Embracing Authenticity in My Journey
While I navigate my interests, one truth becomes clearer: the concept of taste is essential in my life.
This term may sound cliché and varies from person to person, yet I instinctively know what resonates with me. This influences everything—from my choice of products to my fashion style, and even the founders I choose to invest in. Perhaps my intuition stems from my experience managing the Product Hunt homepage for two years, where I examined tens of thousands of products.
It’s my personal sense of taste that compels me to stay true to myself. I steer clear of actions that don’t align with my values; I refuse to tweet simply for growth or accept job offers that don’t resonate with me.
To understand my evolving taste better, I decided to review my past and current preferences. I utilized Codex to extract my history from Kindle and Spotify to discern what truly interests me in my leisure time. What have I devoted countless hours to, purely for enjoyment?
Books and podcasts signal strong preferences for me; I’ve either invested money in them or spent hours enjoying them. I also looked through my YouTube history and Readwise articles, but honestly, 885 videos of The Wiggles mainly reflect my life as a parent. Consequently, I concentrated on my book consumption.
With the gathered data organized, I used Opus 5.5 to analyze my consumption patterns.
Next, I queried Opus to analyze my data without any context and share insights on my interests.
While the analysis reaffirmed some of my preferences, it revealed deeper nuances. My interests span beyond mere ‘business’ books or founder narratives; I’m intrigued by the process: how individuals or companies achieve their success, the decisions they made that others didn’t, and the unique paths they followed.
Recently, I’ve been delving into David Senra’s work, particularly his podcast where he interviews founders. His perspective resonates with my own; one key takeaway is that stories sell products.
It’s about taste, distinctiveness, and values—embracing unconventional approaches and doing things differently.
For instance, I choose Granola not just for the product itself, but because I admire the founders, their vision, and their commitment to quality. Even though competitors abound, the passion and care they pour into their work truly sets them apart.
While I understand the importance of capturing attention, I find it somewhat distasteful.
Brands like Kith resonate with me because I appreciate the founder’s vision and how it reflects his personality. I stumbled upon a fascinating interview with him by Senra that’s worth checking out here.
There are countless entrepreneurs doing things authentically and differently. Those are the stories that intrigue me, and those are the products I wish to support.
Therefore, I plan to delve deeper into these narratives and create interactive content—some featuring videos, others showcasing the behind-the-scenes processes. This is where my focus will lie.
I’m not overly concerned with monetization at the moment. By prioritizing authentic builders, I’m confident companies would want to be part of those stories, giving me the liberty to decide which partnerships align with my values.
I believe that if a format captivates enough, it can spark interest in any topic—like The Pudding’s interactive essays. Personally, I wouldn’t typically care about the size of women’s jean pockets, but the engaging format compelled me to read. That’s the kind of emotional engagement I aspire to create.
Finally, I’ve turned my book history into a scrollable timeline for some fun. If you’re curious, take a look.
-
ChatGPT Images 2.6 – faster, better and now with GIFs
-
Reverse engineering TikTok – they know if you’re lying down, walking or in a car
-
Pivoting to focus on fun.
-
Notion is ‘reinventing itself’ – context for agents.
-
Agent experience is the new user experience.
In conclusion, prioritizing taste and authenticity in what I consume and support is crucial. As I pursue stories that inspire and resonate with me, I hope to create content that engages others in a meaningful way.
