sari

So if we want to understand why network effects often fail to lead to marketplace monopolies, we should start by considering the Thumbtacks against the Taskrabbits, the Tinders against the Bumbles, and the Upworks against the Fiverrs, all in relentless competition against mirror-image services. These services all have network effects in the traditi... See more

The discovery process is broken — the fragmented market is making it impossible for customers to navigate which brands they should be paying attention to. On top of this, consumer fog and confusion has alienated people, making them feel “out of the know” and “uncool” because they can’t keep up (an unfortunate side effect for brands that set out to ... See more

If you look at every technological shift or platform shift so far, it’s resulted in more things to design. You got the printing press, and then you have to figure out what you put on a page. More recently, mobile. You would think, “Okay. Less pixels, less designers.” But no, that’s when we saw the biggest explosion of designers.

—Dylan Field, Figma

It’s a little depressing that these days we mainly use computers to consume fast and react fast. Task management turns us into more productive human machines. Rather conveniently for managers, human machines have higher predictability and lower inherent value – they’re easy to automate, replace, and erase.

Productivity is important, but it’s just on... See more

This isn’t new to culture — this is culture. The difference is that software now mediates a significant share of our experience within and between worlds. And software that affords presence or spatial awareness — from a simple video chat app to a more immersive game-like product — can establish a type of proximity between individuals, or even betwe... See more

Right now, Roam is like a todo list, but they’re in the process of becoming more like a network. How successfully they pull this off will define their future.