Best of Founder Mode III
Welcome back to Founder Mode!
Every 20 episodes or so, Jason and I like to step back and ask a simple question:
What are the patterns?
Not the headlines.
Not the AI announcements.
Not the latest tools.
The patterns.
This batch surprised us.
The lesson was not that AI changes everything.
The lesson was that the fundamentals matter more than ever.
Trust.
Distribution.
Services.
Customer conversations.
Showing your work.
The founders who broke through were not chasing every shiny new thing. They were using AI to do more of what already worked.
Here are the moments that stuck with me.
1. Trust Compounds Faster Than Technology
One theme came up over and over again.
People still buy from people they trust.
Whether it was healthcare, finance, AI, or community building, the founders winning today are building trust first.
One of my favorite examples came from Shain Noor and his AI financial advisor, Silvia.
The breakthrough was not better dashboards.
The breakthrough was helping people reason through decisions.
As I said during the episode:
"That line is trust, and trust is being built by showing your work."
The founders winning with AI are not hiding the process.
They are making the process visible.
The tools are changing.
Trust is not.
2. Services Are Not a Dirty Word
For years, founders treated services revenue like something to avoid.
The goal was always software.
Recurring revenue.
Automation.
Scale.
Then we talked to Scott Francis.
Scott spent 17 years building BP3 around a different idea.
If your product is truly transformative, services can help customers succeed faster.
Services are often where the learning happens.
Services create customer feedback.
Services create relationships.
Services help uncover the next product opportunity.
The lesson is not that every company should become a consulting business.
The lesson is that helping customers succeed is never a bad strategy.
3. AI Is Great at Analysis and Terrible at Taste
This came up repeatedly.
AI can analyze.
AI can summarize.
AI can find patterns.
AI can generate options.
But AI still struggles with judgment.
As I said during one of our solo episodes:
"The honest answer, AI is amazing at analysis and terrible at taste."
That distinction matters.
Founders who understand it move faster.
Founders who ignore it often end up shipping things nobody wants.
The best operators are using AI as a thought partner.
Not a replacement for judgment.
4. Distribution Matters More Than Ever
The barrier to creating products has never been lower.
Anyone can build.
Anyone can launch.
Anyone can create content.
The question becomes:
How do people find you?
Brent Csutoras made this point better than anyone.
While most marketers are still debating Reddit, the opportunity is already happening.
As Brent said:
"The next 12 months is the land grab."
The winners are not waiting.
They are building communities.
Creating content.
Showing up where conversations are already happening.
Distribution is becoming one of the strongest moats in business.
5. The Best Founders Still Talk to Customers
This may have been the biggest lesson of all.
The founders who were getting traction all had one thing in common.
They stayed close to customers.
They picked up the phone.
They listened.
They validated ideas before building.
The Blackberry story was a perfect example.
Instead of building first, the founder launched a landing page.
The signups answered the question.
No pitch deck.
No fundraising.
No speculation.
Just customer validation.
The same thing showed up with Jose from 71 Pounds.
His first customers came from conversations.
Not ads.
Not funnels.
Not growth hacks.
Just talking to people.
As I said in the episode:
"The founders who broke through in this batch didn't follow the obvious play."
And many of them got there because they listened before they built.
5 Key Takeaways
- Trust is becoming more valuable, not less.
- Services can accelerate learning and growth.
- AI helps with analysis but still struggles with judgment.
- Distribution is becoming one of the strongest business moats.
- The best founders stay close to customers and validate before building.
Final Thoughts
After reviewing these 20 conversations, I expected the lesson to be about AI.
Instead, the lesson was about execution.
The founders winning right now are not necessarily using the most advanced tools.
They are using the fundamentals better.
They are talking to customers.
They are building trust.
They are creating distribution.
They are showing their work.
And they are using AI to amplify those strengths.
As I said at the end of the episode:
"AI didn't replace the work. It just made it harder for the people doing it to hide behind."
The tools changed.
The work didn't.
The founders who understand that are the ones pulling ahead.
🎧 Listen to Episode 60 here:
This podcast builds on the Founder Mode newsletter.
Let’s build.
-kevin
2810 N Church St #87205, Wilmington, DE 19802
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