Hey friends, This should be fun. Ian Landsman (founder of HelpSpot and "Business Dad" to founders everywhere) is going to hop on the call with Brian and Justin today. You can join us (live) at 12:15pm Pacific: On today's topic list: Can burnout be a lack of motivation? When the reward no longer feels worth pursuing, is that when you lose steam? "What if this doesn't work? What's the backup plan?" Come join us in the chat! Cheers,Justin Jackson – BlueskyBrian Casel – Bluesky | Twitter PS:...
19 days ago • 1 min read
Do you have thoughts on any of this? Some things I've been contemplating lately: ------- ⛪ Popular marketing strategy: start a cult I can't stop thinking about this post by Evan Armstrong: One increasingly popular marketing strategy is to found a cult. Founders have spent the last ten years learning from the successful cults (Tesla, Anduril, Stripe, Palantir, and Airbnb) and the destruction of multiple unsuccessful ones (Theranos, WeWork, Fast, Quibi, and FTX). There is a new playbook of cult...
24 days ago • 1 min read
I think it's wild that the same amount of effort can produce wildly different results (across different endeavours). For example, you might work on a project for weeks and months, only to have it receive a tepid response. Then, a different piece of work (that you whipped together in an afternoon) takes off and gets a much bigger reaction. (You can read this article online) Anything worth doing will require a fair amount of effort and work. But it's also possible to invest a fair amount of...
27 days ago • 2 min read
So much of what made culture great between the '60s and '90s was that you had to work for it. There was friction. You'd go to a record store, or a book store, or a thrift store, and browse for hours, just hoping for one good find. Maybe we need more of that on the internet. Do we need to be constantly inundated with a firehose of content tuned to our lowest, base desires? These days, you don't go out and find cool stuff. You get served whatever pablum the platforms think you'll consume. We...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
"Never tell me the odds." – Han Solo, Star Wars. What are the odds? Yesterday, I watched my favorite hockey team (the Edmonton Oilers) lose to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup finals. Every season, all 32 NHL teams have the same goal: "Win the Cup." But only one team can win. Even a strong team (like the Oilers) has only a 12% chance of winning. Put another way: they had an 88% chance of not winning. What are your odds? A founder building a new startup also faces daunting odds. As...
3 months ago • 1 min read
When I got to the address, the door looked like this: sketchy However, once inside, I was surprised to see an incredible podcast recording studio: Justin and Nathan at Kit studios On April 1st, Nathan Barry (founder of Kit) asked me to join him in an industrial area of Chicago to record a podcast. This was for the opening of the new Kit Studios in Chicago. Even cooler: anyone with a Kit account can use it. (I'm told the outside is much nicer now. 😉) Nathan and I sat down, and he interviewed...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Overall, I've been pretty unimpressed with many of the promises coming from the "AI code bois." I got tired of watching video demos that hyped things up, only to try it myself and be disappointed. But after this conversation with Adam Wathan (creator of Tailwind CSS) and Brian Casel (Instrumental.dev), I'm starting to see AI development differently: I was surprised that Adam is this bullish on AI dev tools: "I used to be more skeptical. But then I forced myself to download Cursor and build an...
4 months ago • 1 min read
I want to hear from you. This week, I'm sharing 3+1 bite-sized thoughts, ideas, and prompts. Hit reply here, or on Bluesky, with your thoughts! ------- 📺 🗡️ Will YouTube kill the podcast industry? I've been thinking and writing a lot about YouTube, podcasting, and open protocols (RSS) vs big centralized platforms. Read my post | Reply on Bluesky (If you're of a "certain generation" and you're thinking, "who uses YouTube for podcasts?" you might want to read this draft I'm working on) -------...
4 months ago • 1 min read
I've been thinking a lot about the modes of life in which I feel like I have tons of creative energy. When I'm operating in this zone, my efforts feel natural and like I'm moving with the flow. Other tasks, however, feel incredibly difficult. Every part of them is a grind. Operating in these modes quickly drains my battery. This contrast led me to explore what my friend Jeremy Enns calls "operating in your zone of genius" – that sweet spot where your natural talents, passions, and energy...
5 months ago • 4 min read
