The only thing that matters

If you enjoy these newsletters and think a colleague or a friend should read them, please get them to sign up on this page . 📝

If it is your first time here or you want to binge-read past letters, here are all. 📰

If you found this newsletter interesting, I would love it if you could share it🔗!

👉 These are the crazy things I learned last week.

VAIM 2023

In case you don't know, I decided to organize my own conference three years ago, and it was so awesome that I did it again two more times. 🔥

What blows my mind is how many people want to build cool stuff - and all these people make this conference successful. 🙌

This year it was "The Year of the Startups" with more than 60 Startups competing for the opportunity to pitch in front of investors in an EPIC mansion.

I won't say more, as I am preparing a video 🎥 about this whole experience - subscribe to check it out.

😎 The next one is going to be waaaaay more fun. WAY. MORE. FUN.

Threads

Threads from Instagram is a big deal.

And not because it is trying to be the "kill Twitter" app.

First of all, it is on the way to being the fastest-growing app on the planet - dethroning ChatGPT - with 100M users in just 5 days. 🤯

And it's not because Instagram or Facebook is pushing users (Meta has failed to move users to its Metaverse).

On top of that, the app is surprisingly stable and faster than Twitter - I assume the Meta engineers have faced scaling issues in the past.

But more importantly, it might create a rippling effect in the economy if Twitter starts losing money 💸 even faster and the richest man in the world starts shaking.

Unless his mom is there to calm him down. Or any other adult. 🫠

Great work

Do you have trouble finding something that excites ✨ you?

This post is for you!

Doing great work is simple. Not easy. Just simple. Here is what Paul Graham has to say about how to do great work.

1. Decide what to work on
2. Learn as much as you can about that thing you decided
3. Find gaps
4. Explore those gaps and create something of value

Simple.

The most difficult thing is (1) so let's talk about that.

How to decide what you want/like/are passionate about.

💡 And there are many ideas on how to do that.

One of them is just committing to one idea. The idea doesn't matter, and if you keep changing ideas, nothing good will come out.

Another one is to find something that you are good at.

My favorite one is something that excites you - and this is the most controversial.

The best one (in my own opinion) is to do anything. Pick something randomly and hone your skills. Do it fast and keep doing it. A day you are not working on your random idea is wasted.

Ideas don’t matter. Your actions matter.

Everything else is just an excuse. 💁🏻‍♂️

Unleash your full potential

You have two options in life: be the best version of yourself or let your potential go to waste.

Ever heard of "acting your wage"? It means not giving your best when you feel unappreciated by your employer. 😐

It's a natural response, but here's the thing:

Abilities unused will atrophy, so putting in anything less than your best means giving up on what you’re capable of. You can’t save talent or energy for better days, only watch it go to waste. This is a hard truth to accept if you don’t think your company has earned your best.

Don't underestimate yourself by conforming to their expectations. Illuminate your path by shining bright, no matter the circumstances. 🔥

👉 Read more at https://world.hey.com/dhh/

Pessimists Archive

Most people are pessimists. They are afraid of change and reluctant to step out of their comfort zones. 🔒

But if you want to be awesome 💫 like me and create amazing things, seeing the glass as half full is important.

Startuppers are confident that things will eventually work out, even when data suggests otherwise. It takes a touch of madness to believe that you can make things better out of the 6 billion people on this planet.

Pessimists Archive is a project to jog our collective memories about the hysteria, technophobia, and moral panic that often greets new technologies, ideas, and trends.

I find it incredibly intriguing to explore people's thoughts when inventions that improved our lives were first introduced. Ever wondered what people thought about automobiles, radios, airplanes, or even the Walkman?

In our days, the same conversation is happening about AI.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about its potential? 🤔

Let me know in the comments!

That's all for now. See you next week!

- Jon V (as in Victory) 🚀

- Tue 11 July 2023