Sterling Proffer

The cycle is dizzying and numbing: The allure of authenticity invites fascination and then, inevitably, skepticism. All along, truth and trust aren’t celebrated; they’re destabilized.

Adjacent User Theory demands an entirely different approach to being ‘user centric’. Static personas are OUT. Dynamic evolving personas that incorporate product adoption behavior are the standard to strive for. Every 3-6 months during hyper growth, you have to reorient your team around the next adjacent user, what they care about, and what problems... See more

This is the publishing paradox nowadays: opportunities come to you in direct proportion to your ability to operate without them.

Upon reaching an equilibrium between free and paid content, creators and communities face another dilemma. Their revenue correlates directly with how much content they can produce. But reapplying that method forever would mean constantly increasing content output until every waking hour was devoted to production. Beyond sounding exhausting, studies... See more

As I struggled with these thoughts early on, I wanted to explore what it would mean for brands and subcultures to merge more fully, to offer a much deeper and richer meaning. This set me on a quest to learn about cults. I read about organizations which were abusive and manipulative, but which still managed to create meaningful practices that... See more