004: Open source support, rappers of LinkedIn, and stalking customers
Two days late, but a fresh set of links is here!
Hey! This is a newsletter about what I currently find interesting in the world.
Apologies for the late email. I just finished moving and my internet was out for a bit, so this will be shorter than usual. The first edition of Product Psychology will be out this Friday. Let’s dive right in.
Interesting Reads - links from around the web
Understanding user support systems in open source - How do volunteers in open source maintain such a high volume of user support tickets? Nadia pulled the top projects on Github by most issues opened and analyzed the data to understand the user support systems of open source projects.
A Strong Cold Email Always Beats A Weak Warm One - There’s nothing wrong with a cold email. Warm intros aren’t always the best route, especially if that warm intro doesn’t have anything to say about you.
For 11 Years, the Soviet Union Had No Weekends - I’ve always been curious what a rotating weekend schedule would look like, and I found my answer in an experiment the Soviet Union ran for over a decade.
Clothing microfibres contaminating sea salts - We’re now using, breathing, and literally eating plastic.
The Resilience of Costco - Costco breaks even on product sales. So, how are they profitable and growing?
The CEO of this exclusive leggings brand Google-stalks her customers - This is an interesting way to create demand.
Meet the Rappers of LinkedIn - Everyone’s plugging their SoundCloud links on viral tweets, but who knew LinkedIn is a big market, too?
The Myth of the Infrastructure Phase - Great read by Dani Grant at USV. Apps powers the need for infrastructure, which powers new apps, and the cycle repeats.
1975 Icelandic Women’s Strike - In 1975, most of the Icelandic women went on strike. Schools shut down, newspaper printing halted, flights got cancelled, and there was no telephone service, amongst other things.
Everything You Didn’t Know About the Handshake Naming System - This is one of the most exciting projects in crypto. Highly recommend you read it!
Grinding Gears - new projects + teams I’m rooting for
June.ai [email] - With the slew of dead email products recently, it’s nice to see someone bringing a new email product to the market.
The Graveyard - what shut down this (last) week
Google+ - I think the last time I used Google+ was the sixth grade. It was cool for two weeks, and I never opened it ever again. Related: here’s a thread by an Xoogler on the Google+ design team.
Tracks - song recommendations
The Mowglis - San Francisco
The Coral - Reaching Out For a Friend
Thank you for your time. I’d appreciate it if you would forward it to a friend :)
Lama (tweet tweet)