Alex Cheshire on LinkedIn: spot on! but this applies to any social network and today serves as a… (2024)

i love tinkering with text2img gen-aifor me, it's like a magical black box#midjourney helps me create covers for posts, explore different images, generate references, and just have fun…so, here's a little art experimentMINDSCAPES

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only deeply unhappy people set goalshere's an interesting concept / don't follow it, but it resonates with mewhen your current activities or potential aren't bringing you any joy, you start asking'what's the point of all this?' and try to find a specific point of happinessbut here's the obvious trap: what happens when you reach your goal? set another one? and then another? life passes by, goals are achieved, and at best, you experience joy and happiness for 3 hours total, 1 hour for each goal achievedask any kid on a playground what their goals are, and it'll seem like a strange question to themthey have tag, toy cars, slides, and a magical world around themthey think in terms of processes, not results→ so if you're not happy with the process, you're never happy

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ever wondered how blockchain networks reach agreement? i've got you covered with a concise cheat sheet on all consensus mechanisms + had some fun testing out a new color schemecheck it out 👇

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i think Dan Koe is a product genius, and here's whyi recently joined the bootcamp for his new product Kortexit's a note app like Notion, Coda, Anytype, etc. / no next-gen features, but the product dev method is uniquehow Dan cracked the product launch code?here's a quick breakdown of his launch and why it's the best product approach i've seen1/ Dan has a huge media audienceunderstanding their needs, he created a note app for writers and content creators = his core audience, his personal pain point and solution2/ the product isn't publicly released yet, likely due to quality and scalability concerns, so…3/ first, Dan launched Kortex University, a long-term educational programhigh price + some UX issues led to likely low conversions (my guess)4/ next came Kortex Bootcamp for $350lots of educational value + early access for a yeargreat deal, teaching writing, threads, newsletters, and Kortex usage5/ bootcamp was limited to 500 peoplei hesitated for a few days, and within 10 hours of paying, it was sold outwhy is this approach genius?→ simple math: 500 × $350 = $175'000after taxes, educational materials, Dan's time, and part-time team support for 1.5 months, it's around $120'000→ Dan essentially secured a $120'000 pre-seed round without losing equity or wasting resources on investors, pitching, and bureaucracy→ Kortex now has 500 early adopters, who are likely to stay due to the educational value attached to the product→ plus, they act as beta testers, reporting bugs and suggesting improvementsapplause for the best real customer development i've seen→ this also creates a great media story and social proofDan knows his stuff, and high-quality content ensures rave reviews (like mine)→ it's a perfect tool for his sales funnel since he has other educational products that fit well into the content creator training system>>> the essence?i like to repeat 'want a startup? build media!'Dan's simple customer development approach changes product distribution, secures development resources, creates an engaged feedback loop, and builds a base for upselling other productsall mixed with education, real value, and practicethe coolest part?he can do this 3-5 times before the public releasenot bad to get $500K+ in investments without losing equity+ 2500 users+ tons of product feedback+ help people build their personal brands+ making them loyal fanshe's hitting all targets with one shot!take note; such cases are rareand remember, audience is everythingwith it, you can validate hypotheses, test products, get early adopters, secure risk-free investments, and improve lives simultaneously///sometimes i write about digital products and case studies, balancing virtual and real life, decentralization, AI, and technology in generalfollow me… or don'tyour choicejust keep control of your life and never stop growing personally

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why 'wanting it all now' is a trap and how to avoid itever met someone who just can't wait for anything? they want it all, right nowlet’s explore why this happens and how to handle itpeople often chase immediate gratification, causing stress and dissatisfaction why does this need for instant fulfillment arise?→ emotional impulsivity those who are highly emotional and act on impulses struggle with long-term planning and self-controlthey find it hard to delay gratification and often seek immediate pleasure→ perfectionism perfectionists believe everything must be done perfectly and immediatelythey never feel fully satisfied, constantly battling anxiety and frustration→ filling a voidthe rush to fulfill every desire can be an attempt to fill an inner emptinessthis creates an illusion of a full life but leads to more dissatisfaction as the void remainsstart evaluating your desires with these simple practices:1/ ask 'why?' five timesif you doubt a desire, ask yourself why you need itto the answer, ask why again, and repeat five timesthis helps reveal your true motives and whether the desire is genuinely yours2/ my priorities methodlist your main life areas, like family, work, finance, travel, spirituality, etc. compare each pair and decide which is more importantrank them by assigning values (1 for must-have, 0 for can-do-without)this shows your top priorities3/ lottery exerciseimagine winning a large sum in the lotterywhat would you do with it? use the '5 whys?' technique on your answers to understand what truly matters to youalign your current desires with these priorities to turn them into meaningful goals4/ time checkif impulsive desires strike, force yourself to waitafter a day or two, you might realize the desire wasn't that importantthis helps manage impulsive actions, save resources, and avoid regret5/ record your desireswrite them down in phone notesanalyze their impact on your life + qualitycalculate the consequences, what’s needed to fulfill themif you're not ready now, you might be laterdon't rush to discard desires; keep dreaming and planning for the futurefind balance and make thoughtful choicesshare your thoughts and methods that work for you!

rethinking the definition of MVPwhy settle for viability when you can aim for value?i don’t get why MVP is translated as Minimum Viable Productwhat does viability even mean?does it mean the product works with minimal costs? that it sells? that it has a profitable unit economy? where’s the viability in that?instead, i prefer the term Minimum Valuable Productit might not have all the so-called 'viability' features, whatever that means, but it definitely delivers value to usersthis is crucial for testing a product hypothesiswithout value there is no viabilityeverything else is just extra stuff you can tweak and play around withfocus on value to meet real user needs and build a strong foundation for growthfocus on viability when it’s digital business, when there’s market fit, demand, competitiveness, financial stabilityviability needs to be developed at this stage, but it is not the MVP stage

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tokenomics / part 2 /// basics 2almost any blockchain or dApp is an N-sided marketplace where users interact:- miners + transaction creators- compute providers + users- liquidity providers + traders- lenders + borrowers- artists + collectors- farmers + traders + gamersthis means each project faces the 'cold start' problem + the challenge of triggering network effectsnetwork effect = a project becomes more valuable as more people use itUber, Airbnb, UpWork, Amazon: more drivers → less waiting or lower prices → more passengers → more orders → more drivers...Uniswap, Raydium, PancakeSwap: more liquidity → less slippage → more traders → more fees → more liquidity...this is where tokens come inhow Uber did it: no internal economy, just a transactional business model / initially, Uber subsidized drivers passengershow web3 does it: an algorithmic economy that financially incentivizes the use of the productthus, tokenomics can be a good boost for the network effect if business includes generating profits (investment approach)or there is long-term liquidity to meet obligations (credit approach)or there is strong (blind) faith and community belonging among users (meme approach)or one group of users is paid using the funds of others (Ponzi approach) ☺️importantly, we’re still talking about a user product, so the equation looks like this:web3 product = solving user pain + internal economy + business model + economic incentives for usersvs.web2 product = solving user pain + unit economics🧠 my concerns as an idealist1/ blockchain-based business models as consensus protocols are just automated middlementhe ideal scenario in TRIZ: the system doesn’t exist, but the function is performedideally, the tokenomics of a project should, in the long run, aim for the complete elimination of developers, forming an autonomous system of usersissues of domain, frontend, and user support remain open2/ any token is a digital product that requires the same level of audience attention, marketing activities, solving operational, legal, accounting, and management issues, design, and development resources, etc.the crypto community is limited, marketing opportunities are restricted, regulatory loopholes are everywhere, and scams are around every cornerso why shouldn’t a business solve user pain in a centralized way?3/ any economic incentive attracts people focused on making moneythis isn’t bad; in a marketplace, there will always be buyers and sellersbut i see the dollar amounts spent on conditional airdrops and the number of actual product usersit’s a bit scary>>>if you see any mistakes or have ideas, commenti'd appreciate it

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tokenomics / part 1/// introbasis = the theory of private moneyit's about an economy where all money is issued by private companies in a competitive market, aiming to improve the monetary system"Denationalization of Money" (1976), F. A. Hayek suggested denationalizing money, arguing that government monopoly on money issuance is harmfulhe proposed a system of competing private currencies produced by market mechanismshere are some examples:> municipal money / local currencies boost local economies> company scrip / historically, companies issued their own money to pay employees> loyalty points / loyalty points or rewards that act like private money> digital platforms / online platforms + games often have their own currencies, Fortnite V-Bucks, Roblox Robux> public transport systems / cities have their own tokens or cards for transportation services> cryptography + distributed ledger technology have allowed us to test this idea in practiceso far, so good / over the past 15 years, adoption has been slow but steady don't rush people/// basicslet's run real quick:1/ there is decentralized system = blockchain2/ its nodes (autonomous servers) store and manage data3/ consensus decision making is autonomous4/ to keep the system running, you need people5/ people need incentives the most effective incentives in capitalism = economic onesexamples:- bitcoin / PoW / you burn electricity to power computational work and get a chance to earn transaction fees and block rewards- ethereum / PoS / you stake >32 ETH and earn about 3-5% annuallyinside these networks, there's a whole industry of layer 2-3 solutions, DeFi protocols, and dApps that also need their own tokenomicswithout them, the main network would only handle native token transactionsthat's why you see thousands of projects on CoinMarketCapin these projects, economic incentives work a bit differently:- profit sharing- liquidity providing rewards- future token emissions- participation rewards- bounties + referral programs- token burning + deflation- scams + Ponzi schemestokens are often used as investment or credit tool, a variation of crowdfunding / this validates the concept (real payment) + attracts funds from the community for development/distributionbig VC funds now comfortably buy token allocationsinstitutions are testing blockchain or ETF investmentshunting for promising 'gem' projects has become a professionserious traders understand the risks and profitsretail crowd is waiting for 30x ROI without any hasslesimple idea:decentralized system is fully transparent for its users, without coercion or bans, free from censorship, autonomous, algorithmically predetermined, immutable, and securethis offers a big alternative to centralized platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, etc. in many ways

we’re all 'finding ourselves' it seems like to do that, we need to find a passion first, and from that passion, grow progress, results, and achievementsthis is another big lie, probably from society or even neuroscience / it feels like the right sequence, but it's notwrong: search → interest → passion → progress → achievementsright: search → progress → interest → achievements → passionremember, progress through actions, trials, and errors leads to interest and achievements, which then spark passion

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