MegaMaker - Realizations

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Three things for you this Saturday: us vs them, panic, and diamonds on the soles of your shoes.

✊ How to compete against bigger companies

Canva is a $40-billion-dollar success story; why would a small company like Snappa even try to enter that market? This thread (by Josh Garofalo) is excellent:

🤔 Josh Garofalo @swaycopy Why would anyone choose @Snappa, a small self-funded startup, over a giant like Canva? Thousands of people do and Snappa has blown past $1M ARR as a result. This is how shaping the Category Story plays a role... 🧵 (with images and analysis) November 19th 2021 5 Retweets 25 Likes

This part is particularly helpful:

You can compete with a bigger incumbent, you just have to figure out why people are switching to you. Then, in your marketing, you double-down on that job to be done.

🤿 It could happen to you

Derek Sivers is one of my favorite writers. His latest piece is powerful:

​I've written about a similar realization here.
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🐥Tweets

• 🙅‍♂️ Move fast and break things​
• ⛪️ Losing my religion​
• 🤝 How to attract good employees​
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🎧 Diamonds on the soles of her shoes

When Paul Simon's Graceland album came out in 1984, I was obsessed with it. We had it on tape cassette, and played it over and over again in our station wagon. It was also (oddly) a regular soundtrack at outdoor waterparks, playing on loudspeakers while you waited for your turn on the waterslide.

Anyways, I'm a fan. Malcolm Gladwell has produced a new private podcast on Paul Simon and it's excellent.

Gladwell is specifically interested in Paul Simon's creative process: unlike other musicians, who peak early and then fall into obscurity, Simon has continued to produce music that connects.

I purchased it last week, and I've been listening to chapter after chapter, every chance I get. I've since recommended it to others. (You can get it here)

Cheers,
Justin Jackson
​@mijustin​

PS: Transistor.fm is getting ready to do our first Black Friday sale (on Nov 26). If you've been wanting to start a podcast (or switch from your existing hosting provider) this will be a good time to do it! Get notified here.

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