Taste Gap

When you start some new creative practice, you very quickly confront a gap between your taste and your ability. Your taste inspired you to the work, but when you’re just getting started, you can’t make work that’s as good as your taste demands.

This is where most people quit. You see some beautiful ceramics, sign up for a ceramics class, and when your first lumpy creations emerge from the kiln you conclude, well, this is not for me. You read a short story that cuts your heart open, and you sit down to do the same, and you end up with something that doesn’t even have the strength to knock on your heart’s door. As Glass notes, the difference between the person who bails at this point—and the person who goes on to make great work—isn’t talent but practice. “The most important possible thing you can do is, do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work,” he says. It will take years, probably, for your skill to catch up to your taste, but there’s no other way to get there. There are no shortcuts, no magic tricks, no way to download the skill to your brain, no faux-intelligence ready to do it for you. The work is the work.


Ira Glass’ famous “taste gap” story. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s short and worth a watch.

"Chewing on something about the difference between willpower and discipline: willpower is the exhaustible—and frequently exhausted—skill of negotiating choices; discipline is committing to a path and rejecting the bargain."

After one failed PR and more than 2 months of waiting. My SQL Studio PR got merged into nixpkgs.

SQL Studio is now available in the nix distribution. Nix users can now use the following command to run SQL Studio.

nix run nixpkgs#sql-studio

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/341807

🎉🎉🎉

Ethiopian Tech Acceleration : beast mode

Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures. -Evan Esar

Whats your "Learn-Apply Ratio"?

Whats your Speed of Iteration?

⚓️ How a Container Ship Secures Containers

See how design and safety measures keep containers locked in place, even in rough seas.

From design to container locating, every detail works to keep cargo safe during transit.

Want to learn more about the systems that keep global trade moving smoothly? This video has the answers.

Source: 3D Living Studio

Look at my mail this week. What a time to be alive. 1-Click model deployments are here.

Whitespace

There are few place on earth such things may happen serendipitously ( maybe less than three places)


Someone random was at a cafe in SF and said “Cursor crashed” on his laptop A Cursor cofounder was walking by at that very moment and offered to debug.

The only other place that I can think of this happen Shenzien or India's silicon Valley BLR.

Teams don't have users.

Hostages.

Apt response. 👌

Your startup is a disagreement with the statues-quo

For that you have to clearly frame what the statuesque is and your unique point of view.

Think SnapChats contrarian positioning with ephemeral messaging against facebook's permanent posting.

Note what important: System awareness of seeing the big picture and mess with the system to find your own unique place in it. Zagging when everyone is zigging.

et/acc in-depth Analysis of the Busbud

Busbud started by addressing a problem in South America, its model proved scalable and applicable to other regions, including Africa.

This Busbud example, highlights how a company can leverage data aggregation, SEO, and a clever understanding of market dynamics to disrupt an industry and achieve success.

Identifying a Problem and Aggregating Data:
● The founder, LP Maurice, encountered the difficulty of finding reliable bus schedules while travelling in South America. Recognising a common problem, he set out to create a centralised platform for bus ticket information - a "Kayak for bus rides".

● He gathered bus schedules from around the world, creating a comprehensive database. This involved significant effort, as the information was scattered and difficult to access.


Exploiting SEO and Creating Value for Search Engines:
● Maurice understood the value of structured data for search engines. He used automation to generate millions of web pages containing bus schedules in a well-organised, JSON format. This "catnip for search engines" positioned Busbud as the go-to source for bus schedule information online.

●The sheer volume of data required multiple Google Analytics accounts to manage, demonstrating the scale of the operation.

Utilising Arbitrage and Changing the Market Dynamic:
● Initially, bus companies were reluctant to partner with Busbud for ticket sales. However, Maurice cleverly used his platform's dominance in search results to his advantage.

● He included a "Buy my ticket" button on Busbud, redirecting users to the respective bus company websites. This demonstrated the significant traffic Busbud was driving to these companies.

● Armed with this data, Maurice approached the bus companies again, highlighting that a large portion of their online traffic originated from Busbud. This changed the power dynamic, compelling the companies to partner with Busbud for ticket sales.


The Busbud example showcases et/acc founders:
● The power of identifying a genuine problem and creating a solution that provides real value to users.
● The strategic use of data aggregation and SEO to establish market dominance.
● The ability to leverage data and insights to change the dynamics of an industry and create win-win partnerships.

This may serve founders as an inspiration for those seeking to disrupt industries through innovative approaches to data and market dynamics.

Lessons for African Startup Founders from Busbud

The story of Busbud offers valuable insights for Ethiopian and African startup founders facing similar challenges in fragmented and data-poor markets.

Here are some food for thoughts:
● Identify Untapped Opportunities: Busbud founder LP Maurice recognized a significant opportunity in the fragmented bus ticket market in South America, which lacked a centralised platform for travellers to find and book tickets easily1. Similarly, African startup founders should focus on identifying pressing problems and market inefficiencies that present opportunities for innovation and disruption.

● The Power of Data Aggregation: Busbud meticulously collected and structured bus schedule data, creating a valuable resource that attracted both users and search engines. This strategy can be highly effective in data-sparse environments like many African markets, where reliable information is often scarce and difficult to access. By gathering and organising data, startups can create value for users, gain a competitive edge, and even attract potential partners.

● Leveraging SEO for Market Dominance: Busbud’s strategic use of well-structured data in a JSON format optimised its website for search engines. This allowed the platform to become the leading source for bus schedule information, driving significant organic traffic and establishing market dominance. African startups can similarly leverage SEO to increase their online visibility and attract a wider audience.

Play long-games, play positive-sum games.

Status game vs Natural games

Steve Jobs on taste, stubbornness, and time

30 Essential Reads for Mastering AI

“If you really learn all of these, you’ll know 90% of what matters today” - Ilya Sutskever

'No one cares about ideas - that’s why there is no market for ideas'

'You should never worry about giving out your ideas. Either your idea is bad and you benefit from feedback. Or your idea is good and you gain credibility. Have trust that if you have one good idea, you can have many more good ideas. Modern moat is speed, not resting on laurels' - Paras

Checkpointing & Rollback Recovery

Vance 2028?

Peter Theil playing the long game. Fascinating to watch.

Half of Africa GDP comes from these top five economies.

want Ethiopian Acceleration to double.