adriane schwager @aschwags3 Twitter profile

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adriane schwager

5 months

3 years ago, I co-founded my first business Today, we crossed $13,000,000 in revenue. Bootstrapped. I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

17 months ago, I co-founded my first business Today, we crossed $5,000,000 in revenue with only 5 US full-time employees. Totally bootstrapped I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Do you think your boss is scary? Look at this brutal email from Marc Andreessen to Ben Horowitz during the heat of a Netscape product launch

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Charlie Munger did life right. Here are the 10 best Mungerisms from the architect of Berkshire of Hathaway.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

10 months

Satya Nadella – 10x’d Microsoft’s market cap from $300B to $2.75 TRILLION – Made them leaders in cloud computing, business networks, and gaming. And now put them in pole position in the AI race. He’s a humble Indian boy who got rejected from IIT. His story is wild. And full

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Here's a day in the life of Brunello Cucinelli. The man behind the multi-billion dollar quiet luxury sensation. Sprint, rest, focus. And allocate time for distraction.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 month

Peter Thiel on how to take over a market. Competition is a loser's game.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Today, we onboarded a 10/10 hire for Head of talent. I knew I wanted to hire this person the first time I met her. I've hired hundreds of people. Thousands of interviews. Here's what all 10s have in common:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

23 days

Peter Thiel on the last mover advantage. PayPal, Twitter, LinkedIn won by being valuable in the future, not the past

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

2 years ago, I co-founded my first business Today, we crossed $9,000,000 in revenue with only 8 US full-time employees. Totally bootstrapped I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

5 months

Peter Thiel is the greatest recruiter of all time. He hired Reid Hoffman, Sam Altman, David Sacks, and partnered with Elon Musk. Here are the questions he asks to pick 10/10 people 🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

We just crossed $6,000,000 in ARR. 100% bootstrapped. Only 5 US full-time employees. 21 months after launch. Here are my top 11 learnings on growing a startup 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

In 2021, I co-founded my first business. Today, we crossed $10,000,000 in revenue with only 8 US full-time employees. 100% bootstrapped. I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

In 2015, Notion almost died. So, the founders moved from SF to Kyoto to build in peace. Last year, they hit $10 BILLION in valuation. Here's how 🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Peter Thiel on viral marketing. And how they built PayPal into a growth juggernaut.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

19 months ago, I co-founded my first business We recently shot past $5,000,000 in revenue with only 5 US full-time employees. Totally bootstrapped I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 month

Ben Horowitz's guide on hiring executives for roles you're not good at. Playbook for hiring the best people you've ever worked with:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

10 months

Charlie Munger learned so much from a book that he gave the author a share of Berkshire Class stock as thanks. That share is worth > $500k today. The author was Robert Cialdini. I read his book that wowed Charlie Munger. It’s priceless for marketing in business (and life)

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Steve Schwarzman started Blackstone in 1985 with a $400k initial investment. Last year, they crossed $1 TRILLION under management. Here's what he says about hiring 10s

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Peter Thiel on viral marketing. And how they built PayPal into a growth juggernaut.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Here's Marc Andreessen's guide on hiring 10s. Detailed process to hire the best people you've ever worked with.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

99% of businesses grow too slowly because founders insist on doing everything themselves. As a CEO and mom of two young kids, I don't have a choice: I have to delegate. Here are the 7 Tasks I've delegated to grow past $5MM in annual revenue this year🧵👇

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Charlie Munger did life right. Here are the 10 best Mungerisms from the architect of Berkshire of Hathaway.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Today, I met a 10/10 candidate for a leadership role I'm trying to fill. I've hired hundreds of people. Thousands of interviews. Here's all 10s have in common:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Competition is a loser's game. Here's what Peter Thiel has to say:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Steve Schwarzman started Blackstone in 1985 with $400k initial investment. Today they have $1 TRILLION under management. His motto in life: Go Big

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

Little delegation hack (stolen from Sam Corcos, who shared it in the Hampton community) that I just tried and immediately loved: For any task you delegate, have the person record a 3 min video of how they do it. Let's do it with a real example: We are hiring a Marketing lead

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Hire an executive assistant before you think you need one - and offshore When we can’t release control, we operate from a place of fear. Fear is not how you want to run your business. By hiring an EA you’ll free up so much of your time, which is truly our most valuable asset.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

How a mom, wife, and first-time founder/CEO built a startup to $6,000,000 in revenue with only 5 US full-time employees. No investors. No loans. No debt. Completely bootstrapped. Here's how I did it:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Spend 20% of your time recruiting, even when you’re not hiring Network before roles become available. When you have an open position, it will let you 1) hire faster 2) hire better 3) get more candidates referred Actively recruiting is a growth hack.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

