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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 4h

I genuinely can't fathom that there was no attempt to regulate that anyhow.

Not that I have high hopes that such attempts would be successful, but still.

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 4h

Micropayments are pure evil in games for kids.

Not only as a monetization strategy, but also through the way it builds in heavy manipulation tactics to prey on kids, who can't know any better (as their cognitive/long-term consequences reasoning skills are still in development).

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine we could easily build 10x as many cars as we could.
Should we?

(As a reference, for the past decade, global car production levels have remained roughly unchanged.)

Now, change "cars" to "digital products" and the answer largely remains the same. No matter what AI vendors want to tell us.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 1d

I would love to be a police officer handling those cases. It would be trying to act serious while LMAO inside :)

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 2d

Let's just see how quickly people share their credit card numbers with autonomous agents, that, in turn, will be prey for all the shady tactics.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 2d

This is going to be a new trend

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 6d

The beginning of an AI-generated meeting summary.

"Martin and Pawel discussed the cold weather, with Pawel noting that autumn has arrived in Poland."

Oh wow! So much value. We did small talk while waiting for others to join, no kidding.

Would *anyone* want to see that in a meeting summary?

Reposted by Pawel Brodzinski

Trunk-Based Thierry (they/them) @tdpauw.bsky.social · 7d

People think software development is about writing code. It is not!

It is about:

Communication
Collaboration
Simplicity
Courage
Respect

-- XP Values, @kentbeck.com

@jamesshore.bsky.social #agilecam

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 7d

Story Point Estimation Cheat Sheet™ (SPECS™):

It is *one* user story.

Thus, it's a one.

The end.

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 8d

These days, whenever a new product emerges, it's worth asking: what does the endgame look like?

Every so often, if that product were successful, it would destroy the niche in which it exists.

pawelbrodzinski.substack.com/p/the-ultima...

The Ultimate Product Question: What Does the Endgame Look Like?

Endgame content is a game in a game, and a very different one. Startups and product developers should learn that lesson from game designers.

pawelbrodzinski.substack.com

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 8d

Care is like the aircraft safety procedure: put on your own mask first.

Having said that, though, in an aircraft, once you have your mask on, you do switch your attention to others.

So it's not self-care all the way.

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 9d

It often happens before there even is a team.

Working a lot with early-stage products, we often start collaboration pre-development.

You'd be surprised how often people still insist on spec-ing out the work and turning an estimate into a commitment.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 9d

"When immature designs gain too much polish, they stop being sketches and start becoming specifications. They stick in people's minds."

by @renderg.host

renderghost.leaflet.pub/3lzlf5lrlps2f

The best predictor of your SaaS failing is visualising your future too soon - noted by @renderg.host

Why high-fidelity mockups create cognitive lock-in that prevents real growth

renderghost.leaflet.pub

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 9d

The moment we know the least about the project/product is before we start.

Why, then, do we still insist on spec-ing out the work upfront and building up to the specs?

There's literally no worse moment than that to freeze requirements.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 9d

The AI revolution in practice:

Whenever anyone comments on anything that I write, I question whether it's them or whether they just set up an AI bot to respond on their behalf.

Even with some people I know in real life.

Trust is going to be a scarce resource going forward.

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 11d

Example? Recruitment.
1. Use AI to generate resumes and apply automatically (edge!)
2. Companies get tons of resumes, so they use AI to filter 95% out (edge!)
3. Endgame: as many jobs and as many candidates as before, but there's 100x as much noise
4. Finding a good match is even harder than it was

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 11d

"Use these AI tools to [do a thing] because it gives you an edge."

Except no one adds that once the majority starts using similar tools, the edge disappears, and the new reality sucks for everyone.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 12d

OH: Just like the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, ARR today are neither annual nor recurring, and in many cases not even actual revenues.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 13d

Women-led startups get less than half the money and still deliver better revenues.

www.bcg.com/publications...

We could wonder whether data-driven (in their own declarations) leaders of VCs will take notice. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

I like to think that the reason why I will never be in their shoes is precisely because I would share the spoils early, which renders such a transaction impossible.

At Lunar, we have a generous profit-sharing and employee shareholding program.

But we don't plan to sell (I won't say "ever").

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

I have seen enough successful people (large- and small-scale) who genuinely believed it was predominantly their work behind the outcome, to be somewhat conservative in expecting much of such insight from them.

Continuous success reinforces the perception of one's own infallibility.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

Never underestimate the power of greed :)

I'm with you. They could have.

And I'd genuinely wish I could say that, in their shoes, I would have done so.

I wasn't in their shoes. I will never be. So I don't know.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

I would count against them a broken promise, though.

Having said that, one can't reasonably promise to *never* sell.

Things happen. Conditions change. And "never" is such a long timeline.

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

Not to defend Chestnut and Kurzius (I have no opinion either way):
- No shares probably meant that people were paid fair and square from day 1
- Shittyness of the move is perceived post-factum (they got rich, employees did not)
- If an employee accepts the compensation package, then it's only fair

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Pawel Brodzinski @pawelbrodzinski.bsky.social · 14d

Mailchimp went against every startup playbook that existed at the time. They still succeeded big time.

The centerpiece of it? Going for early profitability.

Curiously, that's not something VCs would suggest to a fledgling startup.

pawelbrodzinski.substack.com/p/alternativ...

Alternative Statup Playbook: Aiming for Early Profitability

Profitability is suspiciously absent from many narratives about startup health metrics. Startups that focus on early profits (not just revenues) seem to play a different game.

pawelbrodzinski.substack.com

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