Answering the question, how do you do early sales when you are pre-product?
It’s easy to be intimidated or anxious when doing something big all at once like writing an essay. Turning a large project into a ‘slow burn’ helps remove that worry—it’s easier to do small parts over a longer amount of time across several projects than in one big effort in a short amount of time sequentially. This is similar in spirit to incremental writing where you write one idea or paragraph at a time then edit it all together. However, ‘slow burns’ should be applied to several projects at once so that everything feels easier. From a video by Ali Abdaal. See also:
In React, useEffect let’s you perform side effects in function components. They are meant to run once when the component is mounted, however you can recursively call it by combining adding a useState data dependency to it. By toggling the value of the data dependency inside the effect, it recursively call the effect. This is useful, for example, in implementing retry logic to an API call say for automatically retrying when an access token expires.const [retryToggle, setRetryToggle] = useState(false);
React.useEffect(() => {
if (someConditionToPreventInfiniteLoop) {
return
}
fetch("http://example.com")
.then((r) => handleSuccessHere(r))
.catch((err) => setRetryToggle( i=> !i))
// This dependency allows us to re-run the effect whenever this
// value changes.
}, [retryToggle]);
People often get hung up on the ‘viable’ part of a minimum viable product (MVP) and tend to think of it as something that can be crappy. Framing how you are building the first revision of a product idea as a minimum remarkable product (MRP?) makes clear that it has to be obviously better than what’s currently out there or it will not get anyone’s attention. This framing is less of a functional definition (minimum viable evokes ‘it kinda sorta works’) and more of a user centered definition (minimum remarkable evokes ‘what would get our users attention?'). (I couldn’t find a source, but it comes from Amazon or Jeff Bezos). See also:
A refresh token in an OAuth setup using Json Web Tokens (JWT) is used to request a new access token. Because access tokens are short lived (to minimize the impact of a token being exfiltrated), a long lived refresh token is commonly used to, for example, stay logged into an app rather than need to log in every n minutes (the length of the access token). Why have two tokens? In web apps this provides an additional layer of security and a better access story for your auth service (for high traffic app). Access tokens have a short life and the signed token is verified on every request (CPU bound), a refresh token affords a chance for the auth service to cut off access (using a deny list in a database i.e. IO bound) and is also stored separately ( The refresh token should be treated differently because it has a longer expiry. It should be stored in a more secure way to prevent leaking it. In the browser that means storing it in an See also:HttpOnly cookie) to prevent cross-site-scripting (XSS) attacks. This also improves scalability, authentication happens less frequently (at login time and token refresh time) which can reduce load on an auth service.HttpOnly, Secure, and SameSite (to prevent CSRF attacks) cookie in the browser which can not be accessed from JS and refresh token rotation. This makes it possible to “refresh” an access token by making a request and including the cookie (using fetch with credentials: 'include').
Unlike the Lord of the Flies, a real life story about six shipwrecked boys who ended up on a deserted island in Tonga for 15 months showed cooperation and loyalty rather than murder and mayhem. The group stole a boat out of boredom and got caught in a storm that brought them to the island. They survived by scavenging. They also survived by working together. One of the boys fell and broke their leg so they fashioned a makeshift split. They made a guitar out of coconuts and wire that washed ashore. They sung together and prayed every night to keep their spirits up, for 15 months before they were rescued by a fishing boat.
Merging data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) round 16, and American Time Use Survey (ATUS) shows that an estimated 45% of jobs (~67MM based on number of employed citizens) in the US can be done remotely. However, prior to the pandemic only 10% of workers who could work remotely actually did (the takeup rate). Read Ability to work from home: evidence from two surveys and implications for the labor market in the COVID-19 pandemic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. See also:
Markets exhibit the Pareto principle in that most of the advantages accrue to a small number of players—mostly number one. These advantages include growing faster, network effects, recruiting the best people, expanding to new opportunities quickly and most of the 7 Powers. That’s why it makes sense for businesses to aim to be the market leader or create a new market. That’s also why startups tend to use high-variance strategies (being number one is basically a tournament) rather than more incremental ones. See also:
A study of 10,000 workers at an Asian IT company found that when comparing before the pandamic and during (the work from home period), the number of hours worked increased by 30% (including 18% increase outside of normal working hours, but the average output remained the same. This led the researchers to conclude that the overall productivity of remote work declined by 20%. It’s tough to general conclusions about remote work from this study. A study found that organizational support of remote work correlates with reported productivity which could explain this disparity. We also shouldn’t discount the fact this all occurring suddenly during a global pandemic. See also:
Getting logging to work using FastAPI in a production ECS environment is a mess of configuration and awkward interfaces. For example, there are multiple modules that interact in subtle ways: the python See also:logging module, uvicorn, and gunicorn. Take a look at this example of the ceremony required to appease all three loggers depending on the run time—not quite the spirit of python ‘explicit over implicit’.
