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Hello and happy Sunday!
We published five new articles this week totaling ~11,800 words. We’re also bringing you two new things:
A podcast called Talk Therapy
A newsletter called The Last Chip that we’re working on with Chris Bosh
(If for any reason you would like a subscription but can’t afford one, please respond to this email and we’ll work something out!)
Talk Therapy
We’re launching a podcast called Talk Therapy, hosted by our co-founders Dan Shipper and Nathan Baschez. We want to document exactly what it’s like to start a business with your friend, and tell the story as it happens — without the benefit of hindsight.
Each episode is just 15 minutes, and we’re using it as a place to talk about the things that usually don’t see the light of day: the small wins, the big fails, and all of the little moments in between.
We don’t know what will happen to us or to our company — but we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a wild ride. Click the buttons below to subscribe in your favorite player.
The Last Chip
This week we helped NBA star Chris Bosh launch his own newsletter called The Last Chip, where he’ll be serving up inside stories from the Heat’s 2013 playoff season. It’s not part of the bundle, but we’re helping on the business and editorial sides, and we couldn’t be more psyched to play a part in bringing this project to life.
How to manage your subscription
You can subscribe and unsubscribe from individual newsletters inside of the bundle without affecting your overall subscription to what we write. If you want to turn on or off email notifications for a specific newsletter, you can manage your settings here.
SUPERORGANIZERS
⚡️Surgical Reading: How to Read 12 Books at Once
Brian Tobal likes to read. In fact, he likes reading so much that he’s usually reading about 12 books at once. He uses a method called surgical reading to help him locate and remove the most valuable pieces of information from a book as quickly as possible. What’s the secret? Hint: The index is your friend.
⚡️The Notetaking Cold War
Dan wades into the heated debate between fellow bundle member Tiago Forte and Roam founder Conor White-Sullivan over how notes should be organized. To settle the score he compares it to a 2,000 year old philosophical debate between two camps: essentialists and pragmatists. This is a deeply nerdy and delightful essay on how the way we take notes reflects how we see the world — you don’t want to miss this.
DIVINATIONS
🔮 5 interesting strategy decisions from WWDC
Any new features that Apple rolls out are typically given the three-structure treatment in a WWDC keynote presentation: problem, solution, and how it works. That’s great, but it leaves much to be desired for all the strategy enthusiasts out there. Nathan Baschez goes through Apple’s five newest features, including privacy nutrition labels, and gives his theories on their strategic rationale.
🔮 Will HEY work?
Basecamp’s new email service, HEY, thrives off of controversy and moving the Overton window. It’s a strategy that may raise eyebrows, but does it work? Absolutely. There are some flaws, though, namely the fact that HEY is actually selling two different products to two different audiences. Nathan gives his thoughts on why that might pose a problem — and why HEY founders Jason Fried and DHH might not care.
NAPKIN MATH
📐Why Software is More Profitable Than Content
Software and content businesses have plenty in common — their low distribution costs and short feedback loop give them an edge over their physical-good and service-business counterparts. But there’s one crucial difference that sets them apart, and it has everything to do with how we use technology every day. Adam Keesling presents his argument for why software reigns supreme.
TALK THERAPY
💞 #0: The story of how we met
In episode 0, Dan and Nathan talk about the origins of their friendship and how they ended up as co-founders building the Everything bundle together.
💞 #1: The Bundle Digest
Dan and Nathan discuss how forming a partnership with another creative and exacting person can sometimes be challenging, and how coming together to write the first Everything Bundle Digest email was more stressful than you might think.
💞 #2: Work/Life Harmony
Dan and Nathan discuss balancing meetings with getting writing done. They also discuss balancing living a happy life with trying to put out great work.
(Note: we are working on creating transcripts for these episodes, and should have those available next week!)
FROM OUR NETWORK
📈 How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users
Every startup has to start somewhere with building their user base — including consumer-app giants like Uber, Tinder, Instagram, and TikTok. Lenny Rachitsky gathered firsthand accounts of how those apps, and many more, acquired their first 1,000 users. It’s an extensive, in-depth library of their core strategies and lessons learned, along with key questions you should be asking yourself.
BEST OF THE BUNDLE
➿ How To Work Effectively With A Personal Assistant, with Tim Francis
There are fewer relationships more sacred than that between someone and their personal assistant, and finding the right assistant for you is just as important as you being the right fit as a leader and manager for them. Check out this online workshop, hosted by Tiago Forte and the founder of Great Assistant, Tim Francis, where we hear from both managers and their assistants on getting the dynamic right.
⚡️ Deliberate Anti-Productivity
You won't find too many productivity guides telling you to increase your productivity by being less productive, but that’s exactly what Bo Ren did. After hustling her way to greatness as former PM at Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr and current VC at Samsung, she realized that she still felt unfulfilled — so she took a step back to reevaluate her intentions and values. Read her interview with Adam for the full details on how she became more present.
That’s it for this week!
Thanks, and see you next Sunday :)
(If for any reason you would like a subscription but can’t afford one, please respond to this email and we’ll work something out!)
This issue was written by Tori Smith and edited by Dan Shipper.
