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)
Category: Creator Economy
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
The Rubber Band Effect
When AI researchers Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin tried to explain generative AI to journalists in early 2022 —when just a few hundred researchers and early adopters were toying with the new tech and long before it became mainstream— journalists would nod along while being shown how a prompt would generate a never-before-seen image. “Oh … Continue reading The Rubber Band Effect
Writing with a Nemesis: Using ChatGPT to Strengthen Your Arguments
Are you getting tired of ChatGPT's endless regurgitation of SEO-optimized articles and social media posts? Even ChatGPT is getting tired of that. Too many people use the trendy AI as a text generator. Too few use it as a highly capable writing partner that never sleeps. When I first ran into ChatGPT, I swore I'd never … Continue reading Writing with a Nemesis: Using ChatGPT to Strengthen Your Arguments
MicroConf US ’23 Recap — What Happens When 250 SaaS Founders Meet
This week, I got on my first post-COVID trip and headed to Denver, Colorado for MicroConf 2023. It. Was. Awesome. Unsurprisingly, being in the same room with 250 other bootstrapped SaaS founders is one of the nerdiest things you can do. And it was as enlightening as it was nerdy. I just arrived back home … Continue reading MicroConf US ’23 Recap — What Happens When 250 SaaS Founders Meet
Artificial Scarcity Damages the Creator Economy
Artificial scarcity is a trendy marketing tactic. I see limited-time sales, contests, and first-come-first-serve discounts —only 5 copies left at $20!!— all over the place. And it bothers me — because what's being sold are digital products: eBooks, courses, and software subscriptions. In a world where marginal cost —how much it costs you to create … Continue reading Artificial Scarcity Damages the Creator Economy