The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 10 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Norgard: Startups cannot create new human behaviors, only unlock existing ones
“So I fundamentally do not believe in quote unquote new behaviors. Humans have been around for 200,000 years. We're wired a certain way. We have an incentive system that has developed over many, many thousands of years in our brains, and I fundamentally dismiss…”
Norgard: Baking distribution directly into product experience is required for growth
“Frankly, I think it's the only way to build product is to make it endemic to the experience and baking it in is sort of fundamental for a product to grow in a proper fashion.”
Norgard: All prescriptive advice is flawed without contextual evaluation
“I think all prescriptive advice is wrong. Advice is something that you have to learn how to absorb, and it's completely contextual.”
Norgard: Customer focus matters more than market cycles for product builders
“I'm usually thinking about the customer so aggressively, and I'm thinking about the promise to the customer so aggressively that these ups and downs in the market and the market cycles, they don't impact me as much. Clearly, you want to have capital. To weathe…”
Norgard: Complexity is the primary reason tech products fail
“And the number one reason why products fail is because they're too complicated.”
Norgard: Organic traction relies on how users explain products to friends
“Most products are still spread through word of mouth, and one of the most important sort of tests that I use is what I call, how does the friend explain it? What I mean by that is, what you tell a customer your product does is not interesting. That's not relev…”
Norgard: World-class products stem from rapid, constant background testing
“The best products in the world are all children of what this rapid iteration, this testing, this like sort of zealot like testing framework where they're trying one thing, they're trying another thing, a new interface, new button, A new login path, a different…”
Norgard: Founders must hold the line on product simplicity to succeed
“Your product, and you as a founder, you have to stand for something, and if you don't know what that is, your customer certainly won't know what that is either, and so when you stand for something, and you say, this is who we are, this is the product, and you …”
Norgard: Startups must worship early adopters to drive product growth
“You should worship your early adopters. They're everything. They will take you to the highest of highs. They will show you the way. They will help explain the product to friends, and they will do your work for you, but you have to go find those people”