Founder’s Dance with George Levin #14

Writing this newsletter gives me a chance to reflect on the past week. It’s a simple but powerful exercise to pause and think about key events and how I felt during the week. While doing this, I noticed a pattern in my mood swings over the past eight weeks: one week of good mood, followed by one week of bad mood. I'm unsure what to do with this observation, but I’ll keep tracking it.

This week was also full of events and meetings:

• I attended the Post Exit Founders community meetup—my favorite NYC group.

• For the first time, I had meetings with some members of my Founders Running Club outside of running.

• A serendipitous moment: After five months of trying, I finally met an old friend. It turned out to be the perfect timing—we’re now collaborating on our startups.

My friend’s startup can help build us a Telegram retrieval tool that could enhance CRMchat.ai. The idea is to add a flexible search to find specific messages like: “What did Dennis send me a month ago?” This could be a game-changer for our larger clients who manage hundreds of chats and can't read them all.

It can help solve the "Messy Inbox Problem" on Telegram and move us one step closer to an AI-native system of records.

Startup Hacks: Boosting Conversions with Simplicity

This week, CRMchat's signup-to-contact creation conversion rate increased 2.3x. A few minor tweaks made all the difference:

• We shortened the welcome text.

• Removed the founder's welcome video.

• We left only one option to continue using the app when you open it for the first time.

Takeaways:

1. Simplicity wins. Don’t overwhelm users with features right away.

2. Provide just one clear path forward.

Now, we’re applying the same "one step at a time" approach to guide users further through the funnel, eventually leading them to payment.

Product Spotlight: Daylio

Noticing patterns in my mood swings (a common founder trait) made me curious to quantify them. My friend Dennis recommended Daylio, a self-care journal that tracks your mood and activities without writing a word.

It’s simple: every day, you answer two questions—How are you? and What did you do?—by selecting emojis. Over time, you get analytics that reveal correlations between your mood and activities.

Dennis has been using it for years, tracking monthly and annual trends. I love how it provides a dynamic view of your feelings. I wish I’d started sooner—seeing a graph of my mood alongside work projects and personal events would be fascinating.

Culture Corner: Systems Over Goals

This week, I want to share How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. It’s a light, entertaining, yet impactful book. Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, shares his approach to success. His main idea is that systems are better than goals. Luck can’t be controlled, but you can improve your odds by adopting winning strategies. He gives a lot of examples of systems that win. Here are just two of them:

Happiness is Biochemistry, Not Circumstances. 80% of happiness comes from body chemistry, not external factors. Good nutrition, exercise, and sleep optimize it. Flexible schedules and imagination also help. Together, these habits make life more satisfying.

Big Ambitious Projects Are the Best Long-Term Strategy. Most big projects fail, but they teach valuable lessons and build connections, improving future odds. Surround yourself with talented people—they’re drawn to inspiring ventures. Even failures position you better for the next challenge.

Mind Bender: Household as Unit Economics

This morning, I watched a YouTube podcast about the rise of “tradwives”—women embracing traditional roles like raising kids and managing the household on social media.

One idea stood out: a podcast guest suggested that governments should pay homemakers, offsetting the career sacrifices they make. It makes sense, especially when governments push for higher birth rates but do little to support parenting.

It makes even more sense if we view households as economic units—all startup founders know that if unit economics is positive, you should scale it. However, I’m unsure if the US unit economics is positive. It’s interesting to dig into it more. This is a raw, unfinished thought, but I decided to share it anyway.

Speak soon,

George

November 24, 2024. Brooklyn Heights.

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