Make the problem smaller before you make it bigger

A moodboard on simplicity

I showed

Andy weissman

(investor at USV, remarkable human, and all around mensch) Podcast Magic, the app we’re building where you screenshot a podcast moment and get a transcript + clip back.

He loved it. Said he wanted it.

Then he went:
“Does it have to be an app?”

I was like… fuck, why didn’t I think of this?

I’d spent so many months moving pixels on Figma now I wanted to throw my laptop out the window.

A week later I sent this:

Now it’s stupid simple:

1. Just email a screenshot to podcastmagic@sublime.app

2. 30 seconds later get a transcript + clip in your inbox

Andy tries it and says:
“This is killer.”

I asked him what he’d do next.
He says: Make the problem smaller before you make it bigger.

(His full reply is absolute gold for anyone building apps or consumer products.
I’m sharing it with paying subscribers at the end of this issue.)

When we encounter a simpler idea, the common reflexive response is: "it's not enough, it doesn't have X Y Z."

The better response is to acknowledge that turning back can be getting ahead.

Most “features” are just excuses to avoid the scary part:
Making something simple
Putting it out there
And letting people judge it

Here’s a moodboard—on simplicity.

Plus, for paying subs, the full email from Andy Weissman (partner at USV, legendary early-stage investor) on what to do with the app + how to think about pricing. Gold for anyone building consumer internet products.