What Sam looks for in founders: breadcrumbs from their past that hint at their trajectory, outsiders with a unique insight, unusually strong in one area, cognizant of their weaknesses, understand where they need to focus right now, have a way to inspire and bring people together

The Designers who Code

Every social media platform struggles with the tension between liquidity and familiarity, regardless of their focus on groups vs. 1:1 or synchronous vs. asynchronous communication. Liquidity refers to the requirement that a user is able to interact with someone else roughly when they are available. If a user cannot consistently interact with someon... See more

4) Community X-Factor

What Substack is doing is taking the power away from readers and themselves, and giving it to authors. What does that mean? They are betting that in the market of long-form articles, the player with the most power is the author, not the reader. It’s the supply that matters, not the demand.

The people who most want to meet people are the people who the least number of people want to meet. It is the ignorance of this fundamental principle that I see at the heart of so many failed social software designs.

The fashion industry has a long way to go on racial justice and equality. But there are things brands can do to effect change that extend beyond declarations of solidarity and hollow apologies.

Faire (#53) is a wholesale marketplace for boutique retailers to find and purchase unique merchandise from local indie brands.

The trouble with the internet, Mr. Williams says, is that it rewards extremes. Say you’re driving down the road and see a car crash. Of course you look. Everyone looks. The internet interprets behavior like this to mean everyone is asking for car crashes, so it tries to supply them.