销售产品。

通用问题,如提高收入、改善睡眠质量、健康饮食或提高生产力,是创业的好起点。

通过为逃脱室业务提供软件工具,我赚取了互联网上的第一美元。

快速构建和发布产品以避免期望过高导致的疲劳,并从失败中学习。

大多数初创企业失败是因为人们实际上不需要这些产品。

在构建产品时,只构建一个不可或缺的功能,以加快上市速度。

避免免费用户和订阅制,以验证需求并简化商业模式。

选择一个技术栈并坚持下去,不要因为客户不在乎而改变。

我使用React、Next.js、Stripe、Tailwind CSS、MongoDB和Next Authentication等技术构建Zenvo。

通过在YouTube上直播编码,我分享了构建Zenvo的过程。

我计划在产品构建完成后,在Reddit和Twitter等平台上推出Zenvo。

2023年,随着更多的初创企业变得盈利,我的收入率正在增加。

我认真对待YouTube,并计划每周分享一个视频。

Transcripts

play00:01

when I got fired as a software engineer

play00:02

in November 2021 I started to build side

play00:05

project fast forward to today I launched

play00:07

21 side project 10 of them became

play00:09

profitable startups and I'm now earning

play00:11

$55,000 a month as a solo entrepreneur

play00:14

in this video I am going to share how I

play00:16

get startup IDs and why building them

play00:18

really fast was the key to 5x my

play00:20

software engineer salary let's get into

play00:23

it all right so let's talk about how to

play00:26

find startup idas there are three ways

play00:28

to find them the first one is to solve

play00:30

your own problems let me illustrate this

play00:32

with an example those are all my 21 site

play00:35

projects and 10 of them are making money

play00:38

and one of the most common customer

play00:39

requests I receive is can I get a proper

play00:41

invoice I work with stripe to process

play00:45

all the payments that go through my

play00:46

startups and sometimes the receipt is

play00:48

not enough in customer uh mostly

play00:49

Europeans want to have an invoice that

play00:52

is properly formatted and as a business

play00:54

owner this is not a very fun part so I

play00:56

bu I'm building Zen voice it's a little

play00:59

uh wrapper around the stripe API that

play01:02

gives stripe business owners a special

play01:03

link that they can send to the customers

play01:05

where they input their email addresses

play01:07

and then they can retrieve all the

play01:08

purchases they've made with the business

play01:11

and then they can see the invoice they

play01:12

can uh edit some details to it add their

play01:14

name or their business detail like V8

play01:17

number all that kind of things and they

play01:18

can download their invoice and they're

play01:19

happy uh this is my way of solving my

play01:22

own problems and yours might be

play01:23

different so you might want to look at

play01:25

what's going on around in your life that

play01:26

you can solve a perfect example to do

play01:29

that is to look around if you have a job

play01:31

what's going on there uh maybe uh it

play01:33

could be a little piece of software for

play01:34

your team to be more productive during

play01:36

meeting using and AI uh video summary

play01:38

tool or something like that there are a

play01:39

bunch of uh problem that you can search

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around if this is not in your job you

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can look around in your hobbies for

play01:45

instance maybe you feel lonely playing

play01:47

tennis by yourself and you need to find

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a partners that are relevant um skills

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with you and you could make an app to

play01:53

find some of those people those kind of

play01:56

IDs are the best because first if your

play01:59

stup fail you still end up having a

play02:01

solution to your own problem so you're

play02:02

happy with that and second it's much

play02:04

easier to sell a uh software or whatever

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a product if you speak the language of

play02:09

your customer so if it's for a problem

play02:10

that you've been

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experiencing uh sometimes you might not

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have any uh problem in mind and you want

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to solve Universal problems un what I

play02:20

call Universal problems are problems

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like um every businesses want to make

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more money and everybody in life wants

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to have good quality sleep um eat

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healthy food and um whatever read books

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or be productive um those are PR that

