Elon Launches, Newsletter'ing & This Week's Tech Round-Up
What I Learned at School this Week
Hey y’all!
This week’s post is more focused on “what happened in tech.” And less about “my personal journey towards productivity.” I’m curious if you like one topic, versus the other. Or a combination! Let me know in the feedback section at the end.
Enjoy…
Elon Takes Bronze
SpaceX launched the first humans into space this past week. Truly astonishing.
Fun fact: the astronauts brought a Baby Yoda onboard as a “zero gravity indicator.”
Also this week, Tesla’s price skyrocketed (couldn’t not use this pun) over 20%, valuing the business at $465B. Some speculate the bump was due to the news that Tesla is joining the S&P 500. The only other car maker in the S&P 500 is Toyota. And Tesla’s market cap is about double Toyota’s, despite the fact that Toyota delivered 30x more cars than Tesla last year. The bulls will justify Tesla’s market cap with the following logic:
In other words, the growth rate of revenue is what investors are betting on (and thus, future revenues). Not the current revenue of Tesla.
Anyway, all this action has boosted Elon to the podium of capitalism. Bronze! That’s right, he got to the the third richest person in the world yesterday, surpassing Zuck. Bernard Arnault is up next, then Mr. Bezos. Here’s a Real-time list of the world’s billionaires, by Fortune.
Newsletter’ing
It’s been fun to watch this little corner of the internet grow. If you are writing a Newsletter—and I know several of you are—here’s a great thread from Lenny Rachitsky, on newsletter’ing life so far.
Proof that newsletter’ing is “a thing”:
Tech Twitter jokes when someone launches a Newsletter saying “is it too late for me to announce my Newsletter?” And everyone understands the irony.
Folks like Web Smith (2PM) and Ben Thompson (Stratechery) are the trailblazers in the space.
And then you’ve got the bundling trend of folks like Nathan Baschez and Dan Shipper with their “Everything Bundle.”
I’m a part of a writing group called Compound Writing, where almost everyone has a Substack.
And On Deck just launched On Deck Writing Fellowship.
And these are the things just off the top of my head! :)
All of these increases in attention to Newsletters has also created a debate around “Newsletter Fatigue.”
What is Newsletter fatigue? It’s when you have several (3-15+) newsletters in your inbox every day. This creates distraction throughout the day if you are browsing my inbox and come across a title like this:
Slack: The Bulls are typing... What everyone gets wrong about Slack and why its future is mathematically bright
I mean, come on, I can’t not click on that! 25 minutes later I’ve got a meeting and didn’t get the task done I needed to, before the meeting.
This leads to how the inbox is connected to Newsletters…
Obviously, Newsletter fatigue is not good for Substack. It generates unsubscribes, disrupting their otherwise beautiful flywheel business model.
So, I’m excited to see what Substack does with the inbox they announced last week. It sounds like Google’s old RSS feed that was sunsetted, of which people still to this day lament. More context on the the next inbox in a post by Capiche, here.
Substack’s tagline:
We're working on a cozy new space for reading your newsletters.
If that tagline doesn’t automatically transport you to a rainy cold day, in the perfect reading nook, with no distractions other than the thought of your coffee cup running out of black gold—well, I don’t know what will.
I want my Newsletters, you know, the “fun” stuff in my inbox, to feel cozy.
Today, my inbox feels far from cozy. It feels almost the opposite. Prickly. Anxiety-inducing. I feel to-do list guilt when I open it. Overdue tasks and work live there. Not fun. But I think the inbox should have distinctions. Similar to my text apps. Open Slack or Zoom chat? That’s work. Open Twitter or iMessage? That’s fun. Cozy. My space. Work apps are places I go where I usually get pulled into someone else’s agenda.
Here is a system I’ve been slowly working on for my own email inbox. I hope that the far right “tube”—“Read later”—can lead to my “cozy” little Newsletter (Substack Inbox) world. As I call it: “My Personal Ongoing Online Magazine.”
Companies like Hey and SuperHuman are working on the inbox. But I haven’t drank their Kool-Aid, yet. I want to customize it my way.
A Few Other Interesting Nuggets
Billionaire Bob Parsons: The American Dream is alive and well
Inspiring and feel-good story of a billionaire (if you believe that is possible)
Earphone-less Speakers - good luck clicking on this link (holy pop-ups RollingStones)
“This Israeli Tech Company Wants to Beam Music to Your Ears”
SecondBody - found in this Twitter thread
“SecondBody offers you and a partner the chance to meet each other through the bodies of two strangers—and see each other as if for the first time.”
The DOW hit a record high on Monday
Speculation: this was because of the vaccine news — are you planning on taking it?
You may be ordering it from Amazon soon, as they just announced their use of the $1B acquisition of Pill last year, as they launch an online pharmacy. Maybe Elon won’t catch Jeff anytime soon.
Zuck and Dorsey Get Questioned by the Senate Again
“‘More power than traditional media': Facebook, Twitter policies attacked.”
Twitter Launched “Fleets” (Stories)
Everyone is doing it. Excel may be next.
How did you feel about this week’s post?
(All feedback is 100% anonymous)
Quote I’ve been pondering:
The harder someone is to get on the phone, the less likely they will be your friend or collaborator.
Don't force relationships that feel too hard.
Thank you to the champs who made it this far. You are my hero(s) today.
See you next week. And until then, start building up an appetite for that turkey (or hearty veggies, for those of you who don’t eat animals!).
Oh, and my PS last week was that BTC surpassed $16k. Well, it’s at $18k and eyeing $19k….
Cheers,
Brendan J Short