The a16z Playbook Is Wrong for You. Author Your Founder Brand Like Clay.

Welcome to Andressa, Howard, Katie, Keith, Tony, Alan, Brian and the 54 others who joined us this week.

May 15 • Andrew Garberson

6

2

2

An AI Leadership Land Grab Is Happening. 5 Lessons for Every Startup.

This year half the billboards in SF promote AI startups at early (Series A/B) funding stages. What’s going on here is fascinating.

May 8 • Andrew Garberson

10

2

1

Use an AI Wedge to Break Into Mature Categories Like Harvey & Day AI

When incumbents can’t defend your AI wedge without breaking their own business model, you've found a path into a mature category.

May 1 • Andrew Garberson

7

1

1

April 2026

Your First 100 Customers Aren't a Funnel. Climb the Ladder Like Lightfield.

A playbook followed by Lightfield, Stripe, Airbnb, Tinder, Product Hunt and dozens of other now-famous companies to find their first 100 customers.

Apr 24 • Andrew Garberson

11

1

How Slack Won the Category and Lost the War

A case study in market creation and what happens when you misread category maturity

Apr 17 • Andrew Garberson

4

4

1

The Myth of the Single "Aha Moment"

There's no single "aha moment" when users lack the foundational understanding to appreciate your product. Instead, we need to orchestrate a sequence of…

Apr 10 • Andrew Garberson

8

2

1

Intent Signals Won't Save Your Startup. Flip the Funnel like Rippling.

Your prospects are out there. They just don't know they need you yet. The signal is how you find them and education is how you earn the right to help…

Apr 3 • Andrew Garberson

6

March 2026

Clay Built a $3B Ecosystem by Not Building One. Here's the Framework.

Clay Clubs meet in 90 cities around the world and 20,000 Clay users contribute to its Slack community. It's almost an understatement to say that the…

Mar 27 • Andrew Garberson

11

2

Granola Onboards Users Before They Sign Up. Here's the Framework.

Granola gets attention for product elegance in a category of clunky bots. It’s well earned. But it deserves more attention for using UGC to convert…

Mar 20 • Andrew Garberson

5

2

Attio Invests 40% in New Channels. Lovable is 95%. Here's Why Both Are Right.

A warm welcome to Megan, Erwin, Clint, Russel, Andrew and the 11 other new subscribers this week.

Mar 13 • Andrew Garberson

4

2

1

Features Commoditize, Beliefs Differentiate. The Belief Moat Framework from Linear.

Linear added 10,000 people to a waitlist before launching its platform by building a belief moat. Here's how.

Mar 6 • Andrew Garberson

4

2

February 2026

Canva Reached 265M Users by Focusing on This One Audience First

Canva founded itself to democratize design for billions of users.

Feb 27 • Andrew Garberson

2