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pretty much anyone could experience and

play02:35

those are good way to get started in

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entrepreneurship if you don't find any

play02:38

problem so for instance that's how I

play02:41

made my first internet uh dollar um I

play02:44

used to work with escape room businesses

play02:46

and I used to sell them a mini tool like

play02:48

a little piece of software that will

play02:50

help improve the conversions on their

play02:51

websites I do not care about the Escapo

play02:54

industry at all whatsoever but I found

play02:57

out that if I manage to get more money

play02:59

for for some businesses so Universal

play03:02

need using one of my uh software product

play03:04

then this is a perfect combo they're

play03:06

happy I'm happy uh this is a quick demo

play03:08

this is one of my customer um that is

play03:10

actually still paying after 5 years uh

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for my software this is an escape room

play03:14

business and they you they use my

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software at the bottom left this little

play03:18

key here will be shown to every visitor

play03:20

and if you visit the website of the

play03:21

escape room business you'll be able to

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play an escape room small online escape

play03:25

room game on the Business website so

play03:28

this is a tool that just in to convert

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to have some fun engaging game for

play03:32

visitors and to convert those visitors

play03:34

into more customers and in never Ed

play03:36

businesses that I work with would get

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10% more customers from their website

play03:39

which is really great I ended up um

play03:42

ditching the business because I have no

play03:43

specific care for the Escape rooms

play03:44

industry but that was a really great way

play03:46

to get stting into entrepreneurship

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because you still have to build a

play03:50

product do the marketing launching and

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all that and in the case you have no uh

play03:55

problem that you want to solve and you

play03:58

uh you don't want to do this like

play03:59

solving those Universal problems there's

play04:01

nothing that comes to your mind you can

play04:03

try experiencing a brand new life uh

play04:05

that means traveling abroad and meeting

play04:07

new people that means starting a new

play04:09

hobby um try new stuff with an open mind

play04:12

where you will experience new problems

play04:14

that will come to your life and that

play04:15

could bring you some startups ideas once

play04:17

you get an IDE the next part is to

play04:19

actually build it and we're going to

play04:21

talk about this to make sure that you

play04:22

build it fast so in the case it's a flop

play04:24

you don't burn out all right so let me

play04:26

tell you a little story when I started

play04:28

entrepreneurship in 20 16 I believed I

play04:30

was Mark zukerberg and I had a secret

play04:33

brilliant ID in mind that was that was

play04:35

going to become a unicorn after spending

play04:37

a year in my bedroom building that ID I

play04:40

ended up having zero users and Zer in

play04:42

Revenue I burned out um I quit the

play04:45

product I couldn't see it anymore I also

play04:47

uh left my girlfriend and go change

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travel to a new country and change my

play04:51

life um the thing is when you spend so

play04:53

much time building a product the brain

play04:56

start to have some expectations and the

play04:57

more time you spend on it the more your

play04:58

expectations will be be so the better

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the reward will be expected and if the

play05:02

reward isn't uh coming as it's mostly

play05:04

the case in entrepreneurship you will

play05:06

burn out and you want to avoid that at

play05:07

all cost and the second reason is that

play05:10

most startups fail um the main reason is

play05:13

that people don't actually need the

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startup I think the number is around 90%

play05:16

of startup fail so you want to avoid um

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losing your time on something that might

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not even work out and so that's why U

play05:22

building and shipping fast is very

play05:24

important and at the same time when you

play05:26

ship fast you going to learn how to

play05:28

Market your startup how to launch it how

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to handle customer support tax legal and

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a bunch of other things that will be

play05:33

useful for the future and at the same

play05:36

times if you like um you know sharing

play05:39

what you uh learn along the way you can

play05:40

grow a little audience like I did in the

play05:42

last two years on my Twitter where uh

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now I have over 70k followers uh because

play05:47

I was sharing everything that I was

play05:48

doing and learning just like I'm doing

play05:49

now on YouTube all right so now that

play05:51

we've set up the mindset it's important

play05:53

to know which feature you will or will

play05:55

not build and as a general rule of themb

play05:58

build just one Fe feature that feature

play06:00

that you cannot remove from your product

play06:03

otherwise it just doesn't exist so for

play06:05

every feature that you have in mind ask

play06:06

yourself is it necessary for the users

play06:09

to have this feature if the answer is

play06:11

yes keep it but if it's not a necessary

play06:13

like absolute necessary feature just

play06:15

remove it let's get to a concrete

play06:18

example of Zenvo the startup that I'm

play06:20

building right now the goal is to

play06:22

simplify stripe invoices for small

play06:24

business owners like me and the main

play06:26

feature is just this people input their

play06:28

email and they get their invoice from

play06:30

stripe I have a bunch of other IDs for

play06:33

invoice so U business owners to be able

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to view all the invoices that have been

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generated um to simplify the texting to

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interact with a stripe API to upload

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those invoices and ab like really a

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numerous number of features that I want

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to implement but I'm going to launch

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with just one feature this one that I

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just show you right now which is

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generating invoices that way I will be

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able to launch my startup faster to get

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customers feedback earlier and it's

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likely that nobody will actually need

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the the product maybe it's just me or

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maybe I'm faking a need in my head and

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nobody will want to use it so this is

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why I will spend about 2 weeks finishing

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the product launch it and see how the

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market react and once you're going to go

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on launching your product the pricing is

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also very important because that will

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determine whether you validate or not a

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need um as a general Ru them there are

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two things you want to avoid or at least

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make better is at first you want to

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avoid free users um in the VC world it's

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very common to have um free plans and to

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burn a lot of money get a lot of users

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and then later convert those users into

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pay plans but as a solo entrepreneur uh

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like me if you have a limited budget you

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might not be able to burn lots of money

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or you might not be able to bring

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millions of visitors to your website and

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most of free users never convert to paid

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plans so if you have uh a pay a free

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plan that might be killing your paid

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plan and and reducing your uh actual

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income so you want to get rid of that

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the second part is that there is a real

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subscription headache going on out there

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there are subscriptions for

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absolutely everything nowadays and it's

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much harder to sell a $99 a month

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subscription than it is to sell a 100

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bucks onetime payment this is what I'm

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going to do for my new startup Zenvo um

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TR business owners could use my product

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every day every week so it could make

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sense to have some recurring payments

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but I'm not going to do that instead I'm

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going to go with one time payments and

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so that I can validate the le as soon as

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I can and if I see that there are some

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customers who actually use the product

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and want more of that then later on I

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can eventually switch to a recuring um

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membership but for now I'm going to

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stick to the simplest which is onetime

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payment and finally when you're about to

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build you want to choose a text tack so

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if you are a programmer and you already

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know your text tacks you're familiar

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with that you can build anything on web

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apps or whatever stick with it don't

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change it the customers don't care about

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the text tack so there is no need to

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change uh any of the things that you're

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using stick with what you already know

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and if you are getting started this is

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my textt here I'm using uh react and

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nextjs on top of it uh stripe for

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payments tailin CSS for the components

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uh with Daisy UI as a library mongodb as

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a database next authentification for uh

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user authentification accounts and all

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that and mail gun for uh email

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transactional emails uh this is also a

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little product that I built it's a ball

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plate that encapsulates all those uh

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stack that I'm using and if you want to

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check it out it's called chipas if you

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are curious about the coding part of it

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I am actually live streaming myself

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coding Zen voice in public on YouTube so

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you can see my YouTube channel all the

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replays from the last couple days uh you

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will see me mostly trying to debug my

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own code um currently the product is uh

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working so people can create accounts

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they can connect their stripe accounts

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to it and have a little link that they

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can share to the customers so they can

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input their email and retrieve their

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invoice edit them and download them um

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I'm going to spend the next weeks or so

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finishing the product before launching

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it on platforms like reddits productons

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and Twitter the strategy I'm using in

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this video about finding IDs and

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building them pass is the exact same

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strategy that I used to build my 21 side

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project and this is working better and

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better for me as you can see here my

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heat rate um is increasing in 2023 more

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of the startups that I built are

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profitable and making more money than

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they used to in 2022 when I got started

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from scratch I'm taking also YouTube

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seriously this year and I'm going to be

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sharing one video per week so if you

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want to uh see what I'm doing and what

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I'm learning uh you can subscribe to

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your channel and if you like the video

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you can like the video cheers

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