Hey Reader, Time to talk about me. For a long time, my "inbox" was open to everyone. I’d spend hours every week in "quick coffee chats" and "free 15-minute brainstorms." I told myself I was being helpful. I told myself I was building a community. I was wrong. I was just avoiding my own main lever. I realized that by giving away 10% of my focus to fifty different people, I was stealing 100% of my intensity from the clients who actually moved the needle. I wasn't being generous — I was being...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, A founder reached out to me last week with a "job opportunity." He had a finished product, a clean UI, and a pitch deck. He said, "Dmitry, I’ve seen your playbooks. You know how to talk to customers. I want to hire you to handle the sales so I can focus on building." I smiled. Then I told him two things he didn't want to hear. First, I asked: "If I’m the one finding the customers, closing the deals, and hearing the feedback — why exactly do I need you?" It sounds harsh, but it’s...
14 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, We are days away from 2026. Right now, you’re probably making a list of goals. "Launch the startup," "Get to $10k MRR," "Quit the day job." But goals without a system are just wishes. If you spent 2025 "building" but not selling, don't repeat that mistake next year. You don't need more features. You need Traction. I built The Traction OS to help you validate your idea and get paid in weeks, not months. ⚠️ Important Update: Since launching last month, I’ve kept the price at a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
This week, I worked with a client who was ready to scale their app. They had a decent landing page and a good offer. They had spent $2,500 on a small ad campaign. The conversion rate was terrible. Their immediate thought: “The ad copy is bad. We need better creative.” My response: “Stop the campaign. Now.” The problem wasn’t the ad copy, or the offer, or the landing page. It was one missing, non-AI feature: basic event logging. You cannot buy data if you can’t capture it. Running ads before...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
A founder comes to me, defeated. "Dmitry, I sent 50 cold emails. I pitched the new angle. Zero replies. The market just isn't interested." They are ready to pivot. They are ready to kill the idea. I tell them to stop. You didn't invalidate your idea. You just stopped before you even started. In the modern attention economy, sending one message and getting no reply is not a "No." It is a "I didn't see you." You cannot scientifically validate a hypothesis without a sequence. Data shows it takes...
2 months ago • 1 min read