issue # 16
issue # 16
request for startups, doing work that matters, and reality has a surprising amount of detail
Welcome to the startupy newsletter, a laid back column about very serious ideas. Every week, we curate the hottest links from our universe and share them with you here.
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COOL THINGS CURATED IN OUR UNIVERSE
1. On requests for startups…
We collected the best blogposts/tweets scattered across the Internet in one place. So much gold!
2. We’re obsessed with L.M. Sacasas’ work.
I found this interview about the nature of conversation and how the medium dictates the message particularly interesting: "email often frustrates me because there is TOO much time to polish, it feels like I can't just say what's on my mind and work things out, whatever I send feels “final" in some sense I really dislike."
Related musings in the Future of Text topic.
3. On doing work that matters…
A fantastic blog post by Will Larson, the CTO of Calm, curated by Jilber Najem (product strategist at Meta). Standout highlight: "avoid the habit of "snacking": working on easy, low-impact stuff for the sake of quick satisfaction, losing focus on more meaningful tasks."
4. For a weekend pick-me-up…
The startupy community highlighted the best insights from 150 of the best non-fiction books.
5. A thoughtful essay on Remote Work by Derek Thompson.
The remote-work debate has become deeply polarized between people who consider it a moral necessity that is beyond criticism and those who consider it a culture-killer that is beyond fixing. Like the office, remote work will never go away, and like the office, it has important problems that deserve our attention. Solving remote work’s problems is a job worth doing.
Check out the remote work and future of work topic pages on startupy for lots more insights.
6. Reality has a surprising amount of detail
This 2017 blog post by John Salvatier, curated by Tanuj Lalwani, is a strong contender for blog post of the decade. Must read for anyone out there in the trenches building something and thinking "this shit is hard."
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this building, it’s that reality has a surprising amount of detail. This turns out to explain why it's so easy for people to end up intellectually stuck. Even when they’re literally the best in the world in their field.
✨ CURATOR SPOTLIGHT
Why is web3 and public policy an interesting topic?
There are a few reasons to be interested in the intersection between web3 and public policy.
The main one is that blockchain technology could be used to achieve public policy objectives, whether related to disinformation, competition against extractive web2 platforms, financial inclusion, tax efficiency or humanitarian aid, as well as more macro themes like the implications for geopolitics or sovereignty. At Project Vellir, we think and write a lot about how policy makers should be thinking about web3 and the future of the internet.
These issues are also worth thinking through because the industry is facing an onslaught of regulation over the next decade, some of which will be good and some less so. Getting this right could be the difference between allowing web3 to flourish and the benefits being felt by people all around the world, and stopping innovation in its tracks.
A podcast worth listening to?
I would recommend Money Reimagined in general. There was a great episode with Jonathan Dotan from Starling Labs about how blockchain could help solve disinformation issues.
And to support fellow Brits, i’d also recommend Azeem Azhar’s pod Exponential View, including an interview with Do Kwon, which is well worth relistening to given everything that has since happened with Terra/Luna.
Things worth reading and watching?
I’m a fan of Andrew Beal’s newsletter 30,000 feet. It’s smart, original and short, and always makes me think about web3 issues in a different way. And Nat Eliason’s explainers on tokenomics or why you should avoid games like Stepn (my take not his) are brilliant.
I’ve enjoyed watching some of Raoul Pal’s interviews on Real Vision. His conversations with Yat Siu from Anamoca and Punk 6529 were both fascinating.
And a shameless plug, but do also read our notes at Project Vellir on issues like crypto and sovereignty or why crypto needs its own institutions.
Projects worth following?
I’ll take three:
Wildfire DAO is an interesting project looking to coordinate across projects and protocols as a sort of mini institution (as above as to why we think that’s interesting!)
Pool Data is enabling the creation of data unions or data DAOs so that people can pool their data and monetise it in interesting new ways.
Voltz Protocol is building interest rate swaps for DeFi - a gigantic market if they get it right.
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