When It’s Dark, Start Building

Learn how to pitch the right way

Conviction comes from Urgency, stories and pain.

Let me give you an example:

1/ Weak pitch:
“The mental health app market is growing 15% year over year.”

Strong pitch:
“Right now, there are 20-year-olds lying in bed, paralyzed with anxiety, cycling through Instagram because they don’t want to text a therapist or book an expensive call.”

Please read the example again.

The best founders paint the pain through stories to build conviction.

After you’ve painted the image of pain, you have to present your entry point feature that gives you an edge.

This could be:
1/ Habit feature - people already do daily and fix a pain they hate.

2/ Timing feature - Exploit a new moment of vulnerability or urgency.

Example: A “Laid Off Kit” that auto-generates resumes, cover letters, and job scripts within 15 minutes of getting the news.

3/ Format feature - Deliver the solution in a way that feels familiar. A TikTok for mental health

4/ Identity feature - Make users feel like it's built just for them. “The journal for overthinkers”.

5/ Channel feature - Build a unique distribution channel or leverage an existing one.

Example: Use Canva to build templates and monetise from their existing customer base.

Vodka startups don’t fail because the product’s hard to build. They fail because no one wants it.

Many people don’t realise building something is not the bigger risk, distribution is the bigger risk.

Showing you can build means nothing if you can’t prove people want it.

If your startup isn’t a technical moonshot, traction matters more than design.

Investors fund demand, not your deck.

To build distribution, you’re likely going to have to do one or more of these:

1/ Create an unfair advantage - niche audience, key partnership, an influencer with something to gain

2/ Turn users into loops - one should bring more onboard. Invite mechanics. Share-to-unlock features. Built-in bragging rights (status, rewards, exclusivity)

3/ Join the bigger trend - AI, meme coins, market expansion, whatever’s hot, you need to pick the right wave.

4/ Sell before you ship - Pre-orders, landing pages, waitlists etc. If no one signs up before it exists, no one’s showing up after.

If you're in a dark place, build something.

Earl Nightingale once said, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

He understood a deep truth:

When you pour yourself into something greater, emptiness begins to fade.

Because building gives shape to your days. It gives weight to your steps. It gives fire to your mornings.

And as you build, your problems shrink. Not because they disappear, but because you're no longer small enough to be crushed by them.

You discover most of your problems can be solved just by working on your north star.

A lack of consistency will hurt you more than a lack of talent.

An average salesman who makes one offer everyday for a year makes more sales than the natural salesman who quits after a month of rejections.

Because success isn’t about how good you are on your best days—
It’s about who you are on your worst.

But by just showing up everyday, you will gain an unfair advantage over most of the talent pool.

Best wishes,

Maxi | The Warrior’s Newsletter