How to Validate Your Business Idea in 3 Steps (The Right Way)

[If 2% convert, 98% still hate your guts. Focus on building relationships and helping people with their objectives instead of these numbers.]

The Technium: Scenius, or Communal Genius

[Scenius is the communal form of genius.]

Mutual appreciation — Risky moves are applauded by the group, subtlety is appreciated, and friendly competition goads the shy. Scenius can be thought of as the best of peer pressure.

Rapid exchange of tools and techniques — As soon as something is invented, it is flaunted and then shared. Ideas flow quickly because they are flowing inside a common language and sensibility.

Network effects of success — When a record is broken, a hit happens, or breakthrough erupts, the success is claimed by the entire scene. This empowers the scene to further success.

Local tolerance for the novelties — The local “outside” does not push back too hard against the transgressions of the scene. The renegades and mavericks are protected by this buffer zone.

[They're often unremarkable from the outside.]

[A scenius is a form of genius scattered amongst members of a scene, characterized by: mutual appreciation by everyone of risky moves and subtlety; rapid exchange of ideas, especially something invented in the community; network effects when something is successful.]

[It cannot be bought into existence. If it appears, fan the flames and keep accountants, architects, police, and do-gooders away. Let it remain inefficient, edgy, and on the fringes.]

[Anti-marketing is deliberately focusing about what is confusing, frustrating, or dysfunctional, as a way to stimulate public conversation without success bias.]

[Patrons often see themselves as funding future work moreso than paying for past work.]

[Each of these four motivations were expressed by at least 10% of respondents: feeling on the edge of something new; participating in the crowdfunding experiment; being inspired by seeing the work up close.]

Gina Bianchini Discusses Deeper Networking

[During the interview, rather than trying to hype or sell your company, ask the candidate what is important to them? Try to understand what is the fit. How can they have the best professional experience of their life while moving the company's goals forward?]

Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice

[If you can't help someone, pass them to the appropriate person with a recommendation. Doing this right will make two people happy and more disposed to helping you in the future.]

[Sell solutions to increase revenue or decrease cost, nothing else.]

[The question 'What is your previous salary?' is about finding ways to pay you less money.]

[Always have counteroffers, including non-monetary ones. If they can't go higher on salary, talk about vacation.]

[Communication skills: describe the level of your programming abilities as stories of building systems that helped millions of kids to learn and made tons of money for the company.]

[Modesty is not career-enhancing in American business culture.]

The Inside Story of MacKenzie Scott, the Mysterious 60-Billion-Dollar Woman

[Technocratic philanthropy is done to people rather than with people.]

Platforms for Public Good w/ Mathew Lawrence & Thomas Hanna

[Instead of having ride data siloed inside Uber or Lyft, let it be part of a commons so that local governments can use the data to aid city planning.]

Why the Canadian Tech Scene Doesn't Work

[James P Carse defines finite games as played to win and infinite games as played to enjoy.]

[Accepting free money from the government often means you are reducing scope to what is definable, provable, measurable—this is not conducive to a creative, curious, exploratory environment for generating profound change.]

Building an Open-Source Publishing Platform That Makes $63,000/mo

[You will always get more of what you already have.]

[The best way to grow your newsletter/podcast/blog is to get featured on one by someone else.]

Live like a hydra

[Inviting disorder and embracing chaos can be more antifragile than being frustrated at the unexpected.]

[When you are feeling burned out, focus on recovering instead of being productive: basics like sleep, water, sunshine, vegetables, exercise, stretching, meditation, nature, comfort of friends, walks, good books, other entertainment.]

The Startup Guide to Hiring a Remote Customer Support Rep

[Ask about the current job to see if their reason for leaving makes your company a good fit for them.]

[Ask about what projects they're working on to see if they have the relevant work experience.]

[Side projects can indicate an ability to balance work and other things, avoid burning out.]

[Ask about their preferred work schedule to get the ball rolling about your company's rhythm.]

It Is Never a User’s Fault

[Respond to innovation and uncertainty by focussing on tradeoffs you are (or are not) willing to make, as opposed to concrete goals.]

[Autonomy is about being able to act in the moment with an understanding of resources and constraints, not to do whatever you want.]

The questions and answers reveal what was not asked.

The case for rereading

[Rereading keeps certain ideas nearby so that you can think with them, perhaps moreso than the fleeting ones that you cross on social media.]

[Fiction doesn't take you away, it helps you to see more clearly.]

Every mistake I make now is one I don't have to make later.

Clear expression in music, without overcompensation or moving faster than your thought, is an extension of clear expression in speech and perhaps every other way.