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• 6 min read
On pronouns: writing with "we" and "you"
A cheat sheet on using "we" and "you" to make your writing resonate.
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• 4 min read
Normalizing change
People don't like change, yet great products are built through changing experiments. Build a culture where change is normal, easy and rewarding.
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• 2 min readA shortcut for working across languages
Working across languages has never been easier, thanks to modern machine translation technology. I use this trick to instantly translate any text using Apple's Shortcuts app.
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• for BelvoHow we build products at Belvo
Many of us at Belvo were fintech builders and operators. We founded Belvo to build new infrastructure for the next generation of fintech startups. We are also a young startup ourselves, so we have the same exciting challenges building from zero to one just like you. In this process, we learned four things that work.
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• 3 min readThank you, LTSE
A note I shared with my team as I wrap up my journey at LTSE.
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• for LTSEWhat is your startup’s share price?
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• 1 min readAmerica's Newest Stock Exchange
The Long-Term Stock Exchange goes live on September 9, 2020. But it's more than a marketplace for trading and IPOs. Here's our secret plan.
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• for LTSEA Better Unicorn IPO Leaderboard
Death of the unicorn IPO is greatly exaggerated. 2 out of 3 unicorn IPOs beat the market after 1 year of trading. Software-heavy companies do better than those with lots of offline things and operations. Plus other fun learnings from building a live leaderboard that helps me pattern match IPOs.
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• 13 min readLearnings from the 2008 Great Recession
98 out of 100 stocks lost you money. Also top performers, buying what crashed the economy, and other learnings from the 2008 Great Recession.
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• 16 min readThe Camera That Takes Your Favorite Photos
Why do I shoot with a camera that doesn't even zoom? Here's how I assess which camera will take my favorite photos.
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• 7 min readHow to Buy Xiaomi Stock in the U.S.
Xiaomi (小米) is an interesting Chinese company sitting at the intersection of tech and lifestyle. You may not have heard of Xiaomi, but you’ve probably seen its Apple-esque products, even here in the U.S. For example, did you know that the scooter startups Bird is just Xiaomi-as-a-service? Bird slaps its logos on scooters made by Ninebot, one of Xiaomi’s constellation of vendor-investments. I wanted to buy some shares because I believe its value is misunderstood, and its price was down to 25% below IPO. I spent a bunch of time looking into the best way of buying this international stock in the U.S. I think you’ll find my learnings useful if you’d also like to buy.
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• 4 min readUndead Notifications
I purged Facebook notifications years ago, but they're coming back in full force to "showcase what friends and family share", and there's no way to turn them off. We need to do better as product owners or we'll just invite more GDPR-esque regulations.
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• 8 min readFront-End Engineers Are Expensive, but They're Worth It
When did mid-level front-end engineers start to make $400k total comp at FANG? I still remember my first paid software gig in 2008. I got $25 an hour to build a WordPress website for a local small business. But they sure are worth it.
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• 4 min readThree Takeaways From a16z’s “Software Programs the World”
Software is changing the world in big ways. Computing is getting cheaper. Every object goes online. Everyone can use AI in all the products. Plus why you're not charging enough for your product.
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• 5 min readAdding Analytics to Your v1 Product
We just checked off the last feature on our v1 list. Engineers think we can clear the bug list by Friday. Servers are provisioned. We have our emails to TechCrunch standing by in our drafts folder. Someone asks: “hey what did we decide to do for analytics?”
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• 4 min readHow Token Fields, or In-line Multi-select Components Work in Web Apps
Token fields can be very useful human interface controls. I built a custom token field component for a web app. Here’s what I learned in the process.