Brian Bourque Profile picture
Follow me to learn tactics and strategies to scale your startup. SVP of Marketing @smartasset, a 🦄.
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Jun 8, 2023 6 tweets 1 min read
Building a startup?

Turn ChatGPT 🤖 into your trusted advisor.

Here's the 155-word prompt you need: 👇 Prompt:

"Act as if you are a trusted startup advisor. I'm CEO of a startup building [product] and we have 6 months of runway. Our success depends on selling [product] to [demographic].

I'd like you to interrogate me about our strategy.
Apr 1, 2023 14 tweets 3 min read
At $1M monthly revenue I didn't know how we'd do $2M.

By $5M it was clear how we could get to $10M.

Here's what I've learned about scaling a startup: 1) Scale is proportional to VALUE x AUDIENCE SIZE

If you're not addressing a fundamental need for a large group of people or companies, true scale is unlikely.

Scalable niches: health, wealth, relationships, etc.
Mar 28, 2023 16 tweets 3 min read
I've overseen $100M+ in ad spend.

Along the way I discovered a 5-step proven formula to master any marketing channel.

The F-A-C-T-S Framework: This method reduces time to profit and increases your odds of scaling:

F-A-C-T-S:

F = first principles
A = ask experts
C = competitive research
T = test and learn
S = systems
Mar 26, 2023 21 tweets 4 min read
How To Think For Yourself

19 questions that will improve the quality of your ideas: Is This An Opinion Or Fact?

While it seems trivial, many people mistake opinions for fact.

It’s critical to differentiate empirical knowledge from value-based interpretations of the world.

Just because you want life to be a certain way doesn’t mean it is that way.
Mar 21, 2023 29 tweets 4 min read
Ads not working?

To win online you need a system.

12 root causes of bad performance & how to fix them: Keep this list handy as a checklist.

The next time you're running paid campaigns and can't get profitable, run through the list.

Here we go:
Mar 16, 2023 10 tweets 2 min read
Bad onboarding defeats the best marketing.

But most marketers stop at the click.

Follow these 7 steps for a legendary product onboarding: 1. Define the "Job-to-be-Done"

• What result is your user seeking?
• Know what solution they've hired your product for
• Define the "activation" step, where engaging with your features give value that encourages further use
Mar 15, 2023 10 tweets 3 min read
GPT-4 may make SEO obsolete.

But in the meantime, it's really useful for SEO keyword research.

Here's how to get started: 👇 Backstory:

Defining your total addressable keyword market for SEO is the first step to build an organic content strategy.

But it's overwhelming if you don't know where to start.

For this exercise I used the following prompt, assuming zero first-hand knowledge:
Mar 12, 2023 17 tweets 3 min read
Being a new manager is scary.

60% fail within 18 months.

15 principles that will put you in the top 1%: 1. Be Clear:

• Everyone should know what success looks like.
• What's the north star metric (revenue, users, etc.)?
• How does each role contribute to it?
• Target in hand, people can get to work.
Mar 8, 2023 10 tweets 3 min read
SEO for startups

7 things you need to know: 👇 Wait for product-market fit:

• If you jump into SEO too early you may have to pivot
• You'll get faster user feedback elsewhere

Otherwise you may end up with irrelevant content.
Feb 28, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
Versatile marketers are masters at:

• Positioning
• Copywriting
• Buyer psychology
• Paid acquisition
• Landing pages

5 killer threads to get you started: 1. Positioning
Feb 22, 2023 9 tweets 3 min read
How to grow through subtraction: ChatGPT's launch a few months ago was the first time many people realized how advanced generative A.I. has become.

But people like @Davidjpark96 have been working on it for years.

He and his cofounder began developing @whoisjenniai back when GPT2 was it...
Feb 18, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read
11 priceless resources for startups in 2023: First 1,000:

Learn how the biggest startups got their first 1,000 users from these well-researched case studies.

first1000.co
Feb 12, 2023 17 tweets 3 min read
How to find your unfair advantage: Unfair advantages are differentiators that can't be copied easily by your competitors.

Your advantages are only "unfair" (uniquely valuable) if they:

• align with what the market wants and
• help you position yourself in a way that others can't
Feb 5, 2023 16 tweets 3 min read
Why your side projects fail every time:

(this took me 17 years to learn, I'll teach you in 2 min) I get it.

I've started dozens of side projects.

But the reality is -

They were doomed ☠️ from the start, because I didn't focus on the only thing that matters:
Feb 1, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
5 ways venture capital can accelerate growth: "Venture capital lets you solve common, big problems a lot faster."

- @callmehouck , Co-founder of Launch House

Let's dive in:
Jan 29, 2023 25 tweets 5 min read
It should be illegal to launch a startup without memorizing these 21 principles from Y-Combinator's Startup Playbook: Build a Great Product

This is the only thing all great companies have in common.

Eventually your company will get so big that all growth hacks stop working and you have to grow by people wanting to use your product.

If you do not build a product users love you will fail.
Jan 24, 2023 10 tweets 4 min read
From MVP to $10M exit in 18 months

A breakdown of 5 Tweet Hunter growth strategies: The guys who built Tweet Hunter / Taplio recently announced their acquisition.

I've been a fan of their tools and dove into their growth strategies.

Here are 5 strategies they used to get their 10x valuation on $1M ARR:
Jan 20, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
In 2017, a guy running the Long Island Iced Tea Co. got greedy.

Bitcoin had just hit $10K for the first time.

People were freaking out.

So he changed the company name to Long Blockchain: 👇 The stock shot up 380% almost overnight.

Never mind that the company hadn't even touched a blockchain.

The SEC went after him for insider trading (but that's beside the point).

The point is:

Trends can provide momentum for even the worst ideas.
Jan 15, 2023 23 tweets 10 min read
21 newsletters that will make you smarter: Strategy that Scales

Learn strategy and positioning

writer: @BrianFOConnor

strategythatscales.com/subscribe
Jan 13, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
ChatGPT blah blah blah…

Are you tired of it yet?

Bad news for you - A.I. isn't going anywhere.

It's eating the world: A.I. tech is now what @NFX calls "the fast moving water":

Large shifts in technology that will enable the emergence of incredibly impactful new companies.

It's an exciting time for folks looking to build the next wave.
Jan 3, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
ChatGPT will revolutionize how non-technical folks build products.

Here's an example

(I put this together in 2 min, so yeah, it's crappy): Suppose you want to build a health quiz as a lead magnet for your diet biz but you don't know much about coding.

ChatGPT prompt:
"please build me a health quiz that captures a user's email address and returns a score based on a series of questions: