John Rush
@johnrush.me
unless u plan to work for a boss, drop school now, it's a pure waste of time.
"but what about networking...???"
do this instead: startup incubators, tech twitter, build in public, hackatons.
my friends and i did it, and years later, zero regrets
"but what about networking...???"
do this instead: startup incubators, tech twitter, build in public, hackatons.
my friends and i did it, and years later, zero regrets
August 22, 2025 at 8:35 PM
unless u plan to work for a boss, drop school now, it's a pure waste of time.
"but what about networking...???"
do this instead: startup incubators, tech twitter, build in public, hackatons.
my friends and i did it, and years later, zero regrets
"but what about networking...???"
do this instead: startup incubators, tech twitter, build in public, hackatons.
my friends and i did it, and years later, zero regrets
I was a young kid when I first read this, but it changed my life forever !
Ever since people around find me annoying because I always pitch ideas on how to improve, change and build new things. I literally can’t think of anything else. Im addicted to it
Ever since people around find me annoying because I always pitch ideas on how to improve, change and build new things. I literally can’t think of anything else. Im addicted to it
July 9, 2025 at 8:14 AM
I was a young kid when I first read this, but it changed my life forever !
Ever since people around find me annoying because I always pitch ideas on how to improve, change and build new things. I literally can’t think of anything else. Im addicted to it
Ever since people around find me annoying because I always pitch ideas on how to improve, change and build new things. I literally can’t think of anything else. Im addicted to it
Summing up everything I learned after building startups for 20 years, the best way to succeed with a startup is to apply on-demand learning &
reverse engineering problems into solutions:
reverse engineering problems into solutions:
July 7, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Summing up everything I learned after building startups for 20 years, the best way to succeed with a startup is to apply on-demand learning &
reverse engineering problems into solutions:
reverse engineering problems into solutions:
I had a dream tonight, it was the year 2055, I saw this:
1. Attention is the ultimate currency that replaced money, time & resources
2. Work is optional (full abundance with artificial scarcity)
3. 99% of the population doesn't work, they...
1. Attention is the ultimate currency that replaced money, time & resources
2. Work is optional (full abundance with artificial scarcity)
3. 99% of the population doesn't work, they...
July 2, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I had a dream tonight, it was the year 2055, I saw this:
1. Attention is the ultimate currency that replaced money, time & resources
2. Work is optional (full abundance with artificial scarcity)
3. 99% of the population doesn't work, they...
1. Attention is the ultimate currency that replaced money, time & resources
2. Work is optional (full abundance with artificial scarcity)
3. 99% of the population doesn't work, they...
Tech drama & news recap 😳:
(to save you 1000 hours of doom scrolling)
1. Entire X startup community was triggered as fk when they saw vibe coders doing text-to-$50k MRR from their phones during their school breaks.
(to save you 1000 hours of doom scrolling)
1. Entire X startup community was triggered as fk when they saw vibe coders doing text-to-$50k MRR from their phones during their school breaks.
June 30, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Tech drama & news recap 😳:
(to save you 1000 hours of doom scrolling)
1. Entire X startup community was triggered as fk when they saw vibe coders doing text-to-$50k MRR from their phones during their school breaks.
(to save you 1000 hours of doom scrolling)
1. Entire X startup community was triggered as fk when they saw vibe coders doing text-to-$50k MRR from their phones during their school breaks.
Top devs soloed entire projects even before AI.
Vibe coding simplified prototyping & replaced juniors. But true democratization came from AI-powered social media algorithms, letting founders like me gain millions of free views
The "code" wasn't the gatekeeper, the attention was
Vibe coding simplified prototyping & replaced juniors. But true democratization came from AI-powered social media algorithms, letting founders like me gain millions of free views
The "code" wasn't the gatekeeper, the attention was
June 30, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Top devs soloed entire projects even before AI.
Vibe coding simplified prototyping & replaced juniors. But true democratization came from AI-powered social media algorithms, letting founders like me gain millions of free views
The "code" wasn't the gatekeeper, the attention was
Vibe coding simplified prototyping & replaced juniors. But true democratization came from AI-powered social media algorithms, letting founders like me gain millions of free views
The "code" wasn't the gatekeeper, the attention was
1/ In the attention-based world, we'll see mostly "unusual & entertaining" founders winning:
- super young (or old) founders
- from exotic places(remote village of Mongolia, a farm, Alaska, North Korea, minorities...)
- super young (or old) founders
- from exotic places(remote village of Mongolia, a farm, Alaska, North Korea, minorities...)
June 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
1/ In the attention-based world, we'll see mostly "unusual & entertaining" founders winning:
- super young (or old) founders
- from exotic places(remote village of Mongolia, a farm, Alaska, North Korea, minorities...)
- super young (or old) founders
- from exotic places(remote village of Mongolia, a farm, Alaska, North Korea, minorities...)
“Attention” is king;
it’s more valuable than money. it’ll survive AGI.
Everything else will become a commodity.
it’s more valuable than money. it’ll survive AGI.
Everything else will become a commodity.
June 27, 2025 at 11:48 PM
“Attention” is king;
it’s more valuable than money. it’ll survive AGI.
Everything else will become a commodity.
it’s more valuable than money. it’ll survive AGI.
Everything else will become a commodity.
The Growth Stack for Busy Founders & Marketers:
AI Agents (100% autopilot):
> tinyadz.com for b2b ads
> seobotai.com for blog SEO
> listingbott.com for directory listings & domain rating
> indexrusher.com for seo indexing(google, bing, chatgpt)
My other agents in making:
AI Agents (100% autopilot):
> tinyadz.com for b2b ads
> seobotai.com for blog SEO
> listingbott.com for directory listings & domain rating
> indexrusher.com for seo indexing(google, bing, chatgpt)
My other agents in making:
June 27, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Growth Stack for Busy Founders & Marketers:
AI Agents (100% autopilot):
> tinyadz.com for b2b ads
> seobotai.com for blog SEO
> listingbott.com for directory listings & domain rating
> indexrusher.com for seo indexing(google, bing, chatgpt)
My other agents in making:
AI Agents (100% autopilot):
> tinyadz.com for b2b ads
> seobotai.com for blog SEO
> listingbott.com for directory listings & domain rating
> indexrusher.com for seo indexing(google, bing, chatgpt)
My other agents in making:
My bootstrapped founder report for 2023-2025
- no VCs / Offices / Employees
- near a million users & $3m arr
- 7 SaaS, 3 AI Agents, 20 Directories, 8 comakers
- 200k followers & 0.3 billion views
- 52 podcasts & interviews & 4 wins on PH
Plans for 2025-2030:
- no VCs / Offices / Employees
- near a million users & $3m arr
- 7 SaaS, 3 AI Agents, 20 Directories, 8 comakers
- 200k followers & 0.3 billion views
- 52 podcasts & interviews & 4 wins on PH
Plans for 2025-2030:
June 26, 2025 at 12:56 PM
My bootstrapped founder report for 2023-2025
- no VCs / Offices / Employees
- near a million users & $3m arr
- 7 SaaS, 3 AI Agents, 20 Directories, 8 comakers
- 200k followers & 0.3 billion views
- 52 podcasts & interviews & 4 wins on PH
Plans for 2025-2030:
- no VCs / Offices / Employees
- near a million users & $3m arr
- 7 SaaS, 3 AI Agents, 20 Directories, 8 comakers
- 200k followers & 0.3 billion views
- 52 podcasts & interviews & 4 wins on PH
Plans for 2025-2030:
If You Have No Idea what to build & how to grow it:
June 14, 2025 at 11:49 PM
If You Have No Idea what to build & how to grow it:
> Traditional SaaS is done (soon)
> it's commoditized
> a race to the bottom, down to $0
> big founders clone successful small products and halve the price
> everything is about to look the same & work the same: the social media schedulers, web builders, etc
I think this is what comes next:
> it's commoditized
> a race to the bottom, down to $0
> big founders clone successful small products and halve the price
> everything is about to look the same & work the same: the social media schedulers, web builders, etc
I think this is what comes next:
June 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
> Traditional SaaS is done (soon)
> it's commoditized
> a race to the bottom, down to $0
> big founders clone successful small products and halve the price
> everything is about to look the same & work the same: the social media schedulers, web builders, etc
I think this is what comes next:
> it's commoditized
> a race to the bottom, down to $0
> big founders clone successful small products and halve the price
> everything is about to look the same & work the same: the social media schedulers, web builders, etc
I think this is what comes next:
Don’t do this until you made $10k with your startup:
> hire > google/fb ads
> redesign > registering a company
> outsourcing > more features
> refactoring > start a new project
> VC funding > events
> dark mode > conferences
Why:
> hire > google/fb ads
> redesign > registering a company
> outsourcing > more features
> refactoring > start a new project
> VC funding > events
> dark mode > conferences
Why:
June 13, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Don’t do this until you made $10k with your startup:
> hire > google/fb ads
> redesign > registering a company
> outsourcing > more features
> refactoring > start a new project
> VC funding > events
> dark mode > conferences
Why:
> hire > google/fb ads
> redesign > registering a company
> outsourcing > more features
> refactoring > start a new project
> VC funding > events
> dark mode > conferences
Why:
I Ended Up With Just 0.15% of My Own Startup
Beginning
It was the year 2013, I was working as a part-time CTO in several software startups in a startup incubator.
