Introducing: Ordinary Astronauts

Hello friends! Dan and Nathan here.

If you enjoy reading Superorganizers and/or Divinations, and you enjoy listening to podcasts, we have something new for you!

That’s right, friends, we’re launching a podcast! It’s called Ordinary Astronauts, and you can find it here or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

What’s the podcast about?

Three big themes:

1. Tech — where is the future headed?
2. Product Building — how can we build it?
3. The Psychology of Work — how can we work on ourselves to make it happen?

(Basically, everything Every is all about.)

Every week, we record a multi-hour conversation between the two of us that should feel a lot like reading our writing. Except here, we go much deeper and it’s a lot more casual—and daresay vibe-y?

Sometimes we’ll analyze the strategy side of a news event in the startup-sphere, and sometimes we’ll discuss compelling ideas in psychology and personal growth that we’re applying to our work and our co-founder relationship.

We’ll also discuss the finer points of pieces we’ve just written—and give details we couldn’t have otherwise included—and sometimes we’ll go into new ideas that haven’t seen the light of day yet.

Mostly, we’re going to have a good time and learn about the world and ourselves—together.

In many ways OA is a homage to our favorite kinds of shows: long, open-ended, semi-philosophical conversations between friends about topics they know and care about deeply. Something is relaxing about that sort of thing. We will release new episodes every Sunday morning, and hopefully they will contribute to your end-of-weekend chill vibes.

Also, because sometimes we get bored of each other, we’ll occasionally release bonus interview episodes during the week! So far Nathan has already interviewed Logan Bartlett (of Cartoon Avatars fame, home of the “web3” debate) and Amanda Natividad (whose twitter presence and marketing prowess has us in awe). More interviews will drop occasionally, like sprinkles on the OA cupcake, or flaky sea salt on the OA brisket.

The first episode is out now!

In it, we talk about:

• Medium. How are they doing? What's going on in the broader market for writing on the internet? Based on Nathan’s recent essay which you can read here.
• How to Analyze a Market. There's a five step process that Nathan created based on his reading of Clayton Christensen, Michael Porter, and Hamilton Helmer. Based on another of Nathan’s recent essays, which you can read here.
• Philosophies as Cuisines. Lots of times when we're thinking about how the world works, and we see different ways of explaining what's happening, we have an impulse to ask "which one is right?" But what if a more useful impulse is to ask "which one is useful for what purposes, in what situations?" Kind of like how there are different culinary traditions, equally valid, maybe there's something similar about philosophies or schools of thought. Based on something from Dan’s brain that might become an essay!
• Mental Chatter: meaningful or meaningless? It's interesting because it might be useful to view it as meaningless or meaningful depending on your circumstance. Based on another thing from Dan’s brain that also might become an essay!

And then there’s a bit of after-show banter about Dan’s trip to Paris, for those who are interested :) 

Anyway, hope you enjoy it!! If you listen please send us a note and tell us what you think or ask us questions, we will answer them on the show! 

To get new episodes, you know what to do:

Thanks!!