Film yourself explaining the tool, using the 'I made a website called...' format

JosephFor a lot of people, that might be founder-led content. Cuz otherwise, you have the chicken and egg problem of you can't reach out to creators if you don't have the social proof of already having some traction on socials. So would you recommend people start with founder-led, just pick up the phone, like make a TikTok?

MattA 100%. So I, when I grew my own startup, I didn't work with any creators. I made all the content myself. Some of that was me, some of that was kind of utilizing clips from friends and family, but the very first video for my old startup, which was Citesure, went semi-viral, couple 100k views, it was me talking at my phone. And I'd never made a TikTok before that, and it was the most- one of the hardest things I've had to do. It was horrifically cringe filming it. I can barely watch it even now,

Mattbut you've got to do it. Because if you're not willing to do it, it's it's also hard, I think, to expect others to do it. And I think I would not be anywhere near as good at my role now if I hadn't done it myself. It's very difficult to tell creators this is what works, this is what doesn't work, and judge what works and what doesn't work if I hadn't done it myself. So it's a huge skill not just for that initial phase, but also as you go on and …

JosephI think that kind of shows like it's kind of all in the hook and the subject matter. It's like if it's a good You're speaking to the pain point and it's a good hook, you can get a lot of views on the very first video. So, okay, let's just watch the video. Let's see what we can learn.

Matt (video)Made a website called I have an essay due at midnight and ChatGPT won't stop giving me fake citations .com. And this website is for when you have an essay due at midnight, but ChatGPT won't stop giving you completely made-up citations. Basically, you just upload all of the citations that ChatGPT's given you, and in seconds, it tells you which of them are real and which of them it's completely made up. What it also does is it uses AI to suggest real replacements for the fake papers. And this is also super helpful for passing AI detectors, like Turnitin. So, if that sounds like it might be useful, or maybe you have an essay due at midnight, go to ihaveanessaydueatmidnightandchatgptwontstopgivingmefakecitations.com. I'll put a shorter link in the comments.

Joseph"I'll put a shorter link in the comments." Interesting. Wow. That's actually a really good video. It's like I've seen this format a couple of times where it's like the really long, like comically like long URL.

JosephWhat was your thought process in in making this video?

MattI think when you are just first starting out and if you're like me, you've never made a video before, you know, you've got a MVP that's completely vibe-coded, you do not need to reinvent the wheel with content at this stage. You don't need go from 0 to 1k MRR by inventing a completely new format. Find what works, kind of understand, have the ability to introspect on your own strengths and kind of imitate/adapt. So, it was It is so I I didn't pioneer this format, like you say, it was out there, but,

Mattyou know, I was able to adapt it to my own to my own tool, and adapted a little bit with It was wasn't completely ripped word-for-word, it was taken as a format and adapted, and, yeah, I think, don't watch it back a year later, that's also the advice I've probably got because it's it's a tough watch, but, um, yes, you don't need to reinvent the wheel, but get yourself on camera. I know a lot of people try to start with things like carousels, …