🧵
Beginning
It was the year 2013, I was working as a part-time CTO in several software startups in a startup incubator.
🧵
June 5, 2025 at 4:00 AM
I Ended Up With Just 0.15% of My Own Startup
Beginning
It was the year 2013, I was working as a part-time CTO in several software startups in a startup incubator.
🧵
Beginning
It was the year 2013, I was working as a part-time CTO in several software startups in a startup incubator.
🧵
I'm risking being unfollowed for saying this, but I really wanna help, so I'll still proceed:
90% of founders who never had a successful product think their problem is marketing. But that's false.
1/
90% of founders who never had a successful product think their problem is marketing. But that's false.
1/
June 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I'm risking being unfollowed for saying this, but I really wanna help, so I'll still proceed:
90% of founders who never had a successful product think their problem is marketing. But that's false.
1/
90% of founders who never had a successful product think their problem is marketing. But that's false.
1/
My 17 ideation methods 🧵:
(I shipped more than 50 products doing this)
(I shipped more than 50 products doing this)
June 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
My 17 ideation methods 🧵:
(I shipped more than 50 products doing this)
(I shipped more than 50 products doing this)
What would I learn to be prepared for 2025-2050
> prompting (some people are 1000x better than others at it)
> content creation & storytelling (text, video, visual, audio)
> coding (knowing how to code helps to think in problem/solution space)
> 🧵
> prompting (some people are 1000x better than others at it)
> content creation & storytelling (text, video, visual, audio)
> coding (knowing how to code helps to think in problem/solution space)
> 🧵
June 3, 2025 at 3:00 AM
What would I learn to be prepared for 2025-2050
> prompting (some people are 1000x better than others at it)
> content creation & storytelling (text, video, visual, audio)
> coding (knowing how to code helps to think in problem/solution space)
> 🧵
> prompting (some people are 1000x better than others at it)
> content creation & storytelling (text, video, visual, audio)
> coding (knowing how to code helps to think in problem/solution space)
> 🧵
My Starter Story recording is live 🥹
- my story
- from a VC-backed founder to a bootstrapper
- how I ideate, build, iterate, promote
- the comaker model
- a must-know tip for bootstrapped founders
- my story
- from a VC-backed founder to a bootstrapper
- how I ideate, build, iterate, promote
- the comaker model
- a must-know tip for bootstrapped founders
May 31, 2025 at 11:49 PM
My Starter Story recording is live 🥹
- my story
- from a VC-backed founder to a bootstrapper
- how I ideate, build, iterate, promote
- the comaker model
- a must-know tip for bootstrapped founders
- my story
- from a VC-backed founder to a bootstrapper
- how I ideate, build, iterate, promote
- the comaker model
- a must-know tip for bootstrapped founders
My founder report for May 😶🌫️ :
(crazy growth of tinyadz, free embedded analytics in unicorn, monthly plans for listingbott, 4 new projects, maker week & hackathon, my entry into the construction, moving my holdco to a tax-free zone, monetization of my social media, and more)
(crazy growth of tinyadz, free embedded analytics in unicorn, monthly plans for listingbott, 4 new projects, maker week & hackathon, my entry into the construction, moving my holdco to a tax-free zone, monetization of my social media, and more)
May 30, 2025 at 5:16 PM
My founder report for May 😶🌫️ :
(crazy growth of tinyadz, free embedded analytics in unicorn, monthly plans for listingbott, 4 new projects, maker week & hackathon, my entry into the construction, moving my holdco to a tax-free zone, monetization of my social media, and more)
(crazy growth of tinyadz, free embedded analytics in unicorn, monthly plans for listingbott, 4 new projects, maker week & hackathon, my entry into the construction, moving my holdco to a tax-free zone, monetization of my social media, and more)
I've tried all (46 😵💫) AI Coding Agents & IDEs
[Factory, Cursor, Heyboss, Windsurf, Emergent, Wrapifai, Copilot, Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit, MarsX, Canva, Devin, Github Spark, IDX, Stitch & more]
The most complete list ever made (with demos & notes):
[Factory, Cursor, Heyboss, Windsurf, Emergent, Wrapifai, Copilot, Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit, MarsX, Canva, Devin, Github Spark, IDX, Stitch & more]
The most complete list ever made (with demos & notes):
May 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I've tried all (46 😵💫) AI Coding Agents & IDEs
[Factory, Cursor, Heyboss, Windsurf, Emergent, Wrapifai, Copilot, Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit, MarsX, Canva, Devin, Github Spark, IDX, Stitch & more]
The most complete list ever made (with demos & notes):
[Factory, Cursor, Heyboss, Windsurf, Emergent, Wrapifai, Copilot, Lovable, Bolt, v0, Replit, MarsX, Canva, Devin, Github Spark, IDX, Stitch & more]
The most complete list ever made (with demos & notes):
An essay: Why founders fail, despite being good at coding & high IQ.
