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Startup Building & Entrepreneurship

Lessons learned from founding startups, going through Y Combinator, and building products. Practical advice for founders and aspiring entrepreneurs.

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74 articles in this topic

The Science of Spotting Hidden Product Ideas

The best product ideas hide in plain sight, in your habits and everyone else's. Watch what people actually do, not what they say they want. Build for that.

The Psychology Hack Hiding in Great Products

Every message is a moment of influence. Make the nudge helpful and you'll create power users and build loyalty.

AI and the New Language of Human-Centered Design

Software has always required people to think like a computer. AI flips it on its head: people expect computers to work the way they think.

Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Design

Good design is good design, no matter what you're building.

Beyond Click Counts: Finding the Right Signals for Good Design

Click counts are noise. Real design success is measured in signals that show whether people actually achieved what they came to do.

Stop Counting Clicks

Too many clicks isn't the problem. It's a signal that your design isn't successful.

Founder Math: When to Stop Searching and Start Choosing with the 37% Rule

How do you know when to stop searching and just choose? A classic bit of math offers a simple rule.

You Built It. They Didn’t Come.

My first launch failed. Years later, we sold the product - but it didn’t have to be that hard. Here’s what I’d do differently today.

Beyond ✨Shiny✨ Degrees: World-changing innovations from unexpected places

Public investments in education and research are a no-brainer, and these examples of game-changing innovations that came from "low value" fields of study tell you why.

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Vibe Coding

Vibe coding tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Claude aren’t just about speed—they’re an opportunity to code smarter and learn faster. Here’s how I use them to sharpen my skills as an engineer.

The Quiet Room Problem

The same psychological forces that keep people silent in moments of crisis also show up in product development - when no one questions a flawed idea, chases hard truths in the data, or speaks up for the little guy.

Eraser or the Wrecking Ball? Planning is everything

The product development process is a virtuous cycle, and has a direct impact on how well your work gets done. It will also help your teammates to understand the work ahead, and to build better products harmoniously.

Open Source your learning with GitHub

Open source is an open invitation to plug into a global braintrust of brilliant people building the future. What you get out of it has a lot to do with what you put in.

I want to feel the hand of the f%#king creator

It's not divine intervention; it's just someone who did a damn good job.

Serendipity isn't an accident

Career opportunities don't "just happen" - they come from staying connected, helping others generously, and trusting your instincts when the right path shows up.

Freedom is a Feature: why competition is a good thing

Why freedom and openness in software matter more than ever. How MCP, OpenAI, and Apple’s AI fumble show that trust is built on interoperability.

Tools I Love - Resend and React Email

The best developer tools make you faster and make you look good. Resend does both - for email, of all things.

Steal these ideas to build new products

Pouring through an extensive list of publicly accessible APIs to find new ideas for your next product.

Your MVP is too damn big

Your first product version needs to be smaller than you think. Much smaller. Probably embarrassingly small.

My 2025 Developer Tech Stack

A list of the tools and tech I use as a professional product engineer in 2025.

Focus Mode for the Defiant

How free will fuels creativity, and how to stay on task with purpose.

Superfounder Superpowers: Sending Introductions

A guide to help you send introductions to your network.

The Great Inbox Reset

A guide to help you reset your inbox, get a free productivity boost, and do better work.

Themes Beat Resolutions Every Time

Reflection fuels growth. The coming year is your chance to make meaningful changes to your work, life, and relationships.

From 21 to 1000 - Lessons in Growth

What I learned from growing Tiny Improvements to 1000 readers

Mad? Use It to Start Something Big

Sometimes, being mad is the best way to start something new.

Dunbar's number: focusing on your core supporters for network effect growth

Focus on building strong connections with a core group of 50 advocates to fuel sustainable, network-driven growth.

Don't just listen. Interpret feedback wisely.

User feedback is your product's compass. Listen intently, act wisely, and stay true to your vision to navigate towards success.

Nobody Wants a Big Reveal: Why Keeping Secrets Hurts Your Work

Avoid the temptation of the dramatic reveal. Here's why openness and transparency are your real competitive advantages in product development.

How Contrast Elevates Perception

Why a seamless experience can make your work feel superior - even if it's not.

Stay Sane: Mental Health Strategies for Startups

Burnout is your team's worst enemy. Here's how to prevent it.

How you do one thing is how you do everything

How you do one thing is how you do everything. This is a phrase that has been around for a long time, but what does it really mean? In this article, we will explore the meaning of this phrase and how it can be applied to your life.

You're 8 episodes away from being in the top 20%

A shift in perspective can help you stay motivated on your journey to the top. Set achievable goals and measure your progress to keep moving forward.

Struggling with TypeScript: why not?

One of your biggest skills as a person-on-the-internet is your ability to research and learn new things.

Statistically, nobody has used your app

People spend most of their time on sites and apps other than yours. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.

The Aesthetic-Usability Effect

When building something new, what's more important: that it works, or that it looks good? The Aesthetic-Usability Effect says that users perceive more aesthetically pleasing designs as easier to use than less aesthetically pleasing designs.

Shrimps is Bugs: Red Lobster ate itself to death

Red Lobster's bankruptcy and the importance of understanding your product's pricing and business model, especially for founders and indiehackers building Saas products.

