I saw something on LinkedIn the other day that stopped me mid-scroll. It was a post—clearly AI-generated, you could tell from the cadence, the slightly off phrasing, the generic inspirational tone—and underneath it were dozens of comments. Enthusiastic comments. Supportive comments. And every single one of them was also AI-generated. Bots responding to bots. A … Continue reading The Dead Internet Theory: Are We Building Machines That Only Talk to Other Machines?
Category: Creator Economy
Rethinking the Creator Economy
Is the creator economy a misnomer? When I think about creators and the effort and time they spend on their work, it seems similar to a 9-to-5 job. For most people, it’s a daily grind. It’s main focus is retaining attention. Without attention, creators have nothing. An artist needs people to consume their work, listen … Continue reading Rethinking the Creator Economy
Accessibility for Profit
Accessibility is one of the most overlooked aspects of being a creator, but it is an incredibly powerful tool to make long-term friends and, ultimately, more money. As a software developer, I learned about accessibility while working for large companies. Often, we had to implement government-mandated guidelines to make our software products more usable by … Continue reading Accessibility for Profit
Monetizing Micro-Communities
Micro-communities are —ironically— becoming a big thing. How big? Life-changing amounts of money big. And it starts with the virtual world. The internet changed my life, in so many ways. And not just when I sold a software business. I remember from my childhood, the late 90s and early 2000s, just how paradigm-shifting it was … Continue reading Monetizing Micro-Communities
Pet Rock Projects (And Why They… Rock)
Tony Dinh, a well-known indie hacker, recently shared an article about his Indie Hacker journey that reached the top of Hacker News. As usual, some people reacted negatively to an indie hacker sharing their story. One common criticism was that these small projects, or "pet rock projects," aren't valuable. There was a strong sentiment in … Continue reading Pet Rock Projects (And Why They… Rock)
What I Learned From 250 Podcast Episodes
This week, I celebrated the podcast reaching 250 episodes with my most recent interview with Amanda Goetz. Just last week, the podcast hit 250,000 overall downloads. These are numbers I never expected to reach. And here I am, still enjoying creating new episodes and interviewing people every week. Today, I want to reflect on the … Continue reading What I Learned From 250 Podcast Episodes
Human Creativity Amidst AI Dominance
Should you even write in a world dominated by generative AI? Isn't your one brain competing with data centers that can do trillions of calculations per second where you can barely hold a single thought in your mind? Don't all these massive language models know way more than you could ever learn? That's quite the … Continue reading Human Creativity Amidst AI Dominance
Things That Kill The Village
Online communities often remind me of villages, offering a sense of belonging, a place to grow roots, and a bustling exchange of ideas and services. I found my 'village' among sci-fi enthusiasts and software entrepreneurs online. And I do my best to contribute to the continuation and improvement of these communities. But not everyone has … Continue reading Things That Kill The Village
The Flip Side: When Not to Build in Public
In the world of entrepreneurship, there's been a growing trend towards building in public - the concept of sharing the journey of creating a product or a business with a public audience. I'm a big fan of this approach to building something meaningful in front of those to whom it matters the most. But it … Continue reading The Flip Side: When Not to Build in Public
In Pod We Trust: How Creators Can Best Juggle Credibility & Sponsored Content
People would rather sift through fake AI results than see yet another ad. Something is happening in advertising, and the creator economy is affected greatly. The shift towards trust-based advertising is a wake-up call for founders and creators when crafting their marketing strategy, as honesty, integrity, and trust are now essential components of a successful … Continue reading In Pod We Trust: How Creators Can Best Juggle Credibility & Sponsored Content