lunin / lunin is on Nostr

Founder & CEO @ Shegby, Inc. (Web3 KYC SaaS & Network State). MBA, JD in Digital Forensics, Certified e-commerce consultant.

Last Notes

2025-06-12 04:36:46

Founder's thoughts: The best source of inspiration is a closed door!
The famous Playboy centrefolds featuring the "girl next door" were actually born out of desperation. The magazine's editors couldn't find a suitable photo of a professional model from the agencies for an upcoming issue.
So they took a bold step. They photographed a half-dressed staff member and published her story alongside the photos - emphasising that she wasn't a model, just a normal woman.
To their surprise, hundreds of everyday women queued up to be featured in future issues.
From then on, Playboy had no trouble finding models for its centrefolds.
The lesson: if you feel stuck or desperate in your start-up, don't keep banging your head against a closed door. Instead, look inside and ask yourself what unexpected internal resources you could use to solve the problem.
No need to get naked - just think creatively.

2025-06-12 04:36:46

2025-06-11 04:01:15

Most successful startups don't end up with the idea they started with!
In fact, around 95% of those that eventually get acquired or go public do so after pivoting - sometimes more than once.
It's a lot like building software: the first version is almost always thrown away. But without that first version, there's no foundation, no real feedback and no spark for version two.
That's why obsessing over every detail before launch is often a waste of time. You can't think your way to product-market fit in advance. The market has the last word, and it rarely says what you expect.
So don't wait for perfect. Start messy. Build, release, learn, repeat. That's how real breakthroughs happen. Dropbox, Slack, Twitter - none of them looked anything like their final form when they started.
Launch early. Be wrong quickly. And keep moving.

2025-06-10 06:33:05

Founder's thoughts: Staying in one job could be holding you back!
It's an unexpected finding based on two simple observations. First, most companies tend to raise salaries by only about 5.9% a year. Second, when professionals move to a new company, they usually get a pay rise of at least 10%.
Over time, this difference increases. Someone who changes jobs every few years could be earning at least 50% more after a decade than someone who stays in the same position. The logic isn't limited to employees - it also applies to entrepreneurs.
If you keep doing the same things in the same way, you can expect the same modest growth. But if you want to significantly increase your income, you need to "change jobs" in a broader sense: take on new challenges, approach familiar problems in new ways, or explore entirely new markets.
When was the last time you really changed what you do - or how you do it?

2025-06-09 15:32:37

Great products don't win - great distribution does!
Most founders dream of creating exceptional products. However, the hard truth is that an average product with a powerful distribution system will usually outperform a brilliant product with mediocre distribution.
The gold standard of distribution occurs when existing users bring in new ones. Dropbox achieved this by encouraging file sharing and offering extra storage for referrals.
However, they encountered an issue — only 40% of new signups ever uploaded a file, let alone invited others. So the team finally tested their viral loop with real users.
None of the first five testers uploaded and shared a file after registering. This failure resulted in a complete redesign of the onboarding process.
Viral growth only works when each user successfully brings in more than one engaged new user. And 'engaged' doesn't just mean signing up — it means actually starting to use the product.
Dropbox realised that even if a user sent invites to 100 contacts, of those who clicked, only 50% signed up and of those, only 10% uploaded a file, meaning the true viral coefficient was just 0.5, not 5. This final drop-off ruined the whole loop.
So ask yourself: does your product have a distribution system designed for real engagement, or just surface-level growth? Or is your product's viral engine breaking down right before it matters?

2025-06-08 05:04:06

Strong founders don’t just work hard — they create systems.
They create systems for product development, marketing, sales, hiring, onboarding and customer support, as well as for seemingly trivial tasks such as updating a restaurant's menu. They structure everything they do.
A simple rule: if a founder does something more than three times, they should either stop doing it or turn it into a system.
A real system is something that can run without the founder’s constant involvement and be scaled up simply by adding more people or money. This means that while one system is producing results, the founder can focus on building the next one.
Over time, these systems start to build on each other. Each one continues to deliver results with the same initial effort, and together they compound, leading to exponential growth that appears effortless from the outside.
Ultimately, an idea without a system isn't worth much.

