Here is a behind-the-scenes process of the loop I made for the @linear launch today.

I wish it were more complicated than pouring canola oil on my daughters iPad, but that was essentially it.

The attached video shows the final footage alongside the original, unaffected capture. The “ask” for the loop came in hot, yesterday, so I knew I’d have to work with what was around me.

I stole a plastic tray from my wife’s office, some canola oil from the kitchen, and my daughter’s iPad from her room. A still image of the logo @ambedgar made was on the iPad.

We recently shipped an updated podcast player in the Substack app. It’s fully-featured – an app within an app – and it was a delight to combine all of my favorite audio design patterns into one experience.

Here’s a behind the scenes 🧵at my favorite aspects: Rather than present as an overlay (Spotify, Sonos), our player initiates as a bottom dock like Apple Audio. The implication is that the player and the app are on the same plane – this spatial model is reinforced during the transition, when the player pushes the app offscreen.

When we launched Cocoon, it was only possible to use the app with a single group of people. You could only be in *one* Cocoon. Today we've added the ability to be in as many as you like.

The new version includes a switcher in the header for venturing between Cocoons. The single-Cocoon restriction was by design. Equating an app solely with a single group created a unique emotional weight around the entire experience (in addition to making privacy very clear).

In the early days, this was helpful framing to guide people through Cocoon creation.

1/ It's been a year since @SachinMonga and I left Facebook. Since then, we've been working on a new app, Cocoon, which is launching today: cocoon.com

Cocoon is a private space for the most important people in your life. You can see an overview here: 2/ The purpose of Cocoon is to keep a small group close over time and distance. Specifically, an interconnected group who want to maintain and enhance their relationship together.

The app is a collection of spaces intentionally designed to accomplish this goal.

1/ We just finished YCombinator. Surrounding Demo Day, we went to a lot of investor meetings. Such conversations are usually well-choreographed, methodical, and formulaic, but their physical conditions can be variable and random.

Let me explain: 2/ The following will substantially (though subtly) impact the flow of a meeting:

1. Furniture
2. Room layout
3. Where people sit

Despite the outsized impact the above can have on the outcome, their configuration is often haphazard.

I have been documenting my findings for you

1/ It's wise to constantly evaluate the opportunity cost of your job:

What you do vs. What you could do

In the tech industry, a comparison is often drawn between working at a startup vs. a big company. When I started working at Facebook, I thought about this a lot. (1/20) 2/ To compare different paths, we use values like personal fulfillment, learning potential, autonomy, compensation, community, impact on the world etc. Ideally, you work in a job which maximizes the values that are most important to you.