Pet Explanations, Thoughts on Justworks, & More.

Happy Sunday!

We're hosting another event! This week in the Every Discord we'll be talking with one of the smartest and most plugged in newsletter writers in tech: Eric Newcomer.

What: Eric Newcomer Discusses 2022 Startup Trends

When: Thursday, January 20th at 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST

Where: Every Discord

Eric will be joining Nathan, Dan, and Evan in the Every Discord to discuss the most important trends he's seeing in 2022. We'll be chatting about Y Combinator's new deal terms, OpenSea's $13 billion valuation, and crypto's impact on venture.

Now, let's take a look at the articles we published this week.

Beware of Pet Explanations

Dan Shipper / Superorganizers

When we're gripped with an overwhelming emotion, we often jump to conclusions about their cause. In this piece, Dan deconstructs these "pet explanations" to find that it's a lot more complicated than we might imagine. Our behaviors and emotions are influenced by not only our immediate environment, but our endocrine system, neurobiology, our childhood, and even our genetic makeup going back millenia.

Our pet explanations don't do a good job at capturing this interweaving system of factors, so what can we do? Dan has some suggestions!

Read.

3 Thoughts On Justworks

Evan Armstrong / Napkin Math

Justworks is the latest SaaS company set to go public at a $2B valuation. Before you rush to add Justworks to your portfolio, Evan has a couple questions that you might want to keep in mind:

1) Has Justworks selected the correct market wedge to win against similarly constructed SaaS+ competitors?

2) Why are 53% of Justworks customers in the New York City area?

3) Does the valuation make sense in the context of the wild private markets?

Read his analysis for the answers and Evan's final verdict.

Read.

A Look Inside Pinterest’s Creator Strategy

Li Jin & Nathan Baschez / Means of Creation

Pinterest is the main hub for home décor inspiration, recipe ideas, and the latest fashion trends—but it's also breaking into the creator economy in a big way. Li and Nathan talk to Pinterest's Global Head of Content & Creators, Silvia Oviedo Lopez, about the company's plans to invest in their creators. With a $20m fund and new tools to create, distribute, and monetize content, Pinterest could be one of the strongest contenders in the newest wave of creator-driven strategy.x433

Listen.

Talk Therapy Returns! (with our actual therapist, Dan Tarplin!)

Nathan Baschez & Dan Shipper / Talk Therapy

Talk Therapy has taken a mini hiatus, but they're back this week with a special guest—their actual couples therapist Dan Tarplin! Every Wednesday for almost two years, Dan and Nathan meet with Dan to work on their relationship with each other and with the business. This standing therapy appointment has been, in their words, "one of the best investments we've ever made." In this conversation, the three talk about what they've figured out over these couple years, as well as the things they're still working on.

Listen.

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Some Reading Recs:

Refind

The internet gives us access to the world’s information at the tip of our fingers—but this prospect can be overwhelming. Refind brings you the 7 most relevant links from around the web, personalized according to your interests and complete with author summaries and community highlights.

Read.

Techmeme

Since 2005 Techmeme has been on the forefront of news curation for the tech world. And in this day and age, staying up-to-date with the changes in technology is essential to making sense of current events on a national and global scale. Now, Techmeme is offering a newsletter that arrives straight to your inbox with the news and commentary posted each day, so you'll never miss a big story.

Read.