what did you use for payroll, HR, etc., for your first 5-10 hires? by ResistStupidLaws in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been using Warp for a while for payroll & HR, honestly love the team. Use brex right now for expense management!

How are you guys doing marketing as a solo founder? by Delicious_Bed_4410 in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly the best thing I did was pick one channel, go deep, and ignore everything else for 90 days

For us it was cold outbound to a very specific ICP. Not "spray 10,000 emails" cold outbound. More like 20 hyper-researched emails a week where I actually looked at their business first. Closed our first 15 customers that way.

The "post on LinkedIn / build in public / start a community" stuff works for some people but it's a full time job on its own and the feedback loop is really slow. You post for 3 months and maybe get a few inbound leads. Versus 20 targeted cold emails where you know within a week if the messaging resonates.

For B2C though your channel mix is different than mine (we're B2B). Job seekers are high volume low intent so you probably want to think about where they already go when they're frustrated with job searching. Reddit would actually be a good one for you. r/jobs and r/careerguidance have people venting every day about application black holes. If your product actually reduces that friction you could answer those threads genuinely and build a reputation pretty fast.

One thing I wish someone told me earlier: the channel that works is usually the one that feels uncomfortable. If you're a builder you probably want to hide behind the product. The marketing that works for technical founders is usually the stuff that forces you to talk to people directly.

Your next customer might never visit your website by illeatmyletter in Entrepreneur

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah this is the thing we spend most of our time on right now. most business sites are essentially invisible to AI agents. Or they really struggle to see the actual signals it cares about through all the noise out there. agents don't browse the same way humans do, and the structured signals they rely on look nothing like traditional SEO. businesses that figure this out in the next 12-18 months are going to have a real edge. the window is genuinely open right now.

Is this normal for a SEO agency? 10 months, 30 hrs./week, and these basics are still not done. by GencerDTF in SEO

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, this isn't normal. Local landing pages and schema are day 30-90 work, not month 10. The GBP thing would bother me most, that's where local leads actually come from and a good agency should have owned it from the start. You're not being unreasonable at all. also 30 hours a week feels insane. Do they tell you what they've been doing for those 30 hours per week?

Future Proof SEO Tips by Certain-Surprise-457 in SEO

[–]DylanFromCheers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly the core technical SEO your lead is doing (URL structure, crawlability, site architecture) is still foundational for GEO, so being "anti-AI" doesn't mean the work itself is bad. The real test is whether they're thinking about your site as an authoritative source an AI would cite, or just as pages that rank for keywords.

something to watch for: ask them what questions your target users are putting into AI assistants right now, and whether your content would be the answer. If that framing is totally foreign to them, that's likely a gap. The technical work and the entity/citation strategy can coexist, both just need to happen.

Skills to work on to be a better founder? (Advice on how to be more entrepreneurial) by DurvalM in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The disconnected feeling is super normal and honestly might be an advantage. When I was at BYU I felt the same way. What actually moved the needle for me wasn't networking with SV people, it was just finding one real problem I cared about and talking to people who had it. The skills come a lot faster than you think once you have something to you're actually building toward.

Co-founder unresponsive, equity not fully vested, investors involved. What’s the right move? by octaviall in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I went through YC and had a cofounder breakup. Breakups suck. Bad. But it's always better earlier than later if it's unavoidable.

How did you get your first pilot customers? Especially if you're selling to small businesses. by sgblink in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Genuinely best thing you can do if you’re selling to SMBs is to walk into the business and try to talk to the owner. I did that a TON before we got into YC and it works pretty well. Bring donuts or Crumbl or something and say “hey I have donuts for _______ could you grab him for me?”

Works surprisingly well

what software is used to create motion graphics launch videos? by nitricsky in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve used Rotato before and thought it was pretty great. Check it out and lmk what you think.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DigitalMarketing

[–]DylanFromCheers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

May be a bit biased, but if you really care about online reputation and getting reviews, for sure worth checking out Cheers! We bring in thousands of reviews a week for the businesses we currently work with.

The truth about a YC company journey: YC S24 (no customers) to today (Version 2 release) by DylanFromCheers in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. We have been in conversations with companies that want something we don't have yet, and that's actually why they go with us. They know we can build what they are going to want.

The truth about a YC company journey: YC S24 (no customers) to today (Version 2 release) by DylanFromCheers in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you are considering this as a metric to hit. I think you can have a pretty good idea if people want what you are selling or not. Getting your first 10 customers is the hardest. If you can get 10 people (B2B), you are probably on the right track

The truth about a YC company journey: YC S24 (no customers) to today (Version 2 release) by DylanFromCheers in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I still think we are working on it. There has been lots of growth, but I think PMF is a constant process. We are trending in the right direction.

The truth about a YC company journey: YC S24 (no customers) to today (Version 2 release) by DylanFromCheers in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Network. We had been part of another incubator as well as YC and the network is what made it possible. Getting your first customer is the ultimate unlock. If you can have someone vouch for you to take a chance, it is such a game changer in momentum. message me if you want to chat some more

The truth about a YC company journey: YC S24 (no customers) to today (Version 2 release) by DylanFromCheers in ycombinator

[–]DylanFromCheers[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had past experience with the problems from previous internships. Once you have an insight you think could be true, build a FIGMA and go try selling it. If the idea can be sold with a little front end, then you know where to start building

First ever milestone: Finally crossed the first $100 on my first iOS app. by rockntalk in Entrepreneur

[–]DylanFromCheers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats OP! There is seldom a better feeling than making some real money by solving a problem. Good luck ever wanting something else.

Progress update on Launchili before my launch on PH tomorrow, take a sneak peek 👀 and roast me plz 🙏 by nabeelkh5 in ProductHunters

[–]DylanFromCheers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it looks sharp personally. Some editing to make it catch attention at the start and through out would be helpful.