I'm the co-founder of Transistor.fm (podcast hosting and analytics). I write about SaaS marketing, bootstrapping startups, pursuing a good life, building calm companies, business ethics, and creating a better society.
Eye-opening experience
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Happy Saturday! Here are a few things on my mind... Warren Buffett's gameGreat post on Farnam Street: Students often go to visit Warren Buffett. And when they do, he often plays a little game on them.
He asks each student to pick the classmate they would choose if they could have 10% of their earnings for the rest of their life. Which classmate would you pick and why?
Then he changes things up again. Who would you think least likely to succeed? Why?
He asks the students to take out a sheet of paper and list the positive attributes on the left and the negative ones on the right.
Inevitably, the most useful qualities have nothing to do with IQ, grades, or family connections. People pick based on generosity, kindness, and integrity.
Who would you choose? Which personal qualities matter most to you? Helping a filmmakerI’m helping a filmmaker who’s made the definitive documentary on the history of podcasting. The film is called The Age of Audio. Here’s the trailer: The filmmaker's name is Shaun Michael Colón (he's the creator of another documentary I loved, A Fat Wreck). The whole experience has been eye-opening. I've always loved documentaries, and it's been fascinating to see behind the scenes how these films get initial funding, made, and then distributed. Shaun's tenacity blows me away. It took him seven years to make the movie, and he has faced tons of obstacles along the way. From the Dallas Observer: Just two years ago, Colón was worried that his vision would never become reality. Even with interviews already secured with big-name podcasters, including Marc Maron, Ira Glass, and Kevin Smith, the funding he'd set aside for the documentary had dried up. My goals are to:
PS: If you're really keen to see the movie (and help review it on IMDB/Letterboxd), reply to this email. I'll send a screener to a few of you to watch the whole thing. PPS: If you're interested in sponsoring (and having your company logo appear in the credits), please let me know! What goes viral?I keep thinking of this quote by Dax: "The things that go the most viral are the things that are contrarian in a shallow way." Feels so true. Thoughts? Let me hear them! Also, if you have a friend who would like this, please tell them to subscribe! Cheers, PS: We had a mystery guest join us on The Panel! 👀 |
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I'm the co-founder of Transistor.fm (podcast hosting and analytics). I write about SaaS marketing, bootstrapping startups, pursuing a good life, building calm companies, business ethics, and creating a better society.
The first time I sat down and used Claude Code's Opus 4.5 to build software, I couldn't believe how good it was. My next thought was: this is going to change the dynamics inside software teams. Read this article online See comments on Hacker News The standoff between roles Marc Andreessen described this moment as a “Mexican standoff:” Every engineer now thinks they can be a PM and a designer. Every PM thinks they can code and design. Every designer thinks they can do the other two. The risk...
Hey friends, Join us today, FRIDAY (March 5) at 11 AM Pacific (2 pm EST) for the Panel live! Remember: we're no longer livestreaming on Justin's personal YouTube channel. Make sure you're subscribed to The Panel's channel to get notified when we go live. Subscribe to The Panel YouTube Channel Today on the Panel The host will be ███████ ██████ They'll be talking about his ████ ███████ Should be fun! Also, as always, we're available on these fine 🎧 audio podcast apps: Apple Podcasts Spotify...
Hey friends, Changes are coming to The Panel Podcast! Important: we're no longer livestreaming on Justin's personal YouTube channel. Make sure you're subscribed to The Panel's channel to get notified when we go live. Subscribe to The Panel YouTube Channel Join us FRIDAY (tomorrow, Feb 20) at 11 AM Pacific (2 pm EST) for a surprise announcement: We'll be announcing: A new ███████ ██████ ████ And a brand new ████ ███████ New livestream/recording time: Friday, 11 am Pacific Livestreams will now...