Some context on what I mean by “a serious company building a reliable app for mainstream users”
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If you really believe that PKM apps (or second brains, or tools for thought, etc) are a huge opportunity with the potential to change how humanity thinks…
Then the clear objective is to build a consumer app that can be used every day by people around the world
Then the clear objective is to build a consumer app that can be used every day by people around the world
First of all, this requires total commitment to taking a single breakthrough capability across the chasm into the “early majority”:
Spotify: listen to music anywhere
Uber: call a ride from anywhere
Tinder: find a date anytime
Evernote: take notes everywhere
Spotify: listen to music anywhere
Uber: call a ride from anywhere
Tinder: find a date anytime
Evernote: take notes everywhere
Even betting everything on that one capability, the chance of success is small
Which is why you need leverage:
• VC or other institutional funding
• Large scale hiring & a scalable organization
• Business model that probably loses money for a long time
• Global datacenters
Which is why you need leverage:
• VC or other institutional funding
• Large scale hiring & a scalable organization
• Business model that probably loses money for a long time
• Global datacenters
It’s unclear what that breakthrough capability is for the new wave of PKM apps, which is why we haven’t seen a breakout star
But making that bet before it’s obvious is what makes a unicorn
And it won’t be a serious category until there’s at least one unicorn (>1 bn valuation)
But making that bet before it’s obvious is what makes a unicorn
And it won’t be a serious category until there’s at least one unicorn (>1 bn valuation)
Laying the foundation for a company of this scale requires:
• a safe corporate culture that doesn’t turn people away (unlike Roam)
• a large dev team working on multiple layers of the stack at once while also maintaining high release rate (unlike Obsidian)
• a safe corporate culture that doesn’t turn people away (unlike Roam)
• a large dev team working on multiple layers of the stack at once while also maintaining high release rate (unlike Obsidian)
• a defensible business model with a moat (unlike Logseq)
• a dead simple, extremely simple user interface that anyone can understand without training (unlike Tana so far)
In other words, a “serious” business that is designed to make money sustainably
• a dead simple, extremely simple user interface that anyone can understand without training (unlike Tana so far)
In other words, a “serious” business that is designed to make money sustainably
So much of what’s required is very boring work building infrastructure (scalable cloud services), providing broad support (mobile apps for multiple platforms), relentlessly simplifying the design (like Airbnb does constantly), most of which is just expected by users by default
And culturally there needs to be a total focus on acquiring users and catering to beginners, which is really hard to do when the only people who will try your app in the beginning are super early adopters
You have to resist getting captured by their ever more sophisticated needs
You have to resist getting captured by their ever more sophisticated needs
Coinbase is a great example of this
Imagine what it took to tell the crypto community they’re building a normal corporation (not a DAO), going public on a normal stock exchange (not issuing a token), and most of all, keeping your keys in a central exchange (not decentralized)
Imagine what it took to tell the crypto community they’re building a normal corporation (not a DAO), going public on a normal stock exchange (not issuing a token), and most of all, keeping your keys in a central exchange (not decentralized)
They had to sacrifice and push back on 90% of the crypto community’s idealistic but unrealistic príncipes in service of bringing one breakthrough capability to the masses:
Buy and sell crypto via an app
Buy and sell crypto via an app
I hope we one day have a Coinbase of PKM: someone dedicated to bringing 10% of PKM’s power to 90% of the people, instead of the other way around
We’ll know we’ve succeeded when it’s not called PKM or second brains, but simply “the obvious best way of doing things”
We’ll know we’ve succeeded when it’s not called PKM or second brains, but simply “the obvious best way of doing things”
Warning signs that an app is too niche include adding features that only extreme nerds care about:
• Markdown support
• Interoperability
• Decentralized anything
• Privacy or security features
• Multiple completely new interface concepts
• Markdown support
• Interoperability
• Decentralized anything
• Privacy or security features
• Multiple completely new interface concepts
Good signs that an app is preparing for mainstream users:
• Mobile-first
• Early investment in excellent brand design
• Emphasis on user friendly UX over sophistication
• Works 90% like other apps with 10% innovative features
• Collaboration and business uses prioritized
• Mobile-first
• Early investment in excellent brand design
• Emphasis on user friendly UX over sophistication
• Works 90% like other apps with 10% innovative features
• Collaboration and business uses prioritized
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