Introducing the new version of 5-Bit Fridays

I think this style is more succinct, clean, and scannable for a quick Friday AM read ☕

Top of the morning, everyone! ☕

I had a great chat with

Aatir Abdul Rauf

yesterday, and honestly he really inspired me to think about the format of How They Grow, across all our series.

I’ve had incredible and motivating feedback from many of you about the depth of my content, but I’ve also had feedback that there’s a ton of information being shared, the posts are long, and it’s hard to always get around to reading the entire thing.

The long part I’m very aware of…my deep dives take about 40-50 minutes to read. 👀

That means they also take a very long time to write. So, the first thing I would really really appreciate your help with today is answering this short survey.

It should take no more than 90 seconds to complete, but it would really:

1. Help to make what I write more useful for you

2. Help me manage my time in the best way…ultimately, for you.

At the end, there’s a chance to drop your email in for a possible/optional interview. If I reach out to chat with you, I’ll dedicate half the time to answering any questions you may have about product/growth/work/etc.

You’re probably thinking there’s no need to respond because everyone else will do it. I promise you, most people will be thinking the same thing. It would mean a lot to me, and it will give you the chance to be heard if you took a second to answer these 5 questions.

On that note—to make this post more scannable and brief—I’m testing out a new format for 5-Bit Fridays. It goes as follows:

• 5 actionable insights from this week

• 4 things in the news you should know about

• 3 tactical ideas worth thinking about

• 2 recommendations

• 1 interesting chart to noodle on

I’d love to know if you liked it at the end. I hope it’s tighter, easier to digest while having your coffee, while still as informative and valuable.

— Jaryd

Reading time: 7 minutes (wild, right?)

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5️⃣ actionable insights from this week

• One surefire way to figure out your AI strategy is to think about how you can supercharge the “constants”; the customer needs that never change. Jeff Bezos said this once; “We know that customers want low prices… they want fast delivery, they want vast selection. It's impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, 'Jeff I love Amazon; I just wish the prices were a little higher’.” Once you figure out what the constants in your market/customer base are, then you can apply AI there. Any other area is a distraction. [Go deeper: Athyna’s “AI-for-talent” strategy, by Tom Alder]

• If you want to say no to more people, create a policy for yourself, stick to it, and then tell people your policy when there isn’t a fit. As my newsletter has grown, I’ve had more inbound asks from people for stuff like podcasts, collaborations, consulting, etc. I want to say yes to all of it, but I’ve done that dance and I always get overwhelmed when things pile up. Saying no—while hard—is a superpower that first and foremost protects your time and mental health. Lenny gave 2 great examples of policy statements you can steal: “I’m not taking on any new projects until [Date]” or “I’m not adding anything to my to-do list right now”. [Go deeper: On saying no, by

  Lenny Rachitsky
  ]

• True leaders build their reputations around the feeling of being trusted, but earning the right to be trusted is an everyday commitment. And you do it through consistency in your decisions and follow-through actions. You need to establish a set of principles, and then not bother with telling people, but rather focus on showing them you can be predictably reliable in sticking to some operating system. [Go deeper: The Feeling of Being Trusted, by

  Admired Leadership
  ]

• If you want to crush it as a remote team, the number one thing you need to do is write everything down and drive a written culture of excellent documentation. This creates a source of truth for information, keeps everyone on the same, makes working async much faster, and removes ambiguity. I’ve been working with Athyna recently as a small investor (if you need to hire global talent, check them out) and I’m truly blown away by their remote collaboration. They put incredible detail and clarity into their writing, and it makes the world of a difference. [Go deeper: The habits of effective remote teams, by

  James Temperton
  ]