2025-06-07 19:31:36

Founder's thoughts: Startups, according to Mozart!
A young composer once approached Mozart with a question: "How can I learn to write symphonies?"
Mozart replied, "You are young. Start with something simple, and work your way up to symphonies."
The composer protested, "But you wrote your first symphony when you were younger than I am now!"
Mozart calmly replied, "Yes, but I didn’t ask anyone how to do it."
Starting a business is a lot like writing a symphony.
You can read guides, follow advice, or study the greats — but at some point, the only thing that really matters is this: stop waiting for permission, stop collecting tips, and just start.
Your version might be messy or brilliant — but it has to be yours.

2025-06-02 15:41:02

Take it step by step and it will work!
Sometimes ChatGPT and similar tools provide incorrect answers to simple logic or maths problems. However, this is easily remedied by guiding the AI to solve things step by step.
The simplest way to do this is to add a phrase such as 'show the solution step by step' to your prompt. Another approach is to break the problem down into smaller parts and ask the AI to tackle them one at a time.
I learnt this the hard way when I tried to write a small program using ChatGPT. As I had no coding experience, I naturally worked step by step, starting with a basic prompt and then asking the AI to add, fix or adjust things one piece at a time. And it worked!
Later, I decided to combine all the prompts into one big request to save for the future. However, when I gave this to ChatGPT for testing, the result was nonsense.
Here’s what I learned:
Don't give employees big, complex tasks straight away — most people aren't much smarter than ChatGPT.
Don't try to tackle a huge problem all at once by yourself — you probably aren't capable of that either.
And don't try to build a massive start-up straight away. Because your flaws, combined with those of your team, will only multiply.
The first version of your start-up should be as simple as possible.
Take it step by step — that’s how progress is made.

2025-06-01 14:08:25

- reply

Well done, Sondre!

2025-06-01 10:47:05

Hey friends,
We're developing Shegby, a decentralised identity and KYC system based on our HumanRank algorithm. Unlike traditional KYC, HumanRank enables peer-to-peer identity verification that aligns with Bitcoin's ethos: trustless, censorship-resistant and self-sovereign.
We are now seeking financial support in the form of donations or micro-grants to help us adapt and integrate HumanRank with Bitcoin-compatible protocols, including Nostr, Lightning and decentralised messaging.
If you're interested in helping us to bring fair identity verification to the Bitcoin economy, with no central authority and with full user control, we'd love to hear from you!
Get in touch or zap us — any help, introductions or sats are appreciated!
Dmitrii
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitrylunin/
lunin.btc: bc1qjlynnng85n6wlyfl8dykyzulamtr57vrhzfmeq
shegby.btc: bc1qpcxf8l8c9w6ms7vhl9cgc0xja7k7qrq79gc96n
Built by plebs, for plebs — let's make identity sovereign again!

2025-06-01 08:38:21

Is a good idea the key to making money?
I recently came across the following popular phrase in a chat: 'It's easy to come up with an idea, but very hard to make money from it.' It received a lot of likes, but it's actually a dangerous mindset.
It implies that you can make money from any idea if you work hard enough, but that's simply not true. But that’s simply not true.
You could pour your heart and soul into an idea and still see tiny results. Maybe it’s the wrong market, the timing is off, the audience is wrong, or it's just not important enough.
In fact, the better the idea, the easier it is to monetise. A more accurate phrase would therefore be: 'It's hard to come up with an idea that's easy to make money from', or 'It's easy to come up with an idea that's hard to monetise.'
If you’re struggling to earn anything from your idea, either it's a bad idea or you're not very smart.
But let's be honest: it's not your fault, right?

2025-06-01 08:38:21