Jennifer Janson

Worst thing that came out of Covid is QR code restaurant menus. Just give me a damn physical menu, I don’t want to scroll on my phone like I’m ordering DoorDash when I’m dining in

You should never, 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥, run for an airplane. Not running for airplanes isn’t just a travel tip. It’s a way of thinking about work-life balance. Allow me to explain:

Guaranteed we’re watching the origin story for a $100B robotics company play out.

As an entrepreneur, some days I really feel like I was born in the wrong country.

I first met @ivanhzhao 11 years ago -- and his pitch for @NotionHQ was unlike anything I had ever experienced. We did not discuss technology products like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Instead, we spent an hour discussing the openness and form factor of paper. Ivan marveled how a blank sheet of paper allowed anyone to express anything (in writing, math, drawing) without artificial constraints or limits imposed by the paper-creator. The paper-creator did not have to "guess" what people would want to use their tool to create. Ivan believed that software should be as open and free as paper. Thankfully, @firstround invested. Today's @Forbes profile captures how remarkably different Ivan and @NotionHQ are -- and their journey to build the Internet-powered paper... forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/…

One of the mega trends in this YC batch is the wave of consumer AI companies. Consumer was stuck in the doldrums for years, but AI has brought it back in a big way. Here are the 21 consumer AI companies that launched today. 🧵

To be a great CEO, You have to enjoy telling certain stories over and over again Sometimes 100s of times

We spend a lot of time on how to build a better company and better company systems. One thing that has always been in the way of building world class products is the traditional setup of the "corporate ladder" - it means that the best people end up managing instead of directly working on product. I've seen the traditional ladder described as "peter principling at scale" and friends joke that the best place to hire great engineers is other companies' management layers. This is all silly and we can do better. We are solving this at Shopify with the ~Mastery system, which we are rolling out internally today. We will share our learnings as time goes on.

I’ve observed that pretty consistently, the highest performers are amped when someone great joins a team. Territory wars are for people with too little to worry about. The real players don’t bother. Put ego aside and enjoy the fun of being on a winning team. Rising tides.

Starting today, @BetaKit is available on @AppleNews to follow, read, and share our stories across all your Apple devices. We’re pleased to be Apple’s latest partner among Canadian News Publishers. Follow BetaKit now on Apple News: apple.news/TvYJ-RJ9oR_qKAnU0…

New ⁦@LEGO_Group⁩ florist in London is what glorious creative advertising looks like & why no matter how good AI tools get at rendering/optimising assets (and they are very good at it), the value of human ideas remains.

Possibly the most incredible Beethoven Ode to Joy flashmob by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nuremberg and the Hans-Sachs-Choir in front of the St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg, Germany. [📹 Evenord-Bank eG-KG] nitter.gq/i/status/1755804…

