On building of All Trades

Hindsight is 2020

I don’t mean “hindsight is 20/20.” I’m talking about the year 2020.

See, early in 2023, I wrote an article about starting and growing a business in 2023, and in that article I referenced this very same seismic shift in startup dynamics — a shift that, no surprise, began all the way back with the pandemic in 2020.

That’s the tricky... See more

Joe Procopio • Starting a Business Looks Drastically Different in 2024

How startups changed since 2020:
-Consumer fell out of love with technology
-Business & Venture OverIndexed on AI
-Money went from Tight to Scared

What’s happening now:
-self founded, funded & reliant
-Profitable out of the gate
-solving problems and building with slower burn rate
-Innovating strategically alongside technical innovation

How do generalists help? Taking a broad approach gets you further faster

Your business exists in the context of a marketplace, but also in the context of your lived experience.

Defaulting to the norms of your industry will shape your business to be similar to the rest, where the best entrepreneurs zero-in on their self expression. Do you have an eye for good design? Inject design into a tasteless industry. Do you have a... See more

Sari Az • Check your Pulse #49

First, we get distracted by the inclination to make the group as big as we can imagine. After all, the change is essential, the idea is a good one. It’s for everyone.

Except that’s a trap. Because a group that’s too large cannot be coherent or organized.

Or perhaps, we blink and settle for a group that’s too small. Change requires tension, and if our... See more

Small groups, well organized

On small groups, well organized. An old but new way of building our organizations.

Generalists, with their diverse skills, adaptability, and ethical awareness, are at the vanguard of this new epoch. They aren’t just visionaries but also implementers, merging AI-generated efficiency with human creativity and ethical discernment.

Adhithya • The rise of generalists in the AI era

How can I maintain my creativity, optimism, intellectual vitality, and sense of agency in the face of the stress that comes from building a company and the endless forces luring towards conformity?

We start raw, then our hearts and minds get boiled by constraints, pressure, feedback, and challenges. How do we keep our head up and maintain our... See more

sari azout • My Favorite Questions

I started this company in one of the recessions and had seen suppliers and customers go to the wall in droves. To me, getting more customers and more orders meant safety and security.

To the people who worked for me, growth meant change.

6 Ways I Sabotaged My Own Startup’s Culture

Growth is change — communicate often.

People in positions of power have a vested interest in workers keeping their heads down and staying in their lanes. Elite schools and corporations run on the backs of excellent sheep. But when you find other people who are open to less linear definitions of success, it will give you the confidence to keep going. Wander on, fellow traveler. I’m... See more

Simone Stolzoff • In Praise of the Meandering Career

Agreeableness is not the same as agreeing. In fact, they have little in common. Finding someone who’s only job is to agree with everything that is said is easy. On the other hand, agreeableness is the skill of having a contrary position and being pleasant about it. It’s the hard work of bringing professional work to people who expected something... See more

429 Too Many Requests

There’s no competition for cookbooks on making food out of soccer balls and hockey pucks.

There’s no competition for software that charges you to find out the temperature on Mars.

There’s no competition for a service that counts how many pairs of shoes you own.

In fact, in every market that’s worth entering, there’s competition. That’s what you’re... See more