Founder’s Dance with George Levin #11

One side effect of writing this newsletter is a sharpened sense of time. I publish on Sunday; before I know it, Friday rolls around, and it’s time to start again. It’s even more scary with my monthly investor updates—just as I finish one, it’s already time for the next.

I’m at my first Web3 event, the TON Gateway in Dubai, and it’s bringing mixed feelings. I’ve had dozens of conversations with participants, most around 25 y.o., and I can barely follow their pitches. I don’t understand what 90% of them do or what problems they’re solving. Is this what “feeling old” feels like?

The pace here is incredible. Business development moves fast—you meet someone, scan their Telegram QR code, send a group photo to remember faces, or even a quick recap video of what you discussed. Within hours, there’s already a group chat about the next steps. It feels worlds apart from the typical conference, where follow-up emails take days.

On the bright side, even though I don’t fully understand their businesses, their problems are pretty universal—managing sales, especially in such a fast environment, is challenging. The response to CRMchat was very positive, and it was fun to show how the app works on the spot.

Now, the question is how many of these Web3 founders can pay $40/month for the team license. The good news is there were 1,500 participants, with tickets around $400. If half of them become clients, we’d reach breakeven.

Startup Hacks: Focus is the New Currency

Now is a prime time to launch bootstrapped startups. With no-code tools and ChatGPT, building a product is accessible to anyone. You can sketch an idea, describe it to ChatGPT, and get step-by-step guidance. It will teach you even if you don’t know how to code. I’ve tried. If something doesn’t work, ChatGPT helps debug it.

This convenience makes focus and patience essential tools for builders. It would help to clearly outline your product idea and have the discipline to follow each step. It’s possible to build almost anything in a few months, but it takes consistent focus to work through each stage, asking many questions along the way.

Ironically, the same vast amount of information that powers tools like ChatGPT also shortens our attention spans and increases anxiety. My takeaway is that to build a successful product, we need to learn to focus and slow down. This is the number one skill to succeed in the new world, and it will only become more critical as things move faster.

Meditation is a key exercise that helps me slow down and gain a broader perspective. If you’re interested in this topic, check out Sam Harris’s interview with Dr. Amishi Jha, a psychology professor at the University of Miami. They discuss the roots of attention and how it connects to meditation.

Product Spotlight: Canva

I’m excited to spotlight this tool—Canva—as it completely transforms my workflow. It’s perfect for non-designers who need to create professional designs quickly. I’ve used it to make decks, banners, websites, business cards, animations, product explainers, and thumbnails—all in minutes.

Canva is brilliantly simple. You can start with one of thousands of templates, and it suggests fonts and elements to complete your design. It can remove backgrounds from images, includes brand logos, and offers an extensive library of design elements and powerful AI tools that handle the heavy lifting. Recently, I made a Facebook ad in just 10 minutes. Previously, I would’ve waited days for a designer and multiple revisions. Now, it’s 10 minutes from idea to execution.

Mind Bender: When Intuition Meets Statistics

Statistics often defy our intuition, and visual stories can mislead us. Here are a few examples:

Two people in a small U.S. town were diagnosed with a rare cancer. It seems suspicious—especially with a nuclear power plant nearby. However, such coincidences are statistically probable with 20,000 towns across the country.

In roulette, the ball landed on red five times in a row. Next time, it must be black, right? No, each spin is independent, so the odds stay the same.

Here’s a choice: win $100 with a 90% chance or $350 with a 30% chance. The first sounds safer, but the second option has a higher expected value.

A study shows a correlation between students’ grades and the number of TV sets in their homes. But it’s not that TVs improve learning; wealthier families, who tend to have more tablets, also have more resources to support their children’s education.

In the game show Let’s Make a Deal, contestants could win a car by picking one of three doors, one of which hid the car. After a choice, the host, who knew where the car was, would open one of the remaining doors to reveal an empty one. The contestant then had the option to stick with their original choice or switch to the other closed door.

Intuitively, with two doors left, there’s a 50% chance of winning. But that’s not true—sticking with the original choice has only a 1/3 chance while switching raises it to 2/3. This surprising result is known as the Monty Hall problem.

For more insights, check out Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan—it’s challenging but potentially life-changing.

Culture Corner: Tips for Efficient Reading

Since I recommend so many books, here are my favorite reading tips:

You Don’t Have to Finish Every Book. If a book doesn’t engage you, let it go. Forcing yourself through a boring read only slows you down. If it feels uninteresting, that’s on the book—not you. Move on to the next one, and keep going until you find something that entirely holds your attention.

Read Multiple Books at Once. Don’t hesitate to explore different books or skip around. Read whatever interests you at the moment. I usually keep 3-4 books simultaneously, each fitting a different mood. Some are light and easy—those I mostly listen to—while others are more substantial and need full focus. At any time, I have a book that suits the moment perfectly.

Read Anywhere, Anytime. There is no need for the perfect setting—take a few minutes whenever you can. I enjoy listening to audiobooks, so when I'm on the train or waiting for someone, I’ll listen to a book instead of scrolling through social media. I also keep books in different parts of my apartment, so I can pick one up and read anywhere.

Take Notes Voice memos are an easy way to capture ideas on the go. Later, I run my sloppy notes through ChatGPT to organize and polish them. Focus on jotting down unique insights rather than summarizing the whole book. Here is the prompt I use to correct my notes:

I’m reading Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan and taking notes as I go. My notes are incomplete and might be inaccurate. Please organize these notes and correct any mistakes or inaccuracies based on the original source.

This way, I end up with a well-structured summary based on my notes

Life Snippets

Let’s return to Canva and how new tools streamline everything for startup founders. Two days before a conference, I decided to print some swag with our company name, slogan, and business cards. Then I realized—we didn’t have a logo, and having one would help grab attention. With Alex Shevliakov's and Midjourney's help, we had a logo within a day. Twenty minutes before the print shop closed, I used Canva to create business cards and got them printed. I then uploaded the logo to Customnia, and by the next day, they had printed the hoodie and a t-shirt. It’s a great place for printing swag, founded by my good friend Waso Danilenko.

It still amazes and frustrates me how quickly everything can be built nowadays. When I’m energized, it excites me. When I’m tired, it frustrates me because I feel FOMO.

Have a great week ahead. Stay positive, and don’t let FOMO get to you!

Speak soon,

George

November 3, 2024. Dubai.

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