Building Things People Want 🪃

Short, practical drops on culture and technology. 🚀

gm community! ☀️

I was thinking of you all this morning as I walked to assume my perch at my favourite coffee house. It was early and if you saw the community from above, what you’d see is humans scurrying out of our nests, ready to assume our roles in society.

It takes all kinds to make it work, and I felt hopeful that you were all ready to take on the day and work on something meaningful. I hope you are. And if you’re not happy where you are, I hope you get there soon. I’m right here with you. 🙏

TIME recognizes a legend 👀

I was also thinking of the news above 👆. Agree or disagree with Musk, he is someone who wants to move the world forward and who is deeply passionate about making stuff. He understands that true entrepreneurship is creativity x engineering, and that building things for your fellow humans is pure joy.

Building early stage is so much fun 🤝

And so this morning’s letter is specifically to you, those out there making stuff.

You’ve identified a problem ready to be solved and you believe you and your team have the stones to solve it. You’re building (or you’ve built) a product and you’re pounding the pavement talking to potential customers. You love the customer because, by definition, the customer is you.

You have a vision, but you’re deeply committed to listening to what the customer wants. No in-vitro value proposition survives contact with the real world, but you’re prepared to humble yourself and adapt as the future demands. (In early 2020 I was nearly 100% wrong about what the customer wanted. It was a value prop lesson I won’t soon forget and one that I will write about here soon 🚀).

The tools ⚡️

If you’re going to throw your hat in to the creator economy ring, you need the right tools. Here are 5 tools to get you started. 👇

A Newsletter 👉 Not Boring from @packyM is borderline indispensable. Independent long-from explainers are worth their weight in bitcoin.

A Book 👉 The Minimalist Entrepreneur from @shl gets straight to the point. No fluff please and thank you.

A Twitter Follow 👉 Encountering @naval changed my life.

A Platform 👉 You’ve built amazing assets the world could benefit from. I’m sure of it. Package and sell them on Gumroad.

Write! 👉 Reading makes you a better writer, and writing makes you a better thinker. Show the world what you’ve got on Mirror.

Gratitude 🙏

Do your work today. Make stuff. Build with the customer in mind.

I admire you!

See you on the path.

- MG