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Hey — It’s Charlie.

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

• Waves, dams, and rivers: How demand works at scale.

• Cold Emailing: The art of cold-emailing a billionaire.

• Low Prices = Low Confidence: Stop Underselling Your Startup

• 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

• Waves, dams, and rivers: How demand works at scale. (LINK)

• You're doing quarterly planning wrong. (LINK)

• The art of cold-emailing a billionaire. (LINK)

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

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

ICYMI

• YouTube plans crackdown on repetitive, AI-generated videos. (LINK)

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

• Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping. (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!

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Cheap Products Die Quietly. Premium Ones Build Empires.

Pricing isn’t just math—it’s a vibe. When Apple slapped $666.66 on their first computer, it wasn’t random—it was confidence. Too many founders play it safe with low prices, thinking it’ll attract more users. But cheap prices scream, “I don’t believe in this,” and that energy? It shows. Instead, start with covering your costs (Cost-Plus), aim for pricing that reflects the actual value you deliver (Value-Based), and check what competitors are doing—but don’t get stuck playing the discount game. Remember: low prices attract the wrong customers and make rejection even more likely.

Psych tricks can make your pricing page a conversion machine. Add a “decoy” tier that no one really buys just to make your main plan look better. Offer a free version to reel people in (hello, Dropbox) or even experiment with “Pay What You Want” to find out what users think you’re really worth. And when the time comes to raise prices? Do it with confidence. Show the value, give notice, and treat loyal users well. Pricing isn’t a set-and-forget thing—it’s a reflection of how much you believe in what you’re building. (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.