What I wish I knew before I became a CEO:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Jensen Huang on how to be great. "I hope suffering happens to you"

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

Claude AI is my new favorite. Just uploaded a CSV with a bunch of data. Then ask simple questions like "what is a good indicator that a customer will expand to multiple subscriptions". The answer (see screenshot) is shockingly good. Found clear correlations and provided a

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

1. Extremely high agency 10s can sense problems, sniff out the opportunities, design solutions and proactively change the course of where a company is headed. 10s always make it rain.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Bad hiring could kill your startup. I experienced this first hand. But after interviewing 10,000+ people, I identified 7 traits you should look for when hiring:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Two college friends turned a $10 domain name into 25 BILLION dollars. Completely bootstrapped. From $0 to $400 million in revenue in 9 years. And now, going toe-to-toe with Amazon. Here’s the story 👇

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Steve Schwarzman started Blackstone in 1985 with $400k. They just crossed $1 TRILLION under management. Here's what he says about hiring 10s

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Sam Altman on momentum, hard work, and getting a lot done.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

19 days

Peter Thiel on how to sell a product Different businesses need different strategies. Where do you fall on the graph?

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Be mindful about shutting down for the day Loving your work-from-home job has some issues • No transition between work and family time • Easy to forget breaks • No time for exercise Use a daily ritual like taking a 10-minute walk to close out and transition out of work mode

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Build time for communication in your calendar Email and Slack need to be built into my calendar. When they aren’t, I find myself in back-to-back meetings, by 5pm I have 200 emails to review. That is not sustainable. Time-blocking is essential when you manage big teams.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Uber Maps reduces rider anxiety while you wait. Meal kits work because we feel like we're cooking. Planes can't go 10x faster. But flights can be 10x more fun. Perceived value IS value. I listened to Rory Sutherland's brilliant talks on marketing. Here are the highlights.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Coach the sprinters Naturally, I'm a sprinter. I get a lot done in a series of sprints. But as a CEO, I also need to be a marathoner who can pace and map the full race course. Now, I grow my business by coaching a team of sprinters.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Treat people with dignity. • Pay on the high end of wages and bonuses • Focus on personal and professional growth • Offer PTO and healthcare Treat people the way you'd like to be treated.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Twitter is great for marketing We haven't spent a single dollar on advertising. Twitter, referrals, and networking drive 100% of our growth. Use social media to grow your business without spending a ton on ads (and use a GrowthAssistant to do it!).

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

Last week, I met a 10/10 candidate for a leadership role I'm trying to fill. I've hired hundreds of people. Thousands of interviews. Here's what all 10s have in common:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

99% of businesses grow too slowly because founders insist on doing everything themselves. As a CEO and mom of two young kids, I don't have a choice: I have to delegate. Here are the 7 Tasks I've delegated to grow past $5MM in annual revenue this year🧵👇

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 month

Today, a 21 year old marketer on our team asked me for career advice. He’s great. Smart. Hard working. Accountable. And hungry for growth. Here's what I told him:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

I've listened to hundreds of CEOs talk about their routines. But no one beats Benjamin Franklin - Simple, focused, structured (with an allocation for distraction)

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Within 100 days, GrowthAssistant hit $50k in MRR. Today, we are above $500k MRR. Totally bootstrapped. Here’s our story:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 month

Elon claimed "xAI will win" on Lex Fridman last week. Grok 2.0 just dropped. It blows Chat GPT and Claude out of the water. Here are the wildest examples:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

5 months

1/ Tell me something which is true that almost nobody agrees with you on? Litmus test of independent thinking + logic. The combination can be deadly.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Your first team members don't need to be onshore Our first 5 hires were offshore. We crossed 3 million in revenue before our first full-time US hire. Now, we still hire at least 3 offshore for every stateside team member.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

10 months

Uber Maps reduces rider anxiety while you wait. Meal kits work because we feel like we're cooking. Planes can't go 10x faster. But flights can be 10x more fun. Perceived value IS value. I listened to Rory Sutherland's brilliant talks on marketing. Here are the highlights.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

8 months

In 2015, Notion almost died. The founders moved from SF to Kyoto, Japan so they could build in peace. Last year, they did $119.4M in revenue. And hit $10 BILLION in valuation. How? Two things: 1. Focused Product 2. Community-led growth Bookmark this one 👇 Ivan Zhao and

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

3 years ago, I co-founded my first business Recently, we crossed $13,000,000 in revenue. Bootstrapped. I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 7 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Focus on keeping people happy Our main driver for success is keeping people happy. It's a key part of our company culture and I personally get involved to make sure everyone's happy with their job (our talent) or GrowthAssistant (our clients) Happy people accelerate growth.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

2. Awareness Strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, blindspots etc. Their circle of competence is very well defined. That's a deep strength.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Keep your company top of mind We send emails to all our past and current clients at least monthly. They aren't too salesy; just a few available GrowthAssistants and growth hacks It’s driven over 100K MRR this year!

