Best of bootstrappingkiwi.substack.com on Kiwi News
Most upvoted by Kiwi News readers
16 stories from bootstrappingkiwi.substack.com have been shared on Kiwi News since 7 November 2023, with 116 upvotes and 13 comments in total. The latest was shared on 11 September 2025. They are listed below, most upvoted first.
Text under a title is an AI summary of the linked article.
- Is Kiwi News OK if its founders are arrested?
- A "Thank You" from Kiwi
Kiwi News founders Tim and Mac thank the Optimism (OP) community after the project received an OP RetroPGF grant, which they describe as a turnaround for their finances. They say the project had set a goal of 42,000 EUR in total income by June 2024 and was struggling to reach it through NFT sales alone. The grant of 28,495 OP, at 3.50 EUR a token, is described as double what they had aimed for in a year, and it extends their runway by a few months. They plan to distribute the funds to themselves and to contributors to Kiwi News until the RetroPGF voting stopped.
- iOS 17.4 is also an attack on crypto
Kiwi News's developer argues that Apple's iOS 17.4 update is a strategic attack on crypto apps that rely on Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). The update downgrades PWA functionality on iOS, which the author links to the EU's Digital Markets Act and browser-neutrality requirements. Under the update, installed Kiwi News PWAs will open as browser tabs rather than standalone apps, users who delegated upvoting power must re-delegate because the stored private key will be deleted, and push notifications will no longer be supported.
- People are much more real in person
The author, a crypto writer who describes themselves as a critic online, says people in person are far more candid and real than they appear on Twitter. After being told in person at Dappcon during Berlin Blockchain Week that they were often wrong, they also met people who expressed gratitude and respect for their online persona, which helped them accept that they cannot fundamentally change who they are. They argue that people in the crypto space state their positions candidly offline on controversial topics, such as the Dutch court's sentencing of Pertsev, because they feel safe from having their words used against them on Twitter. They conclude that more people should say online what they say offline, under their real names rather than pseudonyms.
- Why $kiwimas?
- Asymmetric wealth and my youth
The author, who went into startups and crypto nine years ago after university, argues that the asymmetric wealth strategy has not paid off and that their youth is running out to keep trying. Despite working hard at a startup, they say they did not get rich, and they now compare themselves unfavorably with a hypothetical 33-year-old who took a proper industry job and has grown wealth linearly. They are currently bootstrapping Kiwi News, a social network that pays them no salary, and they ask at what point they must abandon the strategy, for example to start a family.
- Leaving the Goldilocks zone
- Kiwi Karma is better than Rainbow Points or Warps
Kiwi Karma is argued to be more valuable than Warpcast Warps or Rainbow Points because it is computed from signed messages on a peer-to-peer network that anyone can verify. The writer says Kiwi News is built on a peer-to-peer protocol using set reconciliation, where a new link submission gives 1 Karma and each upvote gives 1 Karma. Each user's score is a view over these upvotes and links, so any node operator can reproduce the same score. The writer contrasts this with Warps and Points, which are integers in an SQL database.
- Cryptocurrencies as international rights guarantors
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are argued to be emerging global guarantors of private property, especially useful where governments fail to protect property rights. The author says Western investors mostly treat these assets as high-risk, high-reward bets similar to Uber or Airbnb stocks, overlooking this use. The argument cites self-custody, which makes holdings hard for governments to seize, stablecoins that can redeem fiat value at acquisition cost, and networks that have run for decades. The text also links the idea to Satoshi Nakamoto's Genesis block, which references a January 3, 2009 Times headline.
- Hardly any changes matter
- On bridging the web2-web3 gap
A large gap between web2 and web3 users looks hard to bridge, and disguised "web 2.5" apps such as Warpcast and Privy have not closed it. Warpcast cryptographically signs messages while looking like a Twitter clone, and Privy hides wallets in the backend, yet the Kiwi News founder has found no web2 user happy to be converted, and users usually realize they are entering crypto when a product limitation is mentioned. New users of Kiwi News would first have to bridge funds into Optimism, and the founder argues that showing the system as it is seems more honest and structurally scalable.
- Is this financial advice?
- The game is rigged
The author argues that the crypto startup game is rigged against bootstrapped founders, whose products are not judged on merit and who are not mentioned in press coverage because they lack VC-backed credentials and social capital. The post says VC-funded startups look for different traits than bootstrapped businesses, which need to make money from day one, so enshittification is part of their plan from the start. It cites the author's eight years in crypto and startups and claims that a bootstrapped product with no VC deal goes unmentioned in blog posts about new startups. It also states that a16z's crypto startup school contract prohibits founders who receive funding from speaking badly about a16z.
- Audience and reengagement
Kiwi News founder Tim Daub argues that builders of consumer apps must actively collect contact information and repeatedly remind users of their product, because users will not remember to return on their own. He says the team's Daily Active User chart rose only after Farcaster promoted Kiwi News as a mini app, and in-app notifications, already enabled, helped retain a small number of users. He contrasts owned channels such as email, push notifications and direct messages with Twitter and Farcaster, which rely on algorithmic recommendations. Kiwi News is now pursuing subscriptions to its Weekly newsletter, iOS TestFlight beta, Telegram group and Farcaster notifications.
- The state of things in August 2024
- Principles of bootstrapping
Bootstrapping means declining venture capital and having contributors work unpaid in exchange for a stake in the business, and the author argues that VC advice should be ignored by bootstrappers. The author contrasts this with VC funding, where investors expect outsized returns from each founder and push founders to obsess over users in ways that serve the investor. Kiwi News, the author's bootstrapped business, is cited as an example: its founders set their own expected outcome size and can aim to sustain modest living costs rather than grow to monopolize a market.