Hey — It’s Charlie.

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

• Cold Email Playbook: A handbook every founder needs for outreach success.

• Resends’ Growth Framework: Lessons from their CEO on scaling smart.

• Grammarly’s Big Move: Why they just acquired Coda—and what it means.

• 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

• Five founder tips from someone who’s interviewed 100+ founders. (LINK)

• Andreessen Horowitz’s top 50 big ideas for 2025. (LINK)

• A Nikita Bier one-pager on how to build viral products (LINK)

• Tips on making investor updates a valuable asset (LINK)

• Personal finance things to know as a founder (LINK)

ICYMI

• Bluesky is getting its own Instagram competitor: Flashes. (LINK)

• Hundreds of thousands of users are migrating from TikTok to RedNote. (LINK)

• Google to invest fresh $1 billon in OpenAI rival Anthropic (LINK)

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

• OpenAI makes AI video generator Sora available in the US. (LINK)

Quick Links

• Entrepreneur John Mullins shares 6 unconventional mindsets to spark innovation and drive entrepreneurial success.

• This guy solved a simple problem, shared how he finds profitable micro SaaS ideas, and offers lessons you can apply in 2025.

• 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!

Stuck? Pivot Smarter, Not Harder

When it comes to startups and life, forget “strengths” or “weaknesses”—let’s talk Pivot Points. These are the unchangeable facts about you or your business that can be strengths in one context and total blockers in another. Think of them like your pivot foot in basketball: they ground you, while everything else moves around them. The trick? Build around them instead of fighting them. Hate managing people? Don’t build a company that needs a huge team. Love competition? Channel it into crushing sales calls but avoid making every team meeting a battlefield. Knowing your Pivot Points helps you plan smarter and play to your actual strengths—not someone else’s idea of them.

Finding these Pivot Points takes self-reflection (honest answers, not what you think sounds cool) and outside-in feedback. For yourself, think about what excites or drains you, even if society says you “should” feel differently. For your business, ask what customers really buy from you, what they complain about, and what they brag about. Your Pivot Points aren’t static—they can shift with time and effort—but they’re the foundation of your strategy. Once you nail them down, you can pivot (pun intended) to make smarter moves and grow like a pro. (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.