At the start of 2013, I gave a presentation to Percolate about our company values and vision for the year. By June, we had doubled our headcount to 60 people. When I referenced that presentation mid-year, I realized that half the people in the room had never heard it. That moment had a huge impact on my approach to company-building.

I became

Everyone’s software is good enough. Software used to be the weapon, now it’s just a tool.

In a world of scarcity, we treasure tools. In a world of abundance, we treasure taste. The barriers to entry are low, competition is fierce, and so much of the focus has shifted — from tech to distribution, and now, to something else too: taste. [2]

Taste is

• Why is this feature working in that product?


• Why might this feature succeed or fail in our context, i.e. will it translate well?


• What adaptations are necessary to make this feature succeed in our context?