Hey y’all - When founders dream big, they often overlook something tiny: most huge markets are nothing but thousands of small, annoying inefficiencies stacked on top of each other. Every hour wasted in a queue, every form someone hates filling out, every awkward “Are you done yet?” conversation at a salon it’s all friction waiting to be turned into value.

Startups love to pitch billion-dollar TAM slides, but billion-dollar markets rarely appear overnight. They’re unlocked by tackling tiny drags that eat people’s time, patience, and trust and then stitching those fixes together into something that scales.

The beauty? Solving small waste is invisible at first. Competitors often ignore it because it looks trivial. But for the customer living that pain every day, your “small fix” becomes a daily habit a wedge that locks in loyalty before the market even notices you’re there.

So, before you launch your “next big thing,” pause and ask: What’s the smallest daily waste my customer endures? Fix that, wedge in, expand later.

Here’s today at a glance:

PS - Become a member to get access to my founder membership including an engaged community, fundraising support, fireside chats and more.

🔗 Mohit’s Picks

My favourite finds of the week 

• Sam Altman Explains Why ‘Hard Work’ Doesn’t Always Produce Results [Link]

• Sam Altman On How Startups Can Get Their First 100 Users [Link]

• Hiring on LinkedIn is broken. [Link]

• Louis Vuitton Marketing Strategy: How the Luxury Brand Stays Iconic [Link]

• How Social Media Affects Your Brain Chemistry [Link]

• Pedro Franceschi on the advice Paul Graham gave him about scaling Brex [Link]

• Age Is Just a Number Here's Why It's Never Too Late to Start a Business [Link]

💡Opportunity: “SmartWait” - Virtual Queues for Local Shops

Ever walked into a dentist’s office and seen a handwritten token stuck on a chipped plastic stand? Or watched three people leave a barber shop because “the wait’s too long”? Offline businesses lose money - and trust - every day because of clunky, old-school queues.

“SmartWait” is a plug-and-play virtual waitlist tool designed for these overlooked local shops clinics, salons, small repair hubs. Customers scan a QR code or tap a WhatsApp link to join a real-time queue. They instantly see: “You’re 3rd in line, approx. 10 minutes.” No awkward hovering. No guessing. No lost business.

For owners, SmartWait does more than manage lines. It collects repeat customer data, automates next-visit reminders, and even nudges users back if they haven’t booked in a while. Think of it as Zomato’s table booking flow - but for every offline shop that still runs on pens and guesswork.

Why now? Post-pandemic, people want contactless, time-saving interactions. Small business owners want tools that don’t overwhelm them with dashboards they’ll never use. SmartWait sits right where these needs meet: simple, familiar (via WhatsApp), and immediate.

The best part? Once they’re hooked, upsells are endless loyalty perks, pay-to-skip, integrations with local ads. The wedge is small, but the stickiness is huge.

🧠 Framework: “R.A.T.E.” for Feature Cuts

One of the biggest killers of young startups? Building too much, too early. Founders drown MVPs in features nobody asked for, burning months of dev time only to learn the hard way that 80% of what you shipped gets ignored.

Enter R.A.T.E. a ruthless sanity check for your next feature list.

• R - Revenue: Will this earn money now or very soon? If not, it’s a maybe.

• A - Adoption: Do you know more than half your early users care? Gut feeling doesn’t count early interviews do.

• T - Time to Build: Can you get it live this week, not “in Q3”? If it takes forever, kill it or break it down.

• E - Effort vs. Learning: Does the effort buy you real insight into what your users want next? If not, it’s vanity.

If a shiny feature idea fails 2+ of these questions, cut it. Or at least shove it to the backlog graveyard where good intentions go to die.

Lean teams that master ruthless scoping don’t ship perfect products they ship small ones that teach them fast. And fast learners win.

🛠️ Tool: Senja.io

Senja.io lets you collect, manage, and publish user testimonials in seconds.

Use it to:

• Auto-generate beautiful review cards for your landing page

• Collect video or text testimonials with one link

• Embed reviews anywhere (Notion, Typedream, Webflow)

Early users sell better than your landing page copy ever will.

📈 Trend: Micro-Events Are the New MVP for Community Builders

Big conferences sound impressive on a slide deck. But in reality, they’re expensive, exhausting, and often echo chambers for founders talking to other founders. Meanwhile, your real customers the ones who’d actually pay feel left out.

That’s why smart community-led startups are flipping the script with micro-events. Think 10–15 people. A coworking pop-up for a day. A 2-hour “problem workshop” that cuts straight to pain points. A private dinner for niche founders solving the same problem in different verticals.

Micro-events are cheap to run and brutally honest. You learn what to build, what to cut, and what you’re missing in your pitch in hours, not quarters. The conversations turn into authentic LinkedIn posts. The photos become trust signals for future buyers. And when done well, attendees become your loudest ambassadors because they didn’t just attend an event, they co-created your early roadmap.

Want to test demand for your community product? Don’t obsess over a fancy website. Host ten micro-events in ten cities. Where people show up there’s your market.

💬 Quote: Derek Sivers

Early-stage builders drown in maybes. Maybe we should add that feature for one noisy customer. Maybe we should chase that partnership that doesn’t quite fit. Maybe we should hire that so-so candidate because we’re tired. Each “maybe” steals time, cash, and momentum.

Derek’s quote is a clarifier. If that idea, hire, or opportunity doesn’t spark immediate conviction a deep, unmistakable yes you’re better off saying no. It’s not about arrogance; it’s about protecting your focus. Because your biggest competitor isn’t another startup it’s the thousand half-baked distractions that split your best energy into a hundred directions.

Before you say yes, pause. Is it a “hell yes”? If not, it’s a no. Clarity is free. Confusion is expensive. Sivers’ test could save your startup’s runway and your sanity.