Note Taking as a way to Fund Raise
As I write this, I don't know if this is even feasible at all. People would probably find this strange.
But think about it. Many of us try to build things to improve the world. There's so much valuable lessons in the journey. But so few of us are ever inclined to record them down. Because we don't see the value in it besides being a form of reflective writing. Or even if it was to build an audience, we don't see the value of an audience (yet)
However, kickstarter exists. We like to fund products that seem exciting. We see a possibility in paying for a possible product. And when thousands of people do this, it becomes a form of funding to make a product reality.
Why can't we do the same for indie making? The only difference is that we, the makers are the products. You're paying for:
- our stories
- our lessons
- the full story & context
- investing in our growth ("paid to learn" – we're already doing these as employees, why not as makers?)
- in the product(s) we're building
If the maker were to succeed 1-3 years from the time of funding, you'll have access to notes that no one else would have. The tech stack, the exact trade offs he/she made to do something over another. Everything.
It's like adding another mind to yours.
$149 for our products and a maker's success instead of a physical product that you might only use for fun. Why not?
Other possible titles
- Don't fund a Kickstarter. Fund a maker
- Incentivizing Learning Journals
Stop telling people what's better
DEVELOPERS. Yes, you. If you're a developer, seriously, stop doing this.
Stop telling people "out of the box" solutions are better.
Stop telling people "less dependencies" is better.
Sure, we all know that's better, in the ideal situation.
But the priority isn't perfect software. It isn't about optimizing every nitty gritty detail.
You're going to lose valuable time that could be better spent on meaningful trade offs.
Focus on getting your product up first. Prove that there's traction, then use the revenue to pay yourself to learn how to improve the product.
You're not going to start out being a perfect developer that knows what's the best way to do X.
Neither are other developers damn it.
Let them start with using external libraries (dependencies).
Let them learn what how most people are doing something, with the library as a reference point.
When the time is right, they will know what they need to change to swap out dependencies for something better.
Yes, do this, please. Stop stopping people from balancing between learning and succeeding with their products (as a maker and as an employee – i'm both as of the time of writing)
Obsidian is a terrible name for a "daily app"
Obsidian is a terrible name for an app. It's not a common word. Neither is it linked to other words that one could easily think of.
It had to take me a good 10-15s to think about "what's that linked note taking app that's like Roam called again?"
I gave up eventually and just pinched with 4 fingers on my mac's trackpad. The apps viewer came up and I spent 30s scrolling to find a logo that looked familiar. And there I had it, it's called Obsidian.
Watching YouTube on TV through my iPhone
Brilliant. It's soo convenient now I keep watching Clojure videos on TV. It's a great way to not watch Neflix anymore.
YouTube is also brilliant for making all these easily accessible. Also, as a hearing impaired person, I'm really grateful for the subtitles. They're not perfect but they help me to understand better what's being shared in the video talks.
