👉 Tech Twitter TLDR #3
Everything that happened the week of 7/22 - career FOMO, liquid death, old town road
Yo! Here’s what happened on Tech Twitter this week.
As always, reply with feedback and forward to friends!
Career FOMO
Tiffany Zhong kicked off a legendary thread on famous tech people’s career paths.
👇click to read more👇
@sarahtavel @beller
Morgan Beller: from eBay PM 🛍️ to a16z VC 💰 to Medium Corp Dev 💰 to co-creator of Libra within FBdha
@sarahtavel @beller @justGLew @sarthakgh @anthonynoto @ArlanWasHere @saikatc @blakeir @ryanleslie @bhorowitz @chamillionaire @_charlienoyes @FEhrsam @matthuang @niraj @hosseeb @naval @EzraMoGee @annimaniac @m2jr @karanortman @bethferreira @badassboz @ManuSeuge @DerekDolin @whatdotcd @zxocw @jennifer Stewart Butterfield (born as Dharma 😛)
@stewart
🌲 Grew up in a log cabin w/ no running water ➡️ Gradfinder ➡️ 5K competition ➡️ Ludicorp ➡️ pivoted into Flickr ➡️ joined Yahoo via acquisition ➡️Tiny Speck ➡️ pivoted into Slack $WORK 📈
🎓 University of Victoria: PhilosoUA7a
Lots of other great career advice:
My career tip for the day: Every major career decision I’ve made seemed like a bad one to those closest to me at the time I made it (starting w/P&G in 2004 over a top tier consulting firm because I wanted my green card and they’d sponsor 🇨🇦)
If you’re looking to join a startup, you maximize upside when you join at a LOWER valuation, esp. when the business is hitting an inflection point.
Too many candidates gravitate to valuation as the most important metric. The higher the valuation, the lower your upside potential
If you're looking for your next role, be proactive w/ research:
Start w/ peers - employees at 🔥companies
This group will directly impact your day to day & be your strongest network after you leave
Ask investors - biased, but we have inside knowledge & a portfolio of options
WTF is Product-Market Fit Anyway?
Hiten Shah asks, the crowd and Dave McClure answer.
Startup people...
How would you describe product/market fit (PMF) to a friend who has never heard about it before?
(Share a quote or link to your favorite explanation if you’d like!)
@hnshah #PMF is when lots of ppl bitch about features they want or hate — which is great, since it tells you they care. you won’t get much user feedback if they give zero fucks about your product.
@hnshah . @rahulvohra outlines 3 definitions of PMF from Paul Graham, Sam Altman, and Sean Ellis in his 20minVC ep:
- @paulg: when you’ve made something that people want
- @sama: when users spontaneously tell other people to use your product
@hnshah @rahulvohra @paulg @sama - @SeanEllis: A leading indicator of PMF: Ask your users how they’d feel if they could no longer use your product - measure the % who answer “very disappointed.” If 40%+ of users would be very disappointed without your product, then you have inital PMF
Insightful Stuff
This speaks to why brand is not a moat. Defensibility needs to be at a deeper level, otherwise vulnerable to fast follows who further segment the customer base, cutting it into smaller, less profitable pieces.
Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart
If you're a startup, my view is that the #1 tool you have for internal alignment is a central dashboard with your main growth KPIs for everyone to see
Have been an interdisciplinary designer at startups for over a decade now. Here are a few things I learned.
(Open for discussion)
👇
sometimes i think we’ll look back at this era as a time filled with mental junk food. we stare at memes, crave like counts, buy virtual goods, create virtual currencies with values that come and go, etc. many things with little lasting value.
How do you prioritize a roadmap?
First, take a step back and remember that a business is just a group of people solving problems for other people in exchange for money. Your job is to (1) figure out the problems, and (2) solve them in the most efficient way possible. Thread 👇
Funny Stuff
We‘ve started asking founders to estimate the # of Liquid Death cans that fit comfortably in an Away carry-on
While we remain unaware of the exact amount, the technique has proven to be effective in assessing cultural trends & taste in fine luggage
Full report on 🤷♂️🧢 Instagram
Me when a founder is pitching me: “So what is the deep childhood trauma that you’ve sublimated into a maniacal drive for success?”
What goes in your Twitter bio is one of the most important decisions you can make as a VC.
This flowchart should help
Cool Stuff
Liquid simulation by merging WebAssembly and WebGL together 👨🏼🔬
Shake the window → liquid.lab.lorenzocadamuro.com
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Liquid engine → google.github.io/liquidfun/
WebGL library → github.com/regl-project/r…
#Wasm #WebAssembly #WebGL #Liquid #LHBX
Loving my iPad Pro + @Qwerkywriter setup at work. Feels like I should be writing the next great American novel and not regular email on this thing.
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