building irl/url @FlexSuperApp
San Francisco
Joined January 2025
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they'll wire u $2m but wont download an app
things vc's say at dinner:
- “this is off the record” (it's not)
- “let me intro you” (will not)
- “we’re seeing a lot of this” (AI)
- “i was an operator” (consultant)
- “we’re early in the process” (they passed)
not at our dinners tho
@FlexSuperApp events are where the real juicy convos happen
Tim He retweeted
Thrilled to announce Flex's partnership with AppLovin!
If you're an ecomm brand doing $10M+ in annual revenue, you're going to love this:
> Up to 5% cashback for your first 12 months
> Up to $50K in ad credits
> Access to a Dedicated AppLovin Rep
> Dedicated Flex Relationship Manager
Sign up using the link in the replies and shoot me a DM.
I'll personally help you get started and unlock these rewards!
Tim He retweeted
The job doesn't have a name yet.
And it's probably the closest thing to a founder you can hire.
Startups call it brand, comms, storytelling, special projects, or whatever else fits the org chart.
But the skill set is pretty distinct:
terminally online, sharp taste, high agency, pattern recognition, the ability to turn cultural moments into bangers,etc
I'm lucky to be working in this emerging corner of the startup economy.
Here's a few things I've noticed.
1. You have to hire for potential, not just proof.
The role is so new that the perfect candidate probably doesn't exist yet. People need time to absorb the ecosystem, develop their instincts, experiment with formats, and figure out what actually works. You can't expect someone to walk in on day one with the entire playbook figured out.
2. The best people are hard to hire because they'd rather build their own thing.
3. Founders know they need this person, but struggle to explain what they're hiring for.
The job description usually captures 20% of the role. The rest is a weird combination of cultural intuition, creative judgment, distribution, storytelling, and execution that doesn't fit neatly into a conventional title.
4. The biggest bottleneck is creative freedom
You need someone who can see things differently, recognize patterns before they become obvious, and turn those insights into something people actually care about.
It's design thinking applied to marketing and narrative
I've been lucky to have a founder take a chance on me and give me the room to test different hooks, experiment with formats, play with memes, explore internet subcultures, and follow patterns that other people might miss.
The result has been a massive win for the brand.
I think more startups are going to realize that this is a role worth hiring for in 2027.
Tim He retweeted
The number one rule when hiring for this role is to guarantee absolute freedom in creative direction.
Let them freely express their criticisms and random thoughts on any subject matter.
The content game is already highly saturated with millions of creators posting crazy stuff every second.
If you limit or try to manage a creator’s vision you will never get the results you wanted because what made that person special was their innate curiosity and way of expressing it.
If you don’t understand what this means you are not ready to hire a head of content.
Tim He retweeted
I LITERALLY PREDICTED THIS IN MY ARTICLE.
> Tech companies NEED creatives
> These creatives are hybrid roles
> THE TOP SKILL IS WRITING
> High demand, low supply
When there’s too much of one (tech), the pendulum always swings back (creative).
(For the record, I wrote this article over a month ago, but the convo around the creative roles in tech has been buzzing this week)
Tim He retweeted
every tech company is struggling to find a chronically online social media creative that just gets it
Tim He retweeted
Head of Content is the most valuable hire for VC-backed tech companies right now.
I’m getting 10+ DMs a day from startups asking me to lead their growth.
Having one employee generate millions of organic views > spending millions on paid ads.
Distribution is everything.
Tim He retweeted
Head of Content is the most in-demand skill in all of business right now.
I've spent the last 6 years building the brands you love.
Today, I'm revealing how to be an elite Head of Content.
Genuinely so much value. I wish someone had written this for me years ago. Enjoy.
Tim He retweeted
Come join the team.
We're a small band at Notion who write, design, film, and ship our own work. Nobody here does just one thing, and nobody's job looks exactly like the one they were hired for.
Imo the JDs are fuzzy on purpose. We're not looking for someone to run a playbook. We want people who can build something n of 1 too.
I’m crafting a team of these very special folks @NotionHQ — I struggle to write JDs for these roles because everyone here on the team now is n of 1, and the “job” reveals itself as we talk.
