Britt Gage
@brittfgage
Founder, of All Trades. Building a new type of company for generalists and the founders we seek to serve.
Britt Gage
weofalltrades.com
The art of communicating with authority is the opposite of this guy
As we encounter complex ideas, they’re often explained with a form of semantic algebra. You understand X, and this is a bit like that, but different...
Understanding is worth the effort.
Understanding is worth the effort.
Semantic algebra
Part of the problem with the Lean Startup mindset is that it sees life and work as an optimization problem. The point is to help people live a good life, not just an efficient life. The goal is human flourishing, not convenience. The goal is a good future, not just a technically advanced future.
Things I'm thinking about
On building “Flavored” startups
Enterprise software is (mostly) not flavor-based. Sure, there are enterprise fads like the metaverse, but generally speaking, large companies only sign contracts when it feels like there is an obvious commercial advantage to doing so.
Networks are (mostly) not flavor-based. If you’re using an app because of the content created by its other users, it’s not necessarily a guarantee for success, but at least if it fails it probably won’t be because it hit a flavor-based asymptote. For instance, BeReal leveraged a unique flavor of photo sharing to build a network, but people are still using it because they like the way it helps them stay in touch with their friends. If it were just a single-player utility, it would not have scaled in the same way. Another historical example is Instagram versus Hipstamatic. Both had a cool new flavor called “photo filters,” but one had a network and the other did not. Here’s a more recent example: the network is what sets Substack stands apart from its flavor-based competition.
Tech-enabled services are not flavor-based. If you act like a tech company but really do grocery delivery, banking, education, housing, healthcare, or any other real-world service, your competition is mostly not flavor-based because starting this type of business involves a lot of cost and complexity. (Also, some, like ride hailing and delivery, are networks.) The downside is that your cost structure is probably not as great as pure tech companies, but the upside is that you have less competition.
All of these types of products can involve some flavoring to help them get off the ground. The point is not that flavoring is bad. It’s good! But it has a very specific role. Flavor provides an initial product wedge. It’s helpful for standing out initially but doesn’t provide long-term differentiation or durable advantage.
...in order to understand how to get a yes, we first need to grasp why people typically say no.
The main reason says Kao, is that people don't see how the idea you're proposing is beneficial to them. She's right.
At least on some level, we're all selfish.
The solution is to present your request in a way that shows the benefit the other party will
It’s become clear that people sometimes become busy in order to feel important, but I mostly feel busy and guilty. I’ve tried reframing that reaction, replacing abject apologies (delays, after all, happen) with gratitude ( thank you so much for your patience ).
Anne Helen Petersen • The Right Kind of Busy
From James Clear's 3-2-1: Why small things matter, reframing failure, and how to cherish life
"Life rewards action, not intelligence.
Many brilliant people talk themselves out of getting started, and being smart doesn't help very much without the courage to act.
You can't win if you're not in the game."
Stop trading time for money, start trading value for money.
100 Simple Truths
Humans have vibes, computers don’t.
It’s common to compare the brain to a computer, but this is a deeply flawed analogy.
This insight was best captured in The Extended Mind – a book that reveals how intelligence exists well beyond our brain. A laptop operates the same whether it is on a desk in an office or on a bench in a park. But human brains are... See more
It’s common to compare the brain to a computer, but this is a deeply flawed analogy.
This insight was best captured in The Extended Mind – a book that reveals how intelligence exists well beyond our brain. A laptop operates the same whether it is on a desk in an office or on a bench in a park. But human brains are... See more