In August of last year, shortly after going full-time, I decided The Generalist needed a permanent home. Something that captured the vision for all the great things I thought would come out of this community.
I set to work.
It’s here.
After months of building, the new, revamped, reimagined Generalist is ready. I can’t wait to show you.
Here’s what it means.
https://t.co/4RaadaUjKR
In August of last year, shortly after going full-time, I decided The Generalist needed a permanent home. Something that captured the vision for all the great things I thought would come out of this community.
I set to work.
https://t.co/4RaadaCImh
Launch by the end of September. Here’s the email I sent to The Braintrust (the awesome folks that have agreed to give their advice on this little venture).
- 15K subscribers
- New site
- New membership
- New community
I failed on all four.
By the end of September, I had +11K subscribers — 15K had been a stretch, so that was good with me. But I also had no site, no membership, and no permanent community home.
Fair question. Really two reasons.
1. I can be a perfectionist in the (actually) bad way. Sometimes you just need to ship.
2. I was scared. For real.
Writing for free feels like it protects you, insulates you from criticism.
Two things.
1. We got the site into a place I’m really excited about. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
2. At a certain point, you realize that being Free is holding you back. You’re stopping yourself from making your work a sustainable business.
With help.
I couldn’t have done this w/o @joaopaulots + @arianavmac. @theabbaspage was a great addition on design. And @jasonwbade was insanely supportive. He was answering messages at every hour to make things work.
I’m so grateful to them all.
- The site is built on @webflow
- The membership is managed by @tryPico
- The emails are (still) managed by @ConvertKit
- The community is built on @CircleApp
We used @zapier to help the pieces synch up.
The big thing is there are now 3 tiers on The Generalist.
- Free
- Premium
- Believer
Free get 1 briefing a month, IPO reports, startup ideas + summarized interviews.
Premium gets 4 briefings a month, deeper IPO reports, extra ideas + community access.
The Believers are lunatics of goodwill. Those that see someone dancing, alone on a hill-top and want to be the first to join.
Believers get 5 yrs of membership at a steep discount, access to select channels + events, and unlock extra surprises ;)
This is the home for The Generalist’s most thoughtful, curious members. The place we jam on new startup ideas, discuss investment strategies, and riff on tech.
Premium and Believers unlock access via application.
I thought a lot about this. I take building the community, our patch of pixels, v. seriously.
Without curation + care, it could become noisy, unsuited for thoughtful discussion. I will personally review every application + add people each week.
This is the beginning. What I really hope the Generalist becomes — and I believe it is becoming already — is an invisible city.
A shared space to learn, grow, and build together.
https://t.co/gyRM7X56Tg
@cpaik said it well in @nbt's newsletter…
“The next big thing in 2021 is people realizing that serendipity happens more in our digital worlds...than in the analog one."
There are things we lose, certainly. But much connection can be captured virtually.
Thank you. That you’re spending time reading this already means a lot.
Though creator-businesses are low cost, they are not *no* cost. By becoming a member, you help me cover expenses, and allow me to keep pushing to make it better.
https://t.co/MUTLwwwbWn
Definitely.
Launches are usually good days to share the word and get new people excited about something. If this resonates with you, I’d really appreciate you RT’ing and sharing with a few friends.
I feel incredibly lucky that I get to make building The Generalist my life’s work. And I cannot wait for all the good we can do together in the days ahead.
Come say hello.
https://t.co/4RaadaUjKR
More from Tech
The first area to focus on is diversity. This has become a dogma in the tech world, and despite the fact that tech is one of the most meritocratic industries in the world, there are constant efforts to promote diversity at the expense of fairness, merit and competency. Examples:
USC's Interactive Media & Games Division cancels all-star panel that included top-tier game developers who were invited to share their experiences with students. Why? Because there were no women on the
ElectronConf is a conf which chooses presenters based on blind auditions; the identity, gender, and race of the speaker is not known to the selection team. The results of that merit-based approach was an all-male panel. So they cancelled the conference.
Apple's head of diversity (a black woman) got in trouble for promoting a vision of diversity that is at odds with contemporary progressive dogma. (She left the company shortly after this
Also in the name of diversity, there is unabashed discrimination against men (especially white men) in tech, in both hiring policies and in other arenas. One such example is this, a developer workshop that specifically excluded men: https://t.co/N0SkH4hR35
USC's Interactive Media & Games Division cancels all-star panel that included top-tier game developers who were invited to share their experiences with students. Why? Because there were no women on the
ElectronConf is a conf which chooses presenters based on blind auditions; the identity, gender, and race of the speaker is not known to the selection team. The results of that merit-based approach was an all-male panel. So they cancelled the conference.
Apple's head of diversity (a black woman) got in trouble for promoting a vision of diversity that is at odds with contemporary progressive dogma. (She left the company shortly after this
Also in the name of diversity, there is unabashed discrimination against men (especially white men) in tech, in both hiring policies and in other arenas. One such example is this, a developer workshop that specifically excluded men: https://t.co/N0SkH4hR35
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The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
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The famous \u201cLucy\u201d, an early ancestor of modern humans (Australopithecus) that lived 3.2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, displayed in the national museum in Addis Ababa \U0001f1ea\U0001f1f9 pic.twitter.com/N3oWqk1SW2
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2018
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic
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Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their
Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time
Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods
i wonder if you can make a thread bout witchcraft in malaysia.. or list of our own local gods/deites..
— r a y a \U0001f319 (@lcvelylilith) February 20, 2020
Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits
Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their
Animist ceremonies of a religious or magical nature were normally held for the purpose of divination or making a request. This would either be done at a keramat or at a shrine similar to the Thai spirit houses or Chinese roadside shrines pic.twitter.com/I1hliyi0x3
— \u2745\u1710\u170b\u1713\u170e (@uglyluhan) June 16, 2019
Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time
Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods
