As I’m exploring what truly interests me, there’s something that’s getting clearer as the days go by. Something that I keep peeking at through the trees.
I value taste.
And I know that’s an overused term these days, plus it’s different for everyone else but I can just feel what I like and don’t like. It flows from products I use, to what I wear, to the founders I invest in. Maybe there’s some built up instinct from running the Product Hunt homepage for 2 years back in 2015 and combing through tens of thousands of products.
Taste is the reason why I can’t do things that are not authentic to me. I refuse to tweet ‘for growth’. I turn down acquisitions or job offers.
So I wanted to see what past me and current me really like.
I asked Codex to pull my history from Kindle and Spotify to see if my feeling of this ‘thing’ was true. What have I been consuming for hours just for fun, just because I find it interesting?
Books and podcasts feel like a strong signal because I’ve paid for it and/or spent hours in it. I also pulled my YouTube history and Readwise articles/newsletters but I don’t think 885 videos of The Wiggles shows me anything other than being a parent…So I focused mostly on books.
With the data all in a folder I got Opus 5.5 to show me what my consumption looked like.
Then I asked Opus to try a few different agents with no context to look at the data to see what it thinks my interests are.
Kinda…
But what it re-affirmed to me was more nuanced than that… It’s not just ‘business’ books or founders’ stories that I like. It’s the how. How did this person or company do this thing? Why people made choices that others didn’t? What alternative path did they take and succeed?
I’ve been diving into David Senra recently - mostly interviews on him as the subject (he reads autobiographies of founders and does a podcast on them). I resonate a lot with how he thinks about his own ‘work’. One big thing that keeps sticking with me is stories sell products.
It’s taste. It’s uniqueness. It’s values. It’s going against the grain. Doing something different.
For example, I use Granola because I like the founders, the company, their values, their vibe, their taste and of course, their product. Sure there’s a ton of competitors but its the care of their craft that I really feel. So I pick them over others. I don’t see the Granola founders ever going on youtube to do this kind of stuff.
I get we’re in an attention game but this feels icky to me.
I buy clothes from Kith because I know a lot about the founder and how he think about his brand (plus I loved streetwear growing up). Its an extension of him and what he likes. Great Senra interview with him here btw that I found this morning.
There’s a ton of companies and builders out there who do or have done something differently. Just because its authentically them. Those are the products I want to buy. And those are the stories that interest me.
So I’m going to be looking into those stories and building interactive sites, some with video, some with behind the scenes of my process. That is what I’m going to focus on doing.
The ‘how we make money’ isn’t something on my mind to figure out yet. If I focus on tasteful builders I’m sure companies would want to be part of that narrative but it allows me to make my own judgement on whether I’d even want to do something with them.
I feel like if the format is interesting enough, it can make you care about the topic (even if you think you won’t) - which is why I love the interactive essays by The Pudding. I don’t care about women’s jean pocket sizes, but you bet I read the essay because I love the format.
That’s the kind of feeling I want.
Oh and I turned my book history into a scrollable timeline for fun.
Quick bites
ChatGPT Images 2.6 - faster, better and now with GIFs
Reverse engineering TikTok - they know if you’re lying down, walking or in a car
Pivoting to focus on fun.
Notion is ‘reinventing itself’ - context for agents.
Agent experience is the new user experience.
I feel this on the build side too. Every site an agent produces has the same SaaS look, and you can tell right away nobody chose anything. Honestly, taste now is mostly saying no to the default. Do your interactive sites start from a reference you love, or from a blank prompt?
Those 3d book models are sick! Your bookshelf inspired me to build a 3d space filled with my absolute favourite books, movies (or rather its cinema tickets and posters)/vinyls/favourite LEGO sets/devices from the past - any item I would like to "collect" on the virtual room to a) feel nostalgic and b) reflect on how my taste was "formed" over the years. It would be cool to see Ben's nostalgic wall as well! Oh and the bookshelf is definitely missing Mollick's new book (although this post suggests you already have it in progress)