Everyone works directly with @ivanhzhao @akothari, our legendary engineering, AI, design, and product team, as well as marketing, ecosystems, and more — and Storytelling’s expertise is valued deeply as an equal partner on solving business problems.
And I know we all talk about the rise of the “super IC” but it is true for us — Notion as a culture rewards people who make things amazing over those who just run things made by others, and that’s true for Storytelling. @ishverduzco @jamesjacoby_ @nikhilville @iscoe and some others TBA are coooooooking.
I do have a few more roles/problems-to-solve opening up … come talk to me before I have to write an insufficient JD for your brilliant spikiness. I’m looking for a “head of soft power” (eg, external media and creator lead), an Instagram creator and strategist, YouTube show runner, and [insert your pitch here].
Tim He retweeted
We hit $100M in ARR as fast as some of the biggest names in fintech, including PayPal, Ramp and Brex.
now processing over $20B in annualized TPV across credit cards, banking, working capital, and much more.
the ambition is to build THE global private bank for UHNWIs, bringing business banking, personal finances and wealth management together under one roof.
2027 is going to be a massive year.
Tim He retweeted
flashscaling = decade of growth in a year
there is a small handful of companies (including the labs) scaling like no company ever before, and 1) the GTM folks and 2) finance/compute folks at those companies will have uniquely in-demand experience in the next era
Tim He retweeted
ive talked to many teams in the past few months who are thinking about this but dont know quite what to call it/have called it everything from brand marketing to comms to storytelling to special projects to content/social
4 high-profile startups in past ~2 weeks have explicitly told me they are stealthily looking to hire for someone in this sort of role
these roles are quietly and quickly exploding if your ear is to the ground!!
Tim He retweeted
literal hardest role to hire for rn and every ai startup wants someone
> chronically online (knows trends)
> has taste & can create (new media)
> understands ai & technical
> can execute with quality (operator)
such a small niche of folks who can do this
ive talked to many teams in the past few months who are thinking about this but dont know quite what to call it/have called it everything from brand marketing to comms to storytelling to special projects to content/social
4 high-profile startups in past ~2 weeks have explicitly told me they are stealthily looking to hire for someone in this sort of role
these roles are quietly and quickly exploding if your ear is to the ground!!
6 months ago, i'd tell ppl i work at flex and they'd be like "who? what? brex?"
things are very different now.
the other week i was at an event and i told someone i work at flex and:
her: THE flex??
me: idk? we do x, y, and z
her: yeah THE flex, you're THE flex
me: ........
me: damn right
huge part of this is thanks to @defyneric
he drove nearly 10M organic views last quarter.
founders, ceos, vcs, and operators from all over the world know about flex because of eric.
Tim He retweeted
wanted to do a quick re-intro for all my new friends here on X.
my name is Eric. i’m 20 years old and currently work at Flex, where i spend most of my time building our brand presence, driving distribution and thinking about the future of fintech + banking.
i never went to college.
most of my education has come from obsessively asking questions, talking to founders/operators and spending way too much time reverse engineering how great companies are actually built.
somewhere along the way i started posting what i was learning on X.
no real strategy. just posting genuinely useful content about fintech, banking and interesting companies building in the space.
that ended up taking off way more than i expected and introduced me to some of the smartest people i’ve ever met.
right now i’m especially obsessed with:
> the future of banking
> GTM + distribution
> fintech business models
> engineering virality
still extremely early in my career and have a ridiculous amount left to learn.
very grateful for everyone following along and especially for the people who’ve taken the time to give me advice along the way.
if you’re building something interesting in fintech, banking or business, leave a comment :)
always happy to meet new people!
Tim He retweeted
the biggest cheat code in life is staying curious and always asking questions.
oftentimes as a kid, i was put down by people older than me for asking too many questions.
biggest psyop EVER.
i never went to college, so a huge part of my education has come from asking people ahead of me an almost obscene number of questions.
how does the product work? why did you build it this way? how does the company make money? what would you be building if you weren’t building this?
i’ve learned more from grilling founders than i ever could have learned in a formal education setting.
i encourage every single one of you to keep asking questions, especially to people more senior than you.
never let someone make you feel small for wanting to understand more.
keep asking why. keep asking how.