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

9 months

Two best friends took over a failing barbershop to escape the rat race. 10 years later, their company has raised $100,000,000. And it's worth three-quarters of a billion. Buckle up for this one 👇 It's 2010. Dave Salvant (a JP Morgan banker) and Songe LaRon (a Yale lawyer)

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Building your startup is a roller-coaster 99% of the time: You’re LOST! As a mom, wife, and first-time CEO I wish I had a cheatsheet for startups So I wrote one... Here are 9 lessons that helped me go from $0 to $5,000,000+ in just 18 months 👇🏻🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Atomic Habits is my all-time favourite. I just re-read it. Here are my top 5 takeaways for building and maintaining great habits:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

AirBnB lost 70% of their business overnight due to Covid. Everyone thought they would die. But Brian Chesky executed an epic turnaround. They did $10B in revenue last year. And Brian became one of the most celebrated CEOs of all time. Here's how he did it 🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

5. They've experienced burnout And they know how to deal with it. They can tell you the story of when it was too much without it being someone else's fault. They recognize their missteps and will tell you EXACTLY what they need to avoid it.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

9 months

I asked a mastermind of Shopify store owners making $2,000,000+ "What’s one tool or service you can't live without?" Here are the 8 every store must know 👇👇

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

3. They can wear many hats at once In a startup, you will often be stretched beyond your particular role. Recognizing where you're not very adept but also being willing to learn and act is a huge advantage.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

9 months

In the last 34 months, we’ve grown Growth Assistant to $12,000,000 in annual revenue. Feb 2021: $0K Feb 2022: $3M ARR Dec 2022: $6M ARR Dec 2023: $12M ARR This is the simple idea we turned into a multi-million dollar business + 4 learnings: Skilled employees are wasting

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

We are at around $10M ARR. A lot of it came by reaching out to our existing clients in a non-salesy way. Here’s how you can do the same. Our full playbook: Identify new sales opportunities with existing clients without being overly salesy 👇

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

My favourite tip from Marc Andreessen's guide to productivity: Keep an Anti to-do list

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Elon Musk's algorithm for building great products. Lessons he learned from production hell in Tesla, disasters at SpaceX and more. From his biography by Walter Isaacson

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

5 months

OpenAI just announced GPT-4o. This one is going to change everything. Here are the top threads on X to learn about it

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

My feed is filled with men bragging about how they are winning. Women don't share/brag. Let's normalize women being able to talk about their accomplishments too🏆. Ladies, post your best '22 accomplishment below📢!

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

4. Hyper-competence Getting work done is not enough. The candidate should be a complete expert in the domain. Put out only great work. Be consistent and reliable. And own the outcome.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

If you enjoyed this thread, follow me @aschwags3 I’ll be sharing lessons about leadership, global remote teams, and entrepreneurship I learned from growing @growthassistant to $5MM and beyond

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Most people suck at managing up. They say too much or too little and waste their boss's time. Here's how to give the right amount of context:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

1) Tenacity is the most important trait for building a company. It is not intelligence, creativity or salesmanship, but sheer determination. Wake up every day and push the ball forward.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Being a first-time founder is hard. It comes with constant doubt and is an emotional rollercoaster. What’s the ONE advice you would give a first-time founder?

