The first reviews of Apple’s “liquid glass” design got me thinking: Steve Jobs is long gone, but his “customers don’t get a vote” energy lives on.

Picture credit – unknown author

Good CEOs See the Distant Future. Great Ones Master the Near Term Two ideas and one simple tool for razor-sharp future thinking

Good CEOs See the Distant Future. Great Ones Master the Near Term
Two ideas and one simple tool for razor-sharp future thinking
open.substack.com/pub/svyatosl...

If someone inherits wealth, attends a top university, makes the right connections, works hard, and builds a successful business, by the time they start giving interviews about their success, all they’ll remember is how hard they worked.

If your strategy doesn’t work, you can always blame your customers.

Picture source: CartoonStock

Entering a market without a unique product is like joining a lookalike contest—you might even win, but people will keep mistaking you for someone else.

Entering a market without a unique product is like joining a lookalike contest—you might even win, but people will keep mistaking you for someone else.

The faster AI catches up to human intelligence, the closer we get to the day when robots start trolling people on social media.

Doing strategy once a year is like quitting bad habits just for a week and expecting to get healthy.

The faster AI catches up to human intelligence, the closer we get to the day when robots start trolling people on social media.

Fixing customer problems only when they complain to tech support is like going to a marriage counselor after the divorce.

Three immutable laws of marketing:

1. The customer must see value in the product.

2. The customer wants to feel part of a community.

3. “20% off until the end of the week” works better than both — and many other laws, for that matter.

You can judge human rationality by this:

a founder’s story about “believing in the dream” always gets more attention than statistics showing 9 out of 10 startups fail.

Three immutable laws of marketing:

1. The customer must see value in the product.

2. The customer wants to feel part of a community.

3. “20% off until the end of the week” works better than both — and many other laws, for that matter.

It’s not as funny as it sounds. I’ve seen such strategies — and I’ve seen strategic goals passed off as strategy.

You can judge human rationality by this:

a founder’s story about “believing in the dream” always gets more attention than statistics showing 9 out of 10 startups fail.

Not Knowing This Value Equation Almost Cost Me Everything as a CEO A vacuum cleaner, value exchange, and business profit

Not Knowing This Value Equation Almost Cost Me Everything as a CEO
A vacuum cleaner, value exchange, and business profit:
open.substack.com/pub/svyatosl...

Notes of a Contrarian Strategist. Episode 40 – Svyatoslav Biryulin

Notes of a Contrarian Strategist. Episode 40 is live!

Today’s topics:

Most Traditional Business Metrics Tell Only Part of the Story

People in Hollywood are wiser than those in Silicon Valley

A childish generation

Read more in my latest newsletter: sbiryulin.com/blog/notes-o...

Want to understand optimism?
Just look at AI enthusiasts hoping to build superintelligence…
…by training it on content from social media.

Notes of a Contrarian Strategist. Episode 40 – Svyatoslav Biryulin

Notes of a Contrarian Strategist. Episode 40 is live!

Today’s topics:

Most Traditional Business Metrics Tell Only Part of the Story

People in Hollywood are wiser than those in Silicon Valley

A childish generation

Read more in my latest newsletter: sbiryulin.com/blog/notes-o...

People in Hollywood are wiser than those in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley builds AI agents to give people more free time.

Hollywood knows nothing terrifies them more than free time.

Not Knowing This Value Equation Almost Cost Me Everything as a CEO A vacuum cleaner, value exchange, and business profit

Not Knowing This Value Equation Almost Cost Me Everything as a CEO
A vacuum cleaner, value exchange, and business profit:
open.substack.com/pub/svyatosl...

People in Hollywood are wiser than those in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley builds AI agents to give people more free time.

Hollywood knows nothing terrifies them more than free time.

The deepest bloggers share their own thoughts.

The top bloggers share their readers’ thoughts.

Experienced marketers say flashy, beautiful boxes sell better if you put something inside them.

Every minor problem you have today is a consequence of a major strategic mistake you made in the past.

Experienced marketers say flashy, beautiful boxes sell better if you put something inside them.

In a family, someone who thinks they know what everyone else needs is called a tyrant.

In politics, they’re called a dictator.

In Silicon Valley, someone who thinks they know better than consumers what they need is called an entrepreneur.

In a family, someone who thinks they know what everyone else needs is called a tyrant.

In politics, they’re called a dictator.

In Silicon Valley, