Sterling Proffer

“A writer,” said Thomas Mann, “is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” More difficult, because there is more for you to do, more that you know how to do, and because you hold yourself to higher standards.

So to me, the problem is not with the buying, nor even with the culture-grifting of brands, but with some kind of insufficiency on the part of the companies themselves. If the meanings they have on offer are starved versions of cultural membership, then perhaps, I started to feel, the brands aren’t going far enough. Could we imagine a version of a... See more

The rule is simple: Do not be a commodity. Do not be easily comparable to other people who have, roughly, the same set of skills and the same background. The rule may be simple, but its history and implications are incredibly rich.

13. Collab with an established community or brand: One of the biggest trends in media and commerce has been the rising impact of brand collaborations. Whether it’s pop stars bringing in A-List producers, remixers or features to bolster a track or Supreme collaborating with the likes of Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garçons, collabs have become an... See more

Product teams by nature are power users of their own product. The parts of the product that the product team uses, tend to automatically get improved as the pain is right in front of them. But this leads to building for yourself (or your friends). While that can feed the ego, if you are only building for yourself or power users, you won’t grow. You... See more

To understand why foundation models represent a “phase change in ai”, in the words of Fei-Fei Li, the co-director of Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centred ai, it helps to get a sense of how they differ from what went before.

Despite the recent downturn, the music industry’s interest in web3 is still as strong as ever. Artists, managers and labels are all coming around to the idea that web3 represents a massive opportunity to re-architect how musicians earn a living and connect with their fans. As an artist or manager, you might be wondering what your web3 strategy is... See more