Sam Liebeskind
@samliebeskind
product strategy at New_Public; previously community & growth @ Geneva
Sam Liebeskind
Working in technology means one thing above all else: chasing scale. There is a reason why much of the tech world is obsessed with growth. Free from physical constraints, digital systems can scale to an incomprehensible size. The appeal of conquering the engineering, design and business challenges of mega-scale is strong, the rewards immense. But
... See moremany “social network” products/platforms think they’re just tech, but really they’re socio-technical systems, and part of the reason they break “at scale” is bc while the software might scale, other systems like safety & moderation don’t necessarily scale as easily. A single player (e.g) calculator app is tech/software only, social platforms are more than that.
Novices seek praise. Recognizing strengths builds confidence to keep going.
Experts crave criticism. Seeing shortcomings reveals avenues to keep growing.
Preferring corrections to compliments is a sign of skill. The better you get, the more determined you become to get better.
When we jump into a task without thinking about what we’re trying to accomplish, we can end up with solutions to the wrong problem. We can waste energy that would be better spent determining which direction to take.
When deciding what you’re doing, ask yourself:
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When deciding what you’re doing, ask yourself:
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What before how.
"Our work is the most valuable where we're creating a discourse that isn't just informing people, but actually getting them involved with the creation of good information — because they value good information themselves and are part of a community that values that," he said.
If Nike announced that they were opening a hotel, you’d have a pretty good guess about what it would be like. But if Hyatt announced that they were going to start making shoes, you would have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what those shoes would be like. That’s because Nike owns a brand and Hyatt simply owns real estate.
The Elegance of Nothing
I was talking to a friend about why we decided to invite only paying believers to the Sublime private beta. My answer is that charging early for a product creates high expectations, and in aspiring to meet those expectations, we are held accountable to deliver a product you love and trust. My answer is that growing Sublime the right way is more... See more