Being mathematically smart hurts startup founders.
Math doesn’t account for emotions, and this is why devs easily build useful products but fail to get to Product Market Fit in 99% of cases.
Being mathematically smart hurts startup founders.
Math doesn’t account for emotions, and this is why devs easily build useful products but fail to get to Product Market Fit in 99% of cases.
May 28, 2025 at 4:00 AM
An essay: Why founders fail, despite being good at coding & high IQ.
Being mathematically smart hurts startup founders.
Math doesn’t account for emotions, and this is why devs easily build useful products but fail to get to Product Market Fit in 99% of cases.
Being mathematically smart hurts startup founders.
Math doesn’t account for emotions, and this is why devs easily build useful products but fail to get to Product Market Fit in 99% of cases.
I acquired Unicorn Platform for almost $1M.
I've literally tried every growth method I've heard of.
It all failed until I found what worked & went from 25k to 551k users.
All my marketing failures & successes:
I've literally tried every growth method I've heard of.
It all failed until I found what worked & went from 25k to 551k users.
All my marketing failures & successes:
May 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I acquired Unicorn Platform for almost $1M.
I've literally tried every growth method I've heard of.
It all failed until I found what worked & went from 25k to 551k users.
All my marketing failures & successes:
I've literally tried every growth method I've heard of.
It all failed until I found what worked & went from 25k to 551k users.
All my marketing failures & successes:
I built 30 startups in 20 years.
VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Apps, SaaS, B2B, B2C, AI Agents.
99 mistakes I regret making:
1. Doing consumer apps.
The Failure rate here is 100x of b2b rates, nearly a lottery.
2. Raising VC money too early.
VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Apps, SaaS, B2B, B2C, AI Agents.
99 mistakes I regret making:
1. Doing consumer apps.
The Failure rate here is 100x of b2b rates, nearly a lottery.
2. Raising VC money too early.
May 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I built 30 startups in 20 years.
VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Apps, SaaS, B2B, B2C, AI Agents.
99 mistakes I regret making:
1. Doing consumer apps.
The Failure rate here is 100x of b2b rates, nearly a lottery.
2. Raising VC money too early.
VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Apps, SaaS, B2B, B2C, AI Agents.
99 mistakes I regret making:
1. Doing consumer apps.
The Failure rate here is 100x of b2b rates, nearly a lottery.
2. Raising VC money too early.
48 days ago, I launched TinyAdz.com
I see a huge gap in the "tech B2B ads" it can solve.
> millions of small sites/newsletters/blogs/social-accounts lack monetization;
> ads are too costly & complex for solopreneurs & small teams
Imagine the AI Agent:
- creates your ads 🧵
I see a huge gap in the "tech B2B ads" it can solve.
> millions of small sites/newsletters/blogs/social-accounts lack monetization;
> ads are too costly & complex for solopreneurs & small teams
Imagine the AI Agent:
- creates your ads 🧵
May 24, 2025 at 4:14 PM
48 days ago, I launched TinyAdz.com
I see a huge gap in the "tech B2B ads" it can solve.
> millions of small sites/newsletters/blogs/social-accounts lack monetization;
> ads are too costly & complex for solopreneurs & small teams
Imagine the AI Agent:
- creates your ads 🧵
I see a huge gap in the "tech B2B ads" it can solve.
> millions of small sites/newsletters/blogs/social-accounts lack monetization;
> ads are too costly & complex for solopreneurs & small teams
Imagine the AI Agent:
- creates your ads 🧵
My Startup log from 2005 to 2025, TLDR;
> exit
> invested
> failed
> failed
> failed
> lost investments
> failed
> scammed by cofounders
> failed
> failed
> investors diluted my 15% to 0.15%
> failed
> c0vid kllled my tourism startup
> failed
> failed
> exit
> invested
> failed
> failed
> failed
> lost investments
> failed
> scammed by cofounders
> failed
> failed
> investors diluted my 15% to 0.15%
> failed
> c0vid kllled my tourism startup
> failed
> failed
May 20, 2025 at 4:00 AM
My Startup log from 2005 to 2025, TLDR;
> exit
> invested
> failed
> failed
> failed
> lost investments
> failed
> scammed by cofounders
> failed
> failed
> investors diluted my 15% to 0.15%
> failed
> c0vid kllled my tourism startup
> failed
> failed
> exit
> invested
> failed
> failed
> failed
> lost investments
> failed
> scammed by cofounders
> failed
> failed
> investors diluted my 15% to 0.15%
> failed
> c0vid kllled my tourism startup
> failed
> failed