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In this episode of Startup Strategies, Juliana sits down with 19-year-old Zyad Djouad, co-founder of Lens, who's rewriting the startup playbook from his college dorm room. After spending countless nights editing videos for his 370K subscriber YouTube channel, Zyad discovered a gap that would become his breakthrough - no AI tool existed for prompt-based video editing. What followed defies conventional wisdom: 13,000 organic waitlist signups in one week, Y Combinator partners reaching out after a single Reddit post, and Zyad actively turning down six-figure investment offers.
From reconnecting with childhood gaming partners who built billion-impression Roblox studios to converting passive email subscribers into 2,500 active Discord beta testers, Zyad shares the unconventional strategies behind building what could disrupt Adobe's video editing dominance. He reveals why 10K Twitter views outperform 1M Instagram impressions, his "money amplifies what you already have" investment philosophy, and the pivot moment when enterprise clients showed they'd pay premium for an AI-powered footage organization. This conversation challenges everything you think you know about startup funding, co-founder selection, and building in public.
Zyad shares:
• Why solving your own desperate problem beats market research
• The platform physics that drive real conversion vs vanity metrics
• How childhood friends with pre-built trust outperform MBA co-founders
• The Discord strategy that turns waitlists into product development teams
• Why refusing investor money can be the smartest strategic move
Let’s break down his Startup Strategies!
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