Hey there,

Do you know a common mistake all failed founders make?

They design a mouse-trap and assume customers will take the beaten path to it.

They try to launch it for free, blitz the market with paid ads, and wait for the magic to happen.

But all that happens is that they end up burning money on a product no one wants.

Success demands convincing customers to buy a product. That involves telling a compelling story, using sales as a metric of customer intent, and scaling up your marketing with content.

So, in this week’s newsletter, that’s what we will cover. In a nutshell, you will learn:

1. The 2-Step guide that will make you a master AI storyteller.
2. What happens when you give away your product for free.
3. A tool to help you create stellar visual content with 0 design experience.

Let’s dive in.

How To Become A Master AI Storyteller

This 2-tool combo is all you need!

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩-𝐛𝐲-𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 👇

1️⃣ Create your visuals with consistentcharacter.ai​

↳ In just 5 minutes you can generate 5 consistent images.

↳ Use the Prompt Easy to create a prompt, next visualise it with just 1 click.
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2️⃣ Switch to Kling AI for video creation

↳ Upload your saved images and let Kling AI bring them to life.

↳ One video generation → 5 minutes, and your character is animated!

Once you try it out, don’t forget to post the image and tag me on LinkedIn or on X.

Want To Give Away Your Products for Free? Read This First

First-time founders assume the best strategy is freebies (but that is wrong).

They think this will make it easier for them to gain initial users and show investors. (It doesn’t.)

Or they believe they need critical mass before monetizing, especially for apps that increase in value with users. (Like apps for online gaming, communications, or dating.)

Or they imagine it will be faster to get user feedback without having to justify the price.

What happens as a result? This model becomes unsustainable. And when the startup does start charging for it, all the customers leave.

• Remember Evernote? Once the darling of Silicon Valley, it had a generous free tier to build users. But once it started charging, its billion-dollar valuation plummeted, and it got acquired for a fraction of that price.
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• Then there was Quibi. Touted to disrupt Hollywood streaming, it failed to convince customers to pay after their free 90-day trial. The startup shut down within just six months despite some huge names investing in it.

”Free” Sends You Down The Wrong Rabbit Hole

See, a free tool brings in plenty of users who don't need the product. And their feedback can derail development, because they give you all kinds of wring signals.

We made this mistake. When we launched our Academy to teach children the growth mindset, leadership skills, and creativity, we made it free. Parents and children happily attended... until we began to charge for it.

That what when all our customers disappeared overnight. Every single one!

And we learned a hard lesson…

Test Your Ideas With Mini-Tools

The best metric to see whether you can convince customers to buy your product is to get them to buy it.

Of course, they may as k for trials. So, when you want to test your product, launch a mini-version of it for free. Not exactly free though—collect email addresses in exchange.

Observe the signals: how they receive it, how they use it, how much they talk about it on social media. Use the feedback to launch a paid tool with.

Once you get significant traction, you can turn it into a freemium product. (Free credits, trial period, limited features, etc.)

After my LinkedIn post went viral in 2022, I launched the Consistent Character GPT, a free app on the ChatGPT platform for people to create consistent AI images. It was a runaway success — 700,000+ uses to date and it still ranks high on the platform's App Store.

When you charge for your product from Day 1, you unlock several benefits:

• Immediate Revenue Validation: Each sale is proof that you are solving a real problem. People's willingness to pay removes guesswork from the equation.
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• Higher-quality customers: Paying customers tend to be more engaged, offer useful feedback, and have legit use cases. Their clear needs guides your product's improvement.
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• Resource efficiency: With revenue, you can extend your runway and make deliberate hiring decisions. You build a sustainable pace to fulfill market needs.
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• Investor attractiveness: Investors favor startups with proven revenue models. Even if it's modest in the beginning, it shows that you've found Product-Market Fit.
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• Strategic Focus: You will focus on solving specific problems of your paid customers rather than building broad, shallow features trying to appeal to everyone.

Successful Businesses Are Cash-Rich

The "free-first" model is a recipe for disaster. Paid products are what chart the path to profitability and growth.

The future will favor startups that charge appropriately from Day 1. They can bootstrap to $1.5 million ARR and beyond by building better products, hiring better people, and taking advantage of opportunities.

This becomes a virtuous cycle, one where they keep attracting customers, making better products, and growing, regardless of an uncertain investor climate.

Create Compelling Images to Capture Attention [Even With 0 Design Experience]

To grow your brand on social media, you need to post visual content. (You already know that, right? 😉)

But if you are not a designer, creating images and videos can feel daunting. (We totally hear you.)

If this is how you feel, we’ve got you covered with Consistentcharacter.ai.

Here is what some of our existing users think.

Haven’t signed up already? What are you waiting for? 😀

​Click here to take your image-generation to the next level!

Talk soon,

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Sachin and Diana.

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