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Lessin: Tech value comes from market timing, not copying sci-fi

Sam Lessin · #48: Move Fast (But Don't) Break Silicon Valley · More or Less Podcast · May 24, 2024 · at 9:27

Sam Lessin reflects on product management lessons he taught at Facebook, contrasting premature sci-fi concepts with well-timed technology inflection points.

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“The job of technologists is not to just simply read science fiction and say, well, that's cool. Let's build that. That's easy, right? Like science fiction goes way out in the future, has cool ideas, And the JV version of product management or building is you're like, well, I'm just going to take these things in science fiction and build them now, right? That's the one-on-one at best. The two-oh-one, the three-oh-one, the real place money and magic is made is when you know that exact inflection point where you cross the lines and the tech actually is ready to happen and be possible intersected with the ideas, right?”

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