Hey — It’s Charlie.

Welcome to the latest edition of Great Startups! Here’s what’s in store:

• The Collapse Equation: Why Great Ideas Die at Scale

• Survey: How Tech workers really feel about work right now.

• Vibe Coding: How to get most of it.

• The $500 Hack: Your Startup Doesn’t Need a Fancy Name—Just a Working Credit Card Limit

• Targeting Made Simple: A step-by-step guide to finding your perfect customer.

• Hidden Startup Debt: The silent killer that’s slowing growth.

Get ready to dive into these power-packed insights for founders and growth enthusiasts!

Resources

• How Tech workers really feel about work right now. (LINK)

• How founders should think about runway. (LINK)

• How to get the most out of Vibe Coding. (LINK)

• David Politis on doing whatever it takes to stay in the game (LINK)

• Sam Blond on how to generate more demand. (LINK)

ICYMI

• OpenAI agrees to buy Windsurf for about $3 billion. (LINK)

• Netflix is getting into short videos with a new vertical feed for mobile. (LINK)

• Anthropic’s Claude can now read your Gmail. (LINK)

• The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained. (LINK)

• 1X will test humanoid robots in ‘a few hundred’ homes in 2025. (LINK)

Quick Links

• Ray Dalio built a $14B empire by following core success principles that took him from humble beginnings to founding the world’s largest hedge fund.

• Iman Gadzhi and Pierre de Preux launched a SaaS and hit 7-figure ARR in 9 months by moving fast, using Iman’s audience, and solving a real problem.

• Lenny Rachitsky and Jen Abel on how to approach founder-led sales.

• Carta shares 50 slides packed with insights for founders from 45,000 startups.

• How One AI App Founder Makes $20K+ Monthly—and How You Can Too!

The Myth of the 24/7 Founder

The startup world worships the "grindset" founder—the one who burns the midnight oil, survives on caffeine, and treats burnout like a rite of passage. But beneath the hustle porn lies a dangerous irony: the harder you push, the worse your decisions get. Research shows sleep-deprived founders experience a 37% drop in strategic thinking, while chronic stress shifts focus from growth to survival mode. You might feel like a productivity machine, but your brain is running on fumes—making reactive, short-term calls that sabotage your vision. The myth of relentless grit isn’t just unhealthy; it’s a silent company killer.

So what’s the antidote? Ditch the superhero complex. The best founders—like GitLab’s CEO—don’t brute-force their way through; they design their roles around their cognitive peaks, delegate weaknesses, and protect mental space for big-picture thinking. It’s not about "work-life balance" clichés but strategic detachment—morning walks for ideas, calendar blocks for deep work, and permission to step back without guilt. True resilience isn’t ignoring your limits; it’s building a company that thrives because you respect them. Your startup deserves your sharpest mind—not your most exhausted one.  (LINK)

Ok that’s it for this week, We keep refining our newsletter content, just hit reply to let us know what you think about this issue.