The Endowment Effect: why useful trials make for sticky products

The endowment effect is a psychological phenomenon where people value things more highly simply because they own them. How can you use this to make your product stickier?

Beyond the walled garden: what Spotify and Substack get wrong

It's natural for big companies to make mistakes - but when they do, it's a great opportunity for smaller companies to build something better.

Designing for hospitality

"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara outlines how to making customers feel exceptionally special. Let's bring these hospitality principles to tech, by creating memorable experiences, and using hospitality to elevate customer satisfaction in product design, engaging with the people using our products.

Take my money! Some of my favorite tools... and why I pay for them

I'm a huge fan of products that use their a free tier to prove their value, and then convert me to a paying customer. Here are a few tools I pay for, and why I think they're worth it.

I hate Tailwind CSS. Here's why I use it.

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that I've come to love. Here's why I use it and why I think you should too.

Build, measure, listen, rebuild

Building better products involves skills you won't learn in computer science school, or at a boot camp. Find success through testing, learning from real-world feedback, and adapting.

The product design spectrum: crowdsourcing, user research, and the myopic approach

In product design, there's a critical difference between crowdsourcing ideas and feedback, and user research.

Learning is an infinite game

As a founder, you're going to need to learn new skills quickly and efficiently. Keeping your skill for learning sharp is a critical skill, and should can be practiced like any other skill.

3 Ways to use Annual Pricing to your advantage

Annual pricing is a great way to increase your revenue and decrease your churn. Here are 3 ways to use annual pricing to your advantage.

The Decoy Effect: More options for an easier choice

The Decoy Effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to have a strong preference between two options, when presented with a third option that is inferior to one of the original options.

There's no right way to do it

Building products comes with a sisyphean paradox: The blessing is that there are so many ways to do it. The curse is that there are so many ways to do it.

Chase your interests to build something useful

Explore the power of hyperfixation on the internet, from tech enthusiasts diving deep into topics to engineers creating innovative solutions. Discover how curiosity can lead to expertise and groundbreaking tools.

Do this with Your Product Waitlist: A Guide for Indiehackers and Startup Founders

Learn strategies to leverage your product waitlist for sustainable growth. Ideal for indiehackers and startup founders, this guide offers actionable tips to convert initial interest into paying customers.

Breaking the cycle: Data-driven product descisions

Learn how to escape common product development pitfalls using data-driven decisions. Read how Craftwork used analytics to optimize their user experience.

Continuous self improvement and the morning ritual

Reflecting on my morning ritual, journaling for clarity, and podcasts for your morning walk

My startup got into Y Combinator

Well, our startup did - Craftwork is a tech-connected home painting company that is making it easier for homeowners to get their homes painted.

Two truths and a lie: what Meta got right with the Threads launch

Meta's new app, Threads, is a Twitter clone that launched last week. It's not perfect, but it's a great example of a product launch that went extremely well.

Maximize user retention: the cognitive science approach...

Understand how multitasking affects your customers' memory, and improve your product design and engagement with cognitive psychology and the Zeigarnik effect.

We hurled a people into space by building a pool: the case for simplification

Everyone has their moonshot: something that seems impossibly difficult. We can learn a lot from the people who have landed their own moonshots.

The first 90 days as a technical cofounder - building a startup in 2023

I'm building a new company for the first time since 2016. A lot has changed since then. Here's what feels different this time around.

Why Liquid Death's branding is murderously effective

Discover the science behind naming and branding, and how the Bouba/Kiki effect can help you create a brand identity that resonates with your audience.

Perception and unexpected tricks of the mind

Explore the fascinating world of perception and cognition in the Tiny Improvements newsletter. Uncover the unexpected tricks of our minds and learn how to make tiny improvements in our cognitive abilities.

These are the books that shaped my career

A sampling of books that have had a fundamental impact on my career as a designer, developer and startup founder.

The case for continued learning, and getting side projects out the door

The end of 2022 brought about a ton of change for me, and a major shift in my career. I'm excited to talk a little about what's next, and to show off a side project I'm readying for release soon.

Customer experience, quality, and the hype cycle

The Gartner Hype Cycle, and its relationship with customer experience for new products and companies.

What I've learned from working in public

I'm a big fan of working in public. It's a great way to get feedback and improve your work... you just have to be ready to deal with The Internet™️

Let's call it an experiment. I'm building a tiny product to see if I can make something people will buy.

I'm building a tiny product

Let's call it an experiment. I'm building a tiny product to see if I can make something people will buy.

If you follow me across the various other social networks I use, you'll likely stumble across my passion for cycling. For the past 8 or so years, road cycling has been my primary form of exercise. I love cycling; it keeps me sane, and helps me live a healthier life, while seeing the world. If you haven't been on a bike recently, you should give it a shot - I can't recommend it enough.

Introducing Pistola - Building a passion project with radical transparency

If you follow me across the various other social networks I use, you'll likely stumble across my passion for cycling. For the past 8 or so years, road cycling has been my primary form of exercise. I love cycling; it keeps me sane, and helps me live a healthier life, while seeing the world. If you haven't been on a bike recently, you should give it a shot - I can't recommend it enough.

Mike Bifulco headshot

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