🤓 User research for consumer tech startups
🧠Innovation in social systems
The only way everyone keeps making money is if other people keep putting more money into the system, which either requires more people or deeper pockets from existing people.This is the metagame of STEPN: how long can you milk the magic money machine before it all comes crashing down? And can they fix their doom loop before it gets triggered?
More firms are incubating companies as early-stage valuations rise.
A few successes:
• Snowflake ($49B mrkt cap) by Sutter Hill Ventures
• Affirm ($6B mrkt cap) by HVF Labs
• Hims & Hers ($1.3B mrkt cap) by... See more
We should learn from alcohol, which is studied, labeled, taxed, and restricted. Similar strictures would discourage social-media abuse among teenagers. We should continue to study exactly how and for whom these apps are psychologically ruinous and respond directly to the consensus reached by that research.
But, then, ultimately, we get to this somewhat stark moment of conviction – a decision without certainty but with some level of instinct and belief. The work you’ve done is a big input, but then, I find there’s something else, too. It’s some combination of understanding, excitement, experience, gut, and fear. And this process repeats throughout our... See more