Ian Vanagas

The number of them that actually learn all the important stuff in under a month is zero. The number of them that have a self-guided strategy to learn what is relevant is almost zero.

When she was laid off from her role at a fintech startup in the pandemic panic of early 2020, Paris doubled down on driving traffic to her DePop store to make money. She saw TikTok as an untapped fount of opportunity, and made creating videos for it her full-time job. She posted dozens of times a day, drawing viewers in with her... See more

Ideally digital experiences would be created where people are  communicating more, building bonds, and undergoing emotions like excitement, anxiousness, and disappointment. Ultimately, it provides the environment to create memorable moments and develop relationships with friends beyond what could happen in group chats.  

As a writer, looking for evidence of readership and engagement on Twitter makes you into the drunk looking for your lost keys under the street light.

You should be able to instantly share a browsing session with somebody and invite them into the rabbit hole.

Jeff Jordan – who’s been involved in everything from eBay to OpenTable to Airbnb – said off the cuff “the secret to everything I’ve done, and it’s not a secret, is economic empowerment. It is building things that help people make money.”

Framing matters a lot. Spending for the benefit of the group feels a lot better than spending solely for yourself. People ideally want both.

DOOM was extremely humane software. It let you play with your friends, even in the shareware version. And along with the game itself, id released tools which allowed anyone to easily modify the game’s levels and assets, and then share them for others to use. This created a thriving ecosystem that exists to this day.