• The classic pitch deck template for early-stage startups is rife with problems, the biggest one being that it dilutes your story—which is a key asset in the beginning—because it boxes your ideas and energy into a predetermined flow. I spoke with the founder of Dovetail earlier this week, and wow, I learned so damn much (stay tuned…). One thing Benjamin told me was how they did early investor updates very differently to most. Instead of numbers and classic progress reports, each update was taken as an opportunity to tell the story of what they were doing. I’ve never heard anyone do this, but it makes a lot of sense—people remember stories/feelings, not numbers. A different format to think about is The Pitch Cycle: 1: Capture imagination, 2: Introduce the opportunity, 3: Drive the business argument, 4: Ask for investment. [Go deeper: The pitch deck template is dead. Introducing — The Pitch Cycle, by Moti Elkaim]

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4️⃣ things in the news you should know about

• Athyna (of which I’m a small investor) just raised $2.5M to build their AI hiring platform and double down on changing recruitment. They were already one of the best places for early-stage founders to quickly find great folks to join their team (hence my investment), but for you, this means if you’re hiring, you can do it way faster now. Big kudos to Bill and the crew. 🥂

• Canva has launched a proper enterprise product at $100 per seat—and this time they seem very serious about it. Oh, the inevitable has happened. Canva is evolving from consumer to enterprise. Raise your hand if you’ve seen this story before. 🙋 I’m watching this Figma <> Canva space…there’s something interesting here.

• Apple is considering a next-generation Airpod which features two AI-powered cameras. With Vision Pro sales not nearly up to Apple’s expectations (thank God), it looks like they may be exploring other avenues. 🤣 Business Insider noted: “In theory, AI could use footage from the cameras to help people keep track of their daily activities and optimize their daily routines.” Could be neat having Apple tell me that my back pain is due to my poor leg press form.

• Google Search’s new AI overviews will soon have ads. This should not surprise you. Follow the money, and it will always tell you where the puck is moving. Google’s VP for ads, Vidhya Srinivasan, said companies will soon have the opportunity to break into the new top section when their ads are relevant to both the query and the information in the AI Overview. Once again, ads are coming to eat the free internet, or as

  Noah Smith
  says, the enshittification of it all.

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3️⃣ tactical ideas worth thinking about

• To improve your conversion rates during sign-up, go ask customer support and sales about one thing that’s blocking your users.

• Try to build something totally unnecessary into your product that does nothing but make someone using your product smile. Could be an animation, or some variable reward. I left my first Amazon review yesterday and I saw a little thing saying “Leave 5 more reviews and we’ll tell you a joke”. So random, but fun and unique. I wonder if the joke will be good?

• The next time you’re reaching out to someone in cold outreach (email, LinkedIn, etc), try adding a short (1m) Loom video into your message that is personalized just to them. Say their name. I’ve seen it work wonders in reply rates.

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2️⃣ recommendations

• Practice the art of contemplation, and lifting your head more than you currently are. I’ve been using the Triple Flame app (free) for about 2 weeks now for reminders to take a pause. I know I know, you can just set up a reminder on your phone. But I like the app—I set it to every three hours, where I receive a reminder to pause whatever I’m doing for at least three minutes. No signup. Nice music. Good for clearing the head.

• If you’re a New Yorker, or just interested in culture and a fun take on business news, check out

  Emily
  ’s
  Feed Me
  newsletter. It’s one of my new favorite daily reads that makes me feel smarter and more in the know. Subscribe here and learn stuff you’d never know you needed to know…like the future of food media.

👉 View all the tools/products I use here.

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1️⃣ interesting chart to noodle on

AKA, despite an improving US economy, people just don’t feel it. Simply because most people could not care less that inflation is down, employment is good, and the market is rising, when things like food, goods, and housing are still more expensive.

If you feel squeezed, you’re (rightly) going to complain about it.

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And that just about wraps it up for today!

Also, in case you missed the link to the survey at the top 😉—or saw it and maybe are reconsidering 🤪—here’s the link. Would love to hear your thoughts about an improved How They Grow style.

Thank you, thank you. You’re the real MVP.

Until the next one.
— Jaryd ✌️

Nope, I’m not in Hawaii. But feeling in a vacation-ish mood for the long weekend.

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