It's not enough to have a firm grasp of the industry you're building in.
If your product doesn’t speak to core human impulses, it probably won’t scale.
Here's why builders need to have a strong theory of human nature:
If your product doesn’t speak to core human impulses, it probably won’t scale.
Here's why builders need to have a strong theory of human nature:
Founders start with a good idea or a novel technology, but many haven't articulated how that idea aligns with what it means to be human.
If you're trying to create a mass-market consumer application, you have to ask yourself: "What are the parts of what it is to be human that I am triggering, responding to, surveying, etc?"
As an extreme provocation: What if you thought in terms of the seven deadly sins?
Not because you should invest in vice, but because these “sins” are, in fact, time-tested proxies for what motivates people at scale, and ways to begin thinking about human nature.
Not because you should invest in vice, but because these “sins” are, in fact, time-tested proxies for what motivates people at scale, and ways to begin thinking about human nature.
This isn't a one-time exercise. Founders should find ways to re-evaluate (and challenge) their answers to:
1) What is human nature?
2) What is humanity like now?
3) Where is it going?
And always map their answers back to their products.
1) What is human nature?
2) What is humanity like now?
3) Where is it going?
And always map their answers back to their products.
This is why I'm so outspoken about the importance of the liberal arts.
They’re the training ground for understanding human complexity and having the right tools to build generational companies.
They’re the training ground for understanding human complexity and having the right tools to build generational companies.
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