Knowledge management expert Nat Eliason offers advice on app switching and note retention on The a16z Podcast.
Insight
Nat Eliason: The software used to store book highlights does not matter
“The medium that I organize those highlights in doesn't seem to matter because I had them in text files at one point, I had them in Evernote, I had them in Notion, I had them in Rome, I had them in back in Notion, right?”
Insight
Nat Eliason: Most personal knowledge management features are false-productivity distractions
“Well, yes, I think it's really the searching, the indexing and the collecting that are very helpful, but pretty much all of the other features are often like get in the way or become distractions or give you this sense of productivity, right?”
Opinion
Nat Eliason: Organizing digital notes does not improve writing or happiness
“And I think the false promise that many of us Believe or have bought into or whatever is that if you organize information, you will write better articles. You will make more money. You will be happier. You will get all of these benefits from it, right? And tha…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nat Eliason: 99.9% of the best books were written without writing software
“You know, I make this analogy all the time that 99.9% of the best books ever written were written on a typewriter or by hand. Like, if you think that you need a good writing app to write your book, you're just wrong. Like, it, it's just not true.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Nat Eliason: The next big utility is AI-embedded note-taking tools
“I really think the next big utility is going to be a note taking tool that offers custom GPT or whatever embeds as a service. For your knowledge graph.”
Disclosure
Nat Eliason: I would pay $1,000 for AI-embedded personal note tools
“Theoretically, any note-taking app should be able to offer that as a service, or maybe you pay, you know, I, I'd pay like a thousand dollars or more for this, right? Very happily.”