On Dogfooding*

Over the last year I've built 17 different products. Each one was something that I thought could be useful to somebody else, and the majority of these no one wanted. For that reason, and a few others, I pivoted often:

  1. I didn't market the product long enough (or hard enough).
  2. The trajectory of AI made the influx of opportunities look inticing compared to what i was currently working on
  3. It wasn't something I would have used myself.

If you haven't been following AI lately, here's a analog to how fast we're currently going: an MLB batter has at maximum .2 seconds to react to a 100mph pitch. So, to ballpark a number for anyone not in the major leagues, you have around 0 seconds to decide whether to swing or not. That's how much time it feels like you currently have to pick a good idea.

It's an exciting time, but also a confusing one.

Dogfooding Products

To make this easier for myself, I decided to build something people want, but also build something I want. If it's something I need, it makes sense that somebody else probably needs it too.

If you build for yourself, people can tell the difference. Those are the products that people come back to. They're satisfying to use. There's the smallest thoughtful details. Little things aren't broken. It reminds me of the release of the iPod and then the iPhone.

The opposite are products that feel empty. Visit any government website to experience this feeling. The energy of it doesn't feel truly genuine. You can use your intuition to identify this. Everyone will have slightly different taste, but the really good products are undeniable.

So don't forget to dogfood. If you do, you'll more likely end up with something beautiful.

Dogfooding Yourself

Dogfooding products are important, but we can keep going. Consider how you're chosing to spend your time right now: maybe you're traveling somewhere, with friends or family, taking a car trip. This is how you've chosen to spend your day. And as each day unfolds and extrapolates into the next, each of those days starts to reveal the record of your life as how you've defined it through your actions.

Maybe if you continue to stack those days, the aggregate isn't what you want to leave behind.

So you need to improve. Me too.

I try not to look at improvement in the cultural sense, which is defined by weight loss, looking better, being richer. I like to look at improvement as the result of amplifying your energy.

If you continue to amplify who you are, you eventually end up with the best version of you. The benefit of this has an echo effect: If you are the best version of yourself, that gives others a glimpse of what the best version of themselves could be.

Don't deny society that. Keep dogfooding.

Expressing your creativity is one way to amplify your energy, and you can start to unlock your creativity by experiencing others' creativity. You can find this in literally anyone: carpenters, athletes, artists, the list goes on.

Once you experience what others have created, you can start to apply your perspective. This is how you start to make it your own. There's no copying, there is only iteration. However you chose to do this, make it as reflective of you as you as you possibly can.

People can more fully become themselves if they can see others doing the same. This is how we can learn and progress as a society. If we do this, I believe we'll make the world more beautiful. So keep dogfooding.