Napkin Math

Profit and power in technology.

Nov 2, 2023

How to Win Arguments and Manipulate Managers

Make your spreadsheets shape strategy

May 12, 2022

Crypto’s Failed Promise

The problem with crypto-as-a-nation-state

Nov 30, 2023

How I Use ChatGPT (As A Reasonable Person)

My AI awakening

Mar 9, 2023

Recommendation Algorithms Are a Necessary Evil (Sort Of)

AI is about to remake our information ecosystem and it is past time for us to prepare

May 20, 2021

You Probably Shouldn’t Work at a Startup

It’s overrated—both financially and emotionally

Jun 29, 2023

What Happened to the Creator Economy?

The burden of missed expectations

Jun 2, 2022

The Inventor of the iPhone Has Some Thoughts

Build by Tony Fadell: A Review

Mar 5, 2024

Claude 3 Is The Most Human AI Yet

But that doesn’t mean it's going to beat ChatGPT

Mar 23, 2023

How AI Changes the Media Business

Why community and social network effects will be key to winning the future

Nov 3, 2022

How Elon Wins

Twitter needs to pursue the algorithmic feed

Dec 21, 2022

Meditations on AI Mecca

A dispatch from a hacker conference in San Francisco

Mar 16, 2023

Technology Is Good Actually

Startups screw up sometimes, but making things cheaper is a moral necessity

Jan 5, 2023

It Is Always Time to Build

Interest rates do not equal innovation rates

Feb 23, 2023

When Content Creation Goes to Zero

AI is making a world where it costs nothing to produce anything. What happens next?

Oct 19, 2023

Every Software Business Has the Same Playbook

The strange contradiction at the heart of B2B SaaS

Aug 10, 2023

The Futility of Utility

Why do I choose to do things that aren't in my best interest?

Oct 27, 2022

Venture Capital Is Ripe for Disruption

A world where a billion is a drop in the bucket

Mar 13, 2023

A Dearth of Secrets, an Excess of Capital: SVB’s Explosion

We may be entering a more ruthless era in tech

Dec 21, 2023

Should You Fire This Newsletter? 2023 Edition

2024 is the year I go big

Apr 27, 2023

Death of a Flywheel

How Amazon and Berkshire got too big

May 18, 2023

Meet Your New Finance Intern: GPT-4

How AI will reshape what finance professionals do

Sep 18, 2020

How Chegg Grew Their Share Price 20x In Four Years

Chegg grew their stock price from under $10 to over $85. They did it by changing their business model from the ground up and investing in digital media content.

Feb 5, 2021

Revenue: It’s Simple, Until It Isn’t

Finally, a clear explanation of bookings, billings and revenue

Dec 5, 2024

The Religion of Ramp

How the fintech became one of the fastest-growing startups—ever