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Dan Bulteel

The AI Founder Rollercoaster: Fun If You Like Fear

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A four-hour flight with no Wi-Fi gave me the perfect excuse to reflect - and write about what life as an AI founder actually feels like. (It’s also a decent cure for plane boredom)

TL;DR: Some days I can’t imagine doing anything else. Other days I wonder what I’m doing.

A rollercoaster is the perfect analogy - you're there because you want to be, but you're often afraid, and there's parts when it goes up and moments when it goes down.

Every week, especially in AI, is a mind-bender - it might be major platforms commoditising features like yours, new well-invested startups in a similar space coming with innovative ideas - but in case you're in the same boat, actually that's REALLY good...

The more you can see the red ocean, the more you can focus on the elements of your business that allow you to swim to the warmer, calmer blue seas.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

🔻 The downs

  • Sleep debt is real (my new Ultra 3 watch doesn’t lie). Does anyone here actually not do insane hours and days? Not said with pride, said with 'is there another way' energy?

  • SaaS costs are a chokehold (special mention to HubSpot, their pricing paths are infuriating, but I respect them as someone now thinking about that type of thing)

  • Customer feedback doesn't grow on trees. "Talk to your users every day" is the wisdom, it's not that easy. People are people, people are busy, so finding ways to get rich insights is another job on top of the job.

  • Momentum feels addictive - and fragile.

  • Fundraising is basically Tinder. Fun fact, it took me 4 years to get my (now) wife to go on a date with me, so I'm ready for this game.

🔺 The ups

  • Evolution is exciting: Meet-Ting went from closed beta → open beta → WhatsApp in 2 months.

  • The shark infested waters of the last two months (Perplexity, ChatGPT, YC-backed companies helped us see a blue ocean right in time for our next phase)

  • Freedom to build and market how we life: plain-English T&Cs, build in public and share data openly, fun SaaS videos.

  • The founder community is awesome, especially here on PH. We've got some really great virtual relationships going on and just connected with another PH company to potentially partner on a technical problem

⚖️ Somewhere in the middle

  • Luck. A big partnership fell through Friday → Monday night, one of the biggest tech companies in the world emailed to pilot. That’s the ride, but my heart rate struggles.

Founder life is toxic fun. Equal parts fear + excitement, just like a theme park.

Wouldn’t change it (most days).

Full blog here on our Substack: https://chiefting.substack.com/p/the-founder-rollercoaster-fun-if

If you’re thinking about starting your own journey, my DMs are open.

If you also just want to vent, same DM open to you!

-Dan

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Sanskar Yadav
Cal ID

Couldn’t agree more 🙌

Building in AI feels like living on fast-forward, with wins and headaches in equal quantities.
It’s wild, exhausting, but honestly more rewarding than anything else. Thanks for putting these feelings into words!

Dan Bulteel

@sanskarix Living on fast forward is a line I wish I had wrote! Thanks for positive energy, appreciate you!

Theo Crewe-Read

Really awesome article, thank you for taking the time to write and share! Addictive and fragile momentum is what stood out to me. Unfortunately so relatable...

Things happen so quickly in this space it's hard not to exist in a constant state of worry.

Dan Bulteel

@theo_crewe_read Feel the same way. And thank you! I read Blue Ocean again recently, I would recommend if you haven’t already, as it helps you to think about navigating the speed of the market by always thinking about how you can swim back to the blue ocean. Keeps me sane as new products and existing platforms innovate in my company’s space.

Theo Crewe-Read

@dbul That's not a book that was on my radar, so I really appreciate that! Certainly not a battle that is there to be won so mental clarity on the matter is super important

Dan Bulteel
@theo_crewe_read Love that, also why running is key (saw your profile)
Theo Crewe-Read

@dbul Haha yes absolutely. I can definitely credit a lot to it as a sport! Just ordered Blue Ocean :)

Dan Bulteel
Roozbeh Firoozmand
Sellkit

Beautifully said. The honesty hits hard. founder life really is that strange mix of adrenaline and exhaustion where you can’t tell if you’re thriving or surviving. Love how you framed competition as a sign you’re in the right ocean. Thanks for putting words to what most of us quietly feel.

Dan Bulteel

@roozbehfirouz Equally such a beautifully written comment, thank you! Thriving or surviving is also another line I wish I had thought of! Will borrow with pride in future.

Kai
CREAO

Absolutely agree, this is a spot-on summary of the founder journey. The ups and downs, constant uncertainty, and the drive to keep pushing forward really capture what it’s like to build something new. Thanks for putting these founder feelings into words so honestly!

Dan Bulteel

@chengka7 Thank you for the good energy and glad we’re all in the same boat (even if it’s always stormy :))

Ali Aldjaei
Kaiden AI

Sleep debt is on point. I had a baby girl 5 months after our pre seed raise and having to juggle parenthood and early stage start up is.... fun.

Good read!

Dan Bulteel

@ali_aldjaei You’re playing on extreme mode, didn’t know that level existed! Congrats on the family and hope the business is going well too! Respect.

Sophia Kim

Well said. It’s really reassuring to know that I’m not alone.

Dan Bulteel

@sophia_kim2 All in the same rocky boat, this week has been particularly rocky for what it is worth!