Zero Trust refers to securing at the device level rather than at the network level. Each device (or network) is on the public internet and uses encryption and authentication (using certificates and a certificate authority) between connections in the network. This has the advantage of being flexible—devices communicate directly to each other—and maybe more secure—there’s no ‘network’ to compromise (e.g. taking over the VPN server). Examples: See also:
At the end of the week I reflect on what went well, what’s not working, and what I learned. The key is to write down an observation and then add specific supporting examples. What I typically find is that I’m drawing conclusions from a small number of instances—or none at all. This is often enough to dispel broad based worrying that accumulates at the end of the week (especially on weeks that haven’t gone well). See also:
The Münchhausen trilemma occurs when attempting to prove anything to be true. Such attempts fall into three tropes—a circular argument which supports itself (A <-> B), a regressive argument where the proof requires further proof infinitely (“why?” x infinity), and a dogmatic argument which relies on an assertion which is not defended (“because”). A good example is conspiracy theories—it’s not useful to argue with someone about because it will inevitably fall into one of these tropes. See also:
When asking for an introduction, make at is easy as possible for the person making the introduction. Share a short blurb (4-5 sentences) about your company (or yourself) so they can copy it into an email. Research before hand who you want to be introduced to and that the person you are asking knows them. Finally, write the email in a way that they can forward it directly with almost no effort (subject: looking to speak with X, body: I’d love to speak with X about Y, here’s a short summary of what we are doing). See also:
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Resilient systems that can absorb shocks (short peaks of rapid change) have multiple layers that move at different speeds. For example, technology is a fast moving layer—it changes very quickly. In contrast, culture is a slower moving layer which, over the course of time, is nudged along over a longer time period. In fast to slow order, we can model civilization as fashion/art, commerce, infrastructure, governance, culture, and nature. See also:
During the rapid expansion westward in America between 1790 and 1830, the average adult drank more than nine gallons of spirits per year. Most were drinking to get drunk and most of the drinking was done at home due to isolation on the frontier. Even in the eastern cities, industrialization caused widespread loneliness and anxiety from labor changes. In modern day America, sales of alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased significantly. Just about all of that consumption happening at home because bars are closed. Americans are drinking more, more frequently, and alone. Read America Has a Drinking Problem. See also:
Most early founder-led sales will come from the founder’s personal network. Once you are bootstrapped with a few customers, you should also receive referrals from them (if you are not, that’s a signal that you don’t have something people love). For B2B startups charging high 5 figures, low 6 figures per installation, you should be able to close all of the sales you need (learning and adjusting along the way) to get from seed stage to raising your series A. See also:
A study published in Nature found that intermittent fasting improved long-term memory, neurogenesis, and longevity (increased expression of Klotho) in mice. They found that intermittent fasting (every other day feeding) is superior to calorie restriction (10% less calories). It’s unclear how well this relates to human adults, but it’s interesting to see the cognitive effects of intermittent fasting being studied (as opposed to weight loss).
A poll done by Morning Consult on behalf of Bloomberg News in May 2021 showed that 39% of U.S. adults would consider quitting if they weren’t able to work from home. Millenials and GenZ respondents showed 49%. Update April 2022: 64% of global workers said they would consider quitting rather than return to the office. See also:
Fields that exhibit tournaments with asymmetric and convex payouts favor high-variance strategies (variance from the benchmark mean). For example, fund managers that end up on the Morningstar list (top fund managers) tend to be founder-managed funds with highly concentrated positions (they also underperform in later periods). High variance from an index benchmark is favorable because if you make it to the top fund manager list you will receive many more clients and make a lot on fields. Another example is baseball where, before Babe Ruth, the prevailing strategy was high-contact (hitting many singles). Babe Ruth showed a high-variance strategy by swinging for the fences every time. His failure rate was much higher (he led the league in strikeouts), but he also overwhelmingly led the league in home runs making him one of the most valuable players in the league. (A corollary in recent times is the rise of three pointers in basketball). Other fields that exhibit this incentive for high-variance strategies include politics (making outrageous statements until something sticks has little downside these days) and venture capital (losses are capped, but gains are not). Read Swinging for the Fences. See also:
Many companies are moving to a hybrid remote setup when it’s safe for employees to return to offices. Some will allow employees to choose when they work from home and when they work from the office. However, this leads to an in-group (people in the office) and an out-group (people working from home more often). This is especially problematic for women with young children who want to work from home full-time 50% more than men. Employees working from home have a 50% lower rate of promotion after 21 months. Read Don’t Let Employees Pick Their WFH Days from HBR. See also:
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A 2019 Pew Research survey found that Black and Hispanic people have less access to broadband internet than White people (66% 61% vs 79% respectively). This digital divide is becoming more pronounced due to trends in remote work. See also: