I read all 222 pages of Levelsio's book “Make” and here’re my notes on how to build a startup👇

1. The indie way of building a startup - # MBGA → Levelsio wants to make bootstrapping great again (MBGA) → Startups, and life, are about constantly pivoting when things don't work out → But you will need persistence and luck! → You build stuff and see what sticks 2. How the book was born? → He opened pre-orders and priced the book at $22.49 → Landing page was a Typeform → After the purchase, people were redirected to Workflowy → Users made the outline and Pieter made editorial choices 3. How to get Ideas for startup? → Solve your own problems → Nomad List was born accidentally, when Levelsio shared his Google doc and instead of “View only” clicked on “Editable by everyone” → People crowdsourced the list of cities with bunch of data 4. Do stuff that makes you explicitly very different → Use Lean Startup approach "talk to customers to find problems" → Get ideas from your life experience (Jump off cliffs (safely)) → Always start from the problem not the solution 5. From micro-niche to multi-niche to vertical integration: → Start with one specific niche → Then expand into cross-niches and adjacent markets → E.g., app for African hairdressers > app for Asian hairdressers > then target nail salons 6. Build fast and minimal → Get it out of the door immediately & let people use it → Be fine with everything being not fine → DIY tops outsourcing for Levelsio → Search every question on Google 7. Learn to code, use no-code and build with constraints → People discussing what programming language is best are not shipping products → Your limited resources make you creative. It gives you a very clear goal and a strong focus → For landing page use Wix, Squarespace, Carrd → Accept user data using Typeform or Google forms → Connect steps to each other using APIs using Zapier or Make → Contact users through Mailchimp, Twilio, etc. → Process payments through Paypal, Lemonsqueezy, Stripe, Gumroad, Paddel. 8. Launch in tech subcultures first → X, PH, Hacker News, Reddit, Betalist → Find tech journalists using submit .co Email template for journalists: Subject: {Food Delivery} startup for {Pets} Hi {Jody!} I made a site that lets you subscribe to food delivery for your pet. Let me know if you need more info :) 9. Grow organically → If you'd be using non-organic ways of growth like ads, you'll see your product's usage grow. And you might think things are going well. But when you stop paying for those ads, those users are probably gone fast. → Transparency is very meta → If you show your vulnerabilities and mistakes it doesn't make you look weak, it makes you look like a human 10. Monetize → You aren't running a charity; you're running a business. If people won't give you money for your product, you have an existential crisis on your hands. → When you can't figure out a model to make money, it's always a good idea to analyze how your competitors are generating revenue. 11. Automation → Avoid hiring, build robots instead → Robots are written usually as simple PHP scripts that are run in the shell. → Pass the "bus test" (ensure your business can run without your involvement) → For a week, monitor your own workflow and write down a list of tasks you are repeatedly doing and then automate 12. EXIT → Hollywood has glamourized building a Silicon Valley startup and selling it while minting its founders as new billionaires. → Avoid "Earn Out" clauses in APAs (Asset Purchase agreements) → Set "break-up" fees if the deal falls through to avoid non-serious buyers P.s. I shared this post on my X account (@ Natia Kurdadze), and it reached 300K impressions. Hope you find it valuable here as well!