6-3b4d Community first, monetization later; morality first, money second; missionary over mercenary

When one is passionate about something, what he’s measuring won’t be easily swayed by market—this is why missionaries are better than mercenaries, and why they tend to have the temperament essential to success as entrepreneurs. Warren Buffett, Li Lu, Naval Ravikant, Paul Graham, Balaji Srinivasan, and David Deutsch—although they express this idea differently, they all emphasize how one should take certain ideas very seriously.

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• 6-3b4c Building true communities is the best way to go viral

Related:

• 2-1a0c1c Purpose (and curiosity) beats for-profit

• 2-1a6 ‘Incentives’ - Incentives drive (almost) everything. Understand your incentives.

• 2-1a7 ‘Curiosity instinct’ - Curiosity alone can drive humans into ideas without any (at least obvious) financial incentives

• Farcaster

• Gaming industries

  • 5-1b1b1a4 Game = Game + Streaming + Virtual Goods

• Politics will be (truly) technical. Technologists will literally rule.develop

  • 2-1a0c1h Small countries (or any community) must be convincing. Presidents and mayors must act like CEOs and turn their communities into startup countries-counties.

• What would be the more realistic scenario?

  • E.g., how did Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die movement play out?develop
    • Because at the extreme, the community and its monetization can come at the same time if the community is bound with its monetary policy!develop
      • 8-1b3d Monetary policies can come first and the currency circulation can come later (or symbiotically-simultaneously), not vice versa (i.e., bottom-up vs top-down)
        • 6-3b4e Community and monetization can also be realized at the same time

• 7-1a5a Finding some distribution arbitrage in your time and place is also a great source for growth + 3-1a4b2 Price can only convey so much

  • 5-1b4a Amara’s law - we expect too much in the short-run, but too little in the long-run, 3-1d6c Amara’s law modified - we underestimate the importance of consistency in the short-run, but overestimate in the long-run

• Some people can afford to do stuff for free when starting off

  • E.g., 5-1b1b1a5 ‘Come for the tool, stay for the network’ tactic
    • 5-1b1b1a6 Corporate networks can play different games from protocol networks because they have way more sources of funding, but so are you!
      • 9-4e2e1 Startup = Open Source Project = Crypto Protocol = Non-Profit = Individual Tinkering
        • It’s about playing the long game and pay-off in the long-run (obviously not too long)!
          • 2-1b2 Play in different time horizon. That is, in the long-run.

• Free contents (e.g., airdrops) can make sense in the long run with network effectsdevelop

  • 5-1b1b1a1 Things can become easier the more complexity you have (Network effects = Power-law)
    • 9-4f Product is merit and distribution is connection
      • 3-1c1d You must build your own media distribution to avoid distortion for yourself and others