Sarah Drinkwater
@sarahdrinkwater
Knowledge beachcomber interested in the ownership economy, flourishing communities, ecosystem building, magic, and knowledge as an end to itself.
Sarah Drinkwater
So How Many Stars Is Enough? A Data Driven Guide to Fundraising as an Open Source Founder
Jordan Segalljordansegall.substack.com
“We tend to view open source companies at the earliest stages like social networks. Building community momentum is of the utmost importance to the success of an open source project, and that often takes precedence over revenue in the short term.
If you can show a strong community AND strong revenue growth then you will be in an incredible financing position, but often revenue is not necessary if you have the other criteria in this doc accounted for.
If your open source momentum (Bucket B) is weak then you can make up for it by having strong revenue, but there are few examples of successful open source companies that fit this example, as most tend to prioritize community building in the early stages”
One of the reasons that Here Comes Everybody holds up comparatively well in 2022 against its contemporaries is Shirky’s willingness to recognize how broader social forces might thwart the “inevitable” effects of a technology on society.
Tim Hwang • Here Went Everybody
A topic I am keen to write about is Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and what it might teach us about scientific groupthink and pandemic management, 2020—. So I will save most of this for then, but there is an interesting relationship between groupthink and In-group Cheems.
#1: In-group Cheems
While the Web3 space may be perceived as a financialized playground for scammers, there is a small but growing subculture of leftist labor activism emerging.
Dirt • Dirt: Solid(ar)ity
In Europe, investors in first-time funds have a higher chance of exceptional returns. But why is that?
Francesco Perticarari • Why new VC funds offer the greatest opportunities in Venture Capital
This is exactly what's happening in venture.
Kyle Harrison • The Death of a Venture Fund
late stage capitalism and shifting culture
In America, our culture has become anticipation.
At some point, there was a switch, in which we became an edging culture. One rooted in “pre-”.
With AI, I suspect we’ll be able to play with the compression of anticipation with software objects well. Teasing an idea on Twitter, seeing it’s response, putting that prompt in AI to generate just enough code for the resemblance of the thing → and that reaching consumer hands much faster.
Perhaps anticipation culture is the wedded partner of instant-gratification culture. It’s the only thing that allows us to microdose the gratification of the object before we actually have it. Constantly watching trailers, or runway shows, sneak peaks, etc
I find this all lines up incredibly well to VC culture. The discussion is 90% weighted on the raise
The anticipation is lost as its material reality fails to hold any long term attention. Even if it was the exact promise. We simply love the build up. The image of the thing.
The “pre-”, other than consuming behind the scenes content of an artist’s process, is all mental. As I participate as a dancer in the audience, I can only (if I care to) construct fiction of the worked anticipation of the overall performance. But 90%+ of the audience only cares about the anticipation of the next drop or track. The loop is built in.
To bring it all the way back to the tweet that launched this post. Anticipation is exhausting. It is built around uncertainty, and the quelling of said uncertainty by the fragments of the objects chosen to be presented.
1. young funds invest particularly early2. emerging VC focuses on trends at early stage3. new fund managers have different work experience