Kevin is the founder and CEO of AfterHour, the stock market super app for active traders. On WallStreetBets, he was known as SirJack, the day trader who turned $35,000 into $8M. A former engineer at Stripe and YouTube, he is also a serial founder.

In this episode:

How Kevin used Reddit to seed his initial audience

The positives and negatives of building for consumers in 2024

How he tackles the search for product-market fit

Why he loves big hats

Full episode guide:

(00:39) Is 2024 a good time to build in consumer?

(02:48) The two viable paths for consumer startups

(06:00) What Kevin learned from his last two startups

(07:44) Finding product-market fit and why he focuses on DAUs above all

(09:49) How AfterHour works

(15:01) What Kevin learned at Stripe and YouTube

(19:37) How Kevin traded his way from $35,000 to $8M

(24:54) Community as a moat

(26:46) The death of friend-based social networks?

(28:55) Balancing startup life with fatherhood

(30:00) What’s the deal with the big hat?

Where to find Kevin:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imkevinxu/

Twitter: @imkevinxu

Website: https://afterhour.com

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