The List

If you’re new to my writing, here’s the full list of essays that live on this blog. I’ve also put together a short list of my broadly “popular” essays that I’ll keep updated.

(P.S. Some of the older essays may be paywalled halfway through if they’re in the archive now, but the first parts should be interesting enough on their own. If you’re a paid sub and still have trouble with these links, you can find all of the essays in “archive” above.)

Popular*

On ambition, motivation & creative work

• Status Limbo

• Pursuits That Can’t Scale

• Love the Mission or Love the Game

• Trophy Jobs

• Writer-Builders

• How to Be Like Derek Guy

On the future of startups, investing, & media

• Rise of the Silicon Valley Small Business

• One-Round Wonder

• Big TAM Founders, Small TAM Startups

• The Rise of the Software Creator

• Companionship Content Is King

• The Generational Business Trap

On the science of building products

• Don't Build A Social Network, Build A Social Utility

• Zero-Sum vs. Positive-Sum Products

• Great Products Have Great Premises

• Don’t Build Habits, Build Rituals

• What I Learned at Clubhouse

• The Brunch Test

On revelations about modern work & life

• Accountability as a Service

• Early-Arriver Arbitrage

• Hands-On, Thumbs-Off

• 3 Hours Or Nothing

• The "High Potential" Handicap

• Placeholders of Life

Some of these essays have been featured by Substack or other publications and magazines. You can also check out my new year post with 24 top-of-mind ideas.

Full List

• Taste Is Eating Silicon Valley

• About Practice

• The Co-Sign That Changes Everything

• Notes on ‘Founder Mode’*

• When Founders Outgrow their Startups

• The Lost Sense

• 30 and Not Retired

• Second Nature Skills

• Tattoo Decisions

• The Theory of the Cool Self*

• The Prestige-Prosperity Gap

• Writers Block

• In Defense of Tarpit Ideas

• Ping Minimalism

• How to Be Like Derek Guy*

• The Rise of the Software Creator*

• Background Social

• Accountability as a Service*

• Baseline Fame

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Reading

• Writer-Builders*

• 3 Hours or Nothing*

• How to "Go Direct"

• The Taste Subsidy

• On Airchat

• "New Social App"

• New Media, New Standards

• Hands-On, Thumbs-Off*

• Placeholders of Life*

• Early-Arriver Arbitrage*

• Rabbitholes as Portals

• Second Encounters

• The Time-Boxed Startup

• The New Wordmark

• Great Products Have Great Premises*

• The Creator Search Fund

• Time-to-Lameness

• Pursuits That Can’t Scale*

• Love the Mission or Love the Game*

• Books Are the New Athleisure

• Crypto Social Games

• Companionship Content is King*

• “Healthy” Social Apps

• 5 Years of Angel Investing

• Status Limbo*

• The 20/20 Workweek

• Zero-Sum vs. Positive-Sum Products*

• 24 Working Theorys for 2024

• The Idea That Won't Go Away

• One-Round Wonder*

• How to Do Business School Right

• Don't Build a Social Network, Build a Social Utility*

• The "High Potential" Handicap*

• Big TAM Founders, Small TAM Startups*

• Why Are All the Public Intellectuals Men?

• Full-Stack Something

• The Brunch Test*

• Unbundling Cash & Equity

• Define the Game

• Trophy Jobs*

• The Generational Business Trap*

• Generalized AI Anxiety

• Product vs. Production

• Collective Experiences

• Rise of the Silicon Valley Small Business*

• What I Learned at Clubhouse*

• Ritual Social*

• Community Fission & Fusion

• The Group Chat Renaissance

• Group-Generated Content

• The Revival of Consumer Social

If an essay or two or more resonate, I’d appreciate if you subscribe & share with friends :)