Here are the 12 questions I get asked the most (from building wealth to learning new skills): 1. How do I go from zero to 10,000 followers on social? The fastest way is through replies. You literally don't need to post content of your own. Here's the playbook: 1) You make sure your bio is optimized 2) You set tweet (or IG etc) notifications for people in your space 3) You comment thoughtfully on their posts quickly 4) You gain a few followers daily 5) You do this consistently This is the sure way to getting a base of followers in a niche. You can't lose. 2. Where do you see content going in 2024? Content has been over produced over the last few years and it’s about to go more raw. Especially video. The trend with short form video has been every second amplified with sound effects and zoom ins. Price dings and GIFs. I think you’ll see more creators go raw and see lots of luck there. Examples include Sam Sulek or the handwritten photos you're starting to see on Instagram. Or this handwritten photo I included in this post. Content is moving behind the scenes. Truth is social used to be like that. Everything old is new again. 3. How do you make the most amount of impact on the internet? 1) Pick a worthwhile topic. Nicher the better 2) Write clearly. More clear than anyone else 3) Write regularly. Every single day 4) Collaborate with other writers like you. Help them 5) Open your Twitter DMs. Look for gold 4. What was biggest lesson learned from selling your company to WeWork and being at WeWork at the height of craziness? When I joined WeWork, something stood out. People referred to "adam" in an almost god-like way. They were referring to Adam Neumann. It was fascinating to see on a dime how thousands of people went from worshipping Adam to despising him. He went from god to enemy overnight. Employees thought their stock options were worth millions and ended up being pretty worthless. That's why. Teaches you a lot about human nature. 5. How would you make $1m or $10m in 2024 if you had to and only had $25k to do it? Firstly, good things take time. Figma (now worth $20b) took 7 years to reach $1m in revenue. Things move slowly until they move fast. But if I had to make $1M, I'd follow the ACP funnel (audience, community, product) to build an asset light, profitable business targeting a niche I probably found on Reddit. So, I'd pick a unique category, something where I'm not competing with anyone. I'd build a social account (partner with creators to pump it with the $25k), convert into a free Whatsapp, Circle or Skool community to get their emails and build them a product. The product probably would start be a lightweight software product or paid community. 6. What is the best community platform? There is no perfect community platform. Depends on the needs. First start with building a growing internet audiences, and then pick a home that you think they'll enjoy. No two communities are the same so they needs change. 7. How do you learn new skills? A framework for learning any new skill I use: 1) Limit scope (focus) 2) Write learnings every day (memory) 3) Learn with others (accountability) 4) Teach newcomers (practice) 8. What's your best advice for how to win on the internet? 1) Have a bias for action 2) Ignore noise 3) Be obsessed 4) Accept pain, don’t suffer (pain is inevitable, suffering is optional) 5) Find cheerleaders. People above you, people below you, people on your level 6) Don’t follow growth hacks. If someone is telling you about them, it’s too late 7) Don’t trust public revenue numbers on Twitter, LinkedIn etc. They are probably false 8) Your brand should be so good people want to wear it on t-shirts. I call it the t-shirt test 9) Underspend on material possessions, overspend on people, experiences, that move you faster 9. Should I build in public? Move in silence or move loudly, nothing in between 10. What's the number one way to get people to buy your product? Besides building an internet audience, If you want someone to want something, tell them they can’t have it or build virality into the product. 11. What was the last epiphany you had? I had a realization about the type of experiences you have in life: A toll gets you to somewhere you want to go to. A tax sucks you dry. Be okay with tolls in your life, they make you better. Taxes on the other hand are a part of life and of course should be paid, but you don't want to live a life with only taxes, no tolls. You want mostly tolls, some taxes. 12. What's your spicy take of the day? Reading books is so back right now Stood the test of time with so many new media coming out for hundreds of years. As people want places away from their phones and eventually Apple Vision Pros (digital detox), old school book sales will increase.

Tracy Chapman — who hasn’t performed live in years — just sang “Fast Car” on stage with Luke Combs at the Grammy’s. The backstory behind this collaboration is incredible. Combs’ first favourite song ever was “Fast Car”. He covered it in early 2023 as a country version and the song hit #1 on country charts in July. Chapman owns the song’s composition rights and became the first black female to top the Country chart as a sole writer. What did she think of the cover? Chapman told Billboard at the time: “I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke….and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car.’” Combs honored the original version, which he first listened to when his dad popped a cassette in the car. “You want to just be mega respectful of the original song,” says the 33-year old country singer, per CMT. “That’s why in [my cover], it’s, ‘work in the market as a checkout girl.’ I didn’t change that…I really wanted to just do the original version of the song.” Them performing it together tonight is perfection.

Urging people to be positive doesn’t boost their resilience. It denies their reality. When times are tough, we don’t need good vibes only. We need a hand to keep us steady through all the vibrations. Strength doesn’t come from forced smiles. It comes from feeling supported. link.chtbl.com/RTAdam

This is hands down the most unacceptable interaction I've ever had as a CEO. Having paid Slack millions of dollars, exporting our data is failing. We tried a few ways, none of it works. Slack's response? "Sign a new contract or your data automatically enters deletion queue."