Mark Fishman

Digital platforms used to bring our physical lives online, but now that we have uniquely digital experiences and relationships, we don’t have products that let us successfully bring those offline.

Zoom out more, and you’ll see that scarcity is also the story of the U.S. economy. After years of failing to invest in technology at our ports, we have a shipping-delay crisis. After years of a deliberate policy to reduce visa issuance for immigrants, we suddenly can’t find enough workers for our schools, factories, restaurants, or hotels. After... See more

The past several years have been characterized by higher and higher private company valuations, which, when the public markets for tech companies reset over the past few months, left venture capital investors that had invested in later stage private rounds in the red on these investments. In other words, not dissimilar from the issues that... See more

By building out their social elements (which are coming after the game is more fleshed out), STEPN has the opportunity to build the first fitness app for non-athletes. It feels meaningful that they went with the name “STEPN” instead of “RUN’N.” It’s for casual use, not necessarily for athletes. 

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.

Tailoring language to avoid scrutiny predates the Internet. Many religions have avoided uttering the devil’s name lest they summon him, while people living in repressive regimes developed code words to discuss taboo topics.