The Art of Scaling Taste

That the process is unremarkable is, perhaps, the most important thing about the business. MSCHF succeeds not because it has some super-powerful software or a secret hack at making a better Gantt chart. It succeeds because the company was founded on a strong sense of taste, and its employees work hard to protect the original vision. That means push

There’s an even bigger challenge needed to build a lasting business: scaling your taste, not just into a single object, but into an organization that can build and distribute many products that reflect that taste

MSCHF didn’t make any money from the ATM. They never displayed it again. It was seen in person by, at most, a few thousand people. So it might appear to be a dud. But the company derived value from the narrative network effects for the brand. Every person who interacted with the ATM encountered an object that expanded MSCHF’s creative universe. It

One of the pinnacles of human existence is to align our innate desire to create with our day-to-day labor.

I heard the same Andy Warhol quote several times: “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

Taste is how a business differentiates itself when attention is scarce and choice is abundant. Knowing what to make is just as important as the ability to make it.

In this world, there is an abundance of products, and every industry becomes far more competitive.

How can a startup survive in this environment? The answer is deceptively simple: Have good taste.

Everyone bifurcates the world into content and distribution,” Whaley told me. He has brown hair, is of average height, and was wearing a nondescript gray t-shirt and jeans when we talked. “From the beginning, we viewed those as the same thing. Each object gets better with more participation, and so does MSCHF. Scale is not the goal. Scale is a tool