Henry Shi
@henrythe9ths • 21,007 subscribers
AI @ Anthropic. I help founders, write about AI and share lessons from founding https://t.co/JPQUw7ggAp ($200M+ rev/year). Raised $150M in VC. Angel Investor.
Shorts
![Today, we're launching the ultimate guide for founders on how to start a lean, AI-native startup in 2025. This covers every single tool founders should use when building their startup from the ground up, from legal, finance, payroll, sales, tech and more. My coauthor Deedy and I have both built Glean and Super[.]com into both $100M+ ARR businesses and we've invested in 100+ startups between us in the last few years, and this is a constant question we get. And it's completely free👇](https://image.24vids.com/tw-1954944645122965543/amplify_video_thumb/1954827965403193344/img/3pWis28Gdh7WhD94.jpg)
Videos
![I got rejected by 144 investors before raising $150M for my $200M+ rev/year startup. After 144 rejections, I started questioning our approach. Were we solving the right problem? What were we doing wrong? Why weren’t investors seeing what we were seeing? Were we the right team to build this? We tried everything: different pitch angles, new deck structures, and reframing the problem. Then came the 145th meeting, where we closed our first growth round. That yes made everything worth it. But getting there took years of mistakes and hard work. We went through a lot of trial and error just to figure out what resonates with investors. We tried dozens of approaches to figure out what made investors engage. Some landed, most didn't. But each iteration taught us something about what builds conviction versus what just sounds good on paper. And once we cracked that code, our Series C closed faster than expected. And today, I see so many founders in the exact same position I was in 10 years ago: grinding through rejections, questioning everything, and trying to figure out what works. So today I want to give you the resource I wish I had back then: Something that shows you exactly how to structure these conversations and navigate the entire process (because the fundraising cycle can be a big distraction and take a toll on you as a founder). So I've partnered with Notion's Startups Team to create the essential fundraising resource that helps you avoid the mistakes that cost me years. Here's what you are getting: • The actual decks I used to raise $150M for Super[.]com (Series B, C) • 50 real examples from funded startups like Eleven Labs and Artisan AI • A searchable database of 10,000+ investors - angels, VCs, and accelerators you can reach out to immediately (this alone would take months to build manually) • An AI-powered fundraising agent built into Notion with step-by-step prompts (no separate ChatGPT needed) Want access? • Like and share this post • Comment "FUNDRAISE" • Follow me so I can DM you the link I'll send it over ASAP. P.S.: If you are serious about fundraising (now or in the future), you should grab it right away.](https://image.24vids.com/tw-1983558192006103464/amplify_video_thumb/1983462016657297408/img/fRxtToaWFP2a2i5v.jpg)
I got rejected by 144 investors before raising $150M for my $200M+ rev/year startup. After 144 rejections, I started questioning our approach. Were we solving the right problem? What were we doing wrong? Why weren’t investors seeing what we were seeing? Were we the right team to build this? We tried everything: different pitch angles, new deck structures, and reframing the problem. Then came the 145th meeting, where we closed our first growth round. That yes made everything worth it. But getting there took years of mistakes and hard work. We went through a lot of trial and error just to figure out what resonates with investors. We tried dozens of approaches to figure out what made investors engage. Some landed, most didn't. But each iteration taught us something about what builds conviction versus what just sounds good on paper. And once we cracked that code, our Series C closed faster than expected. And today, I see so many founders in the exact same position I was in 10 years ago: grinding through rejections, questioning everything, and trying to figure out what works. So today I want to give you the resource I wish I had back then: Something that shows you exactly how to structure these conversations and navigate the entire process (because the fundraising cycle can be a big distraction and take a toll on you as a founder). So I've partnered with Notion's Startups Team to create the essential fundraising resource that helps you avoid the mistakes that cost me years. Here's what you are getting: • The actual decks I used to raise $150M for Super[.]com (Series B, C) • 50 real examples from funded startups like Eleven Labs and Artisan AI • A searchable database of 10,000+ investors - angels, VCs, and accelerators you can reach out to immediately (this alone would take months to build manually) • An AI-powered fundraising agent built into Notion with step-by-step prompts (no separate ChatGPT needed) Want access? • Like and share this post • Comment "FUNDRAISE" • Follow me so I can DM you the link I'll send it over ASAP. P.S.: If you are serious about fundraising (now or in the future), you should grab it right away.
Henry Shi559,388 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
A founder turned down a $1M job offer from Meta to build a $5M ARR company with 9 people. His CAC is in cents. He has no sales team, no CS org, and no plans to build one (read on for the full playbook). Meet Ethan, the founder of Jobright, and if you are an early-stage lean AI company, this might be the most valuable thing you read this week. While every other AI startup was raising, hiring aggressively, and building org charts before they had customers, Ethan was talking to users (face-to-face). Their first million (revenue) was pure product-market fit mode. It came entirely from word of mouth, with users pulling in their friends because the product worked. The next four million came from clearly defining their ICP, tracking CAC, and obsessing over growth as a data-driven system. They built an experiment pipeline with a strict 7-day ship-or-kill rule. Channels that couldn't hit payback targets were automatically cut. And through all of it, the headcount barely moved. Because every time they spotted a repetitive workflow, their default instinct was to build an agent (when most founders hire). Their first internal AI agent took an enterprise manager from 5 accounts to 50, without any additional hires. Last month alone, they shipped 3 new internal agents: • An inbox agent that reads, classifies, and drafts responses • An ops agent that turns messy client requests into structured tasks • An outreach agent that finds relevant partners, writes personalized first messages, and runs follow-up sequences Each of those consumed hours of manual labor every week, but now they run on autopilot. That is what 9 people running like 50 looks like in practice. It is one of the best 0 to $5M stories I have come across in the lean AI space. So I spent hours going deep on every decision, system, and principle behind how they did this, and turned it into a super actionable playbook for founders who are pre-revenue or going from 0 to 1. Inside, you'll get: • The exact growth OS they used to go from $1M to $5M ARR • How they built internal agents that let 9 people do the work of 50 • The hiring filter that screens for true AI-native operators • The 2-question test every feature must pass before it gets built • How they structured growth after hitting PMF (the full funnel with owner metrics) • What building from $0 → $1M looks like vs. $1M → $5M • The data flywheel they've been compounding since day one that gets harder to replicate, and how to design yours from scratch Originally, I put this together as a resource for founders I work with directly. But the insights here are too actionable to keep internal, so I'm sharing them publicly. It's one of the most detailed operating blueprints I've put together for those aspiring to join the Lean AI Leaderboard. If you are one of them, grab this right away as it will save you months of expensive guesswork. Ethan, Eric, and team, welcome to the Lean AI Leaderboard!🚀 Link to the playbook:
Henry Shi51,236 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
It's finally here - the Official Lean AI Company Playbook 1000+ founders, investors and execs have been flooding my DMs about. Ever since I created the Official Lean AI Leaderboard after exiting my $150M annual revenue startup, founders from across the globe have asked me this one question: "How are these lean AI companies generating millions with tiny teams?" So I spent the last 3 months obsessively tracking and collaborating with 30+ lean AI-native founders, researching the answer. Here's what I discovered: They've built operational systems that multiply human capability. Instead of scaling headcount, they've created AI-powered processes that let small teams operate at unprecedented scale. And their secret goes far beyond the specific AI tools they use. It lies in redesigning their entire company operations around a fundamentally different approach to growth and execution. After countless conversations, interviews, and behind-the-scenes exclusive access, I finally documented the exact playbook with complete systems. This comprehensive playbook includes: • A complete breakdown of the tech stack and operational workflows • The organizational design principles that enable tiny teams to do massive work • Critical inflection points where things break (and how to navigate them) • A detailed 6-month implementation plan for starting your own lean AI company (with weekly actions) • Implementation best practices from dozens of successful lean AI-native companies Want the ultimate Lean AI Playbook or help transforming your Lean AI operations? 👇 • Like and Share this post • Comment "Lean AI Playbook" • Follow me (so I can DM you) --------------- PS: Separately, I'm opening a limited number of high-impact advising slots for serious founders and operators who want to work directly with me—beyond just consuming my content. If you're ready to transform how your company operates using AI, DM me. (Please note: these are paid spots due to limited availability and time atm)
Henry Shi121,345 görüntüleme • 1 yıl önce
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