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

My first year of entrepreneurship was a Dream! $3M in ARR after 1 year. Then in Q2 last year, everything stalled. I felt sick to my stomach. The dashboards I loved were now betraying me. I asked myself: Am I just a fraud? Here are the mistakes I made and what I learned: 🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Focus on community, even with remote teams Screen for people with a community mindset from the first interview. Working remotely doesn’t mean they want to work quietly in a dark room. Our GAs coach each other, offer advice, share tips and tricks, and cheer on one another.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

I just heard the best breakdown of product market fit I've ever come across. Lenny sat down with Todd Jacobs who ran product at Google, Meta and Twitter. Here's what you need to know: What matters for product market fit is - demand, satisfaction, and efficiency. Demand and

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

7 months

Meal kits work because we feel like we're cooking. Planes can't go 10x faster, but flights can be 10x more fun. Perceived value IS value. I listened to Rory Sutherland's talks on marketing. Here are the highlights. 1. The value of a product is about more than its quality.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 months

Sam Altman's advice for ambitious young people.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

7 months

Amazon just dropped Rufus, its AI-powered shopping assistant. This will change e-commerce forever. Every company needs to take notice. Here's what you need to know: 1. Product Research Assistance It's trained on Amazon's product catalog and customer reviews to answer

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

3 months

A CEO's guide for taking vacation. It's very important to your business. Learn to do it well.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

Uber Maps reduces rider anxiety while you wait. Meal kits work because we feel like we're cooking. Planes can't go 10x faster. But flights can be 10x more fun. Perceived value IS value. I listened to Rory Sutherland's brilliant talks on marketing. Here are the highlights.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

8 months

Two college friends turned a $10 domain name into an e-commerce legend doing $12 BILLION in revenue. And now, going toe-to-toe with Amazon. Here’s the story 👇 Niraj Shah and Steve Conine became best friends at Cornell engineering in the late 90s. Both had entrepreneurial

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

5 months

GrowthAssistant hit $12,000,000 ARR last year. This year, we'll cross $20,000,000. Our systems are our failsafes. Here are all the tools we use to operate and scale

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

I hired my first Virtual Assistant 12 months ago. Since then she’s helped me, - Be a better mother - Save 20 hours per week - Leverage my time as a CEO Here’s how a CEO of a $5M+ ARR company utilizes a VA:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

18 days

3 years ago, I co-founded my first business Today, we crossed $15,000,000 in ARR. Bootstrapped. I’m a mom, wife, and now a first-time founder/CEO Here are my top 11 learnings on leadership, entrepreneurship, and startups 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

9 months

Starting a business was painful. As a first-time founder, I felt lost. Yet, we just reached $12,000,000 in annual revenue. Totally bootstrapped. Here are my top 15 lessons about leadership I learned the hard way: 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

2) Competition is usually a sign you picked a good market - but don't obsess over competitors. At most, they are a source of data about your customers' needs. Obsess over your customer.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

1 year

I plan to double revenue this year. $7M to over $15M ARR. But there's a problem: Churn As I ran the numbers, Churn will get out of control. So I turned to data and found a solution: a winning segment. And I'll share in detail how we found it! Here's the step-by-step guide:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

7 months

After Harvard, Jamie Dimon rejected Goldman to work for Sandy Weill at Amex. It was an insane bet. 15 years later, their partnership created CitiGroup. It’s a wild story. Full of lessons. Here are the highlights 👇 When Dimon finished HBS and was contemplating which job to

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

6 months

Every Sunday I prep myself for the week ahead. Here's what a week in the life of a CEO looks like: Sunday Work hours: 12-4 My week starts on Sunday. If I get the setup wrong, it all goes wrong. A few priorities are: > Urgent/Important emails (I find CEOs respond very

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

Starting a business is gut-wrenching. As a first-time founder, I felt lost. Yet, we crossed $6,000,000 in annual revenue - within just two years. 100% bootstrapped. Here are my top 15 lessons about leadership and startups I learned the hard way: 👇🧵

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

2 years

The largest consulting firms in the world have 100K+ employees and still generate billions in profit each year. How do they do it? They rely HEAVILY on specialized talent from around the world to deliver work for multi-million $$ projects. This is the secret to their success:

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

7 months

Yesterday, Warren Buffet sent out his annual letter. He started it with an homage to Charlie Munger. His partner for half a century. Here are 99 quotes to live by from the Architect of Berkshire Hathaway 1. The way to live a good life is to write your obituary and live it

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

4 months

Here's a morning in the life of Jeff Bezos. And a lesson on making important decisions.

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

6 months

In 2015, Notion almost died. The founders moved from SF to Kyoto, Japan so they could build in peace. Last year, they did $119.4M in revenue. And hit $10 BILLION in valuation. How? Two things: 1. Focused Product 2. Community-led growth Bookmark this one 👇 Ivan Zhao and

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adriane schwager

@aschwags3

11 months

The hardest thing for me to get right as a first-time Founder/CEO? Effective delegation. But I learned. And I now run a team of 50+ between the PH and USA. I swear by two tools to help me to do it 1. Leadership Ladders 2. Task Relevant Maturity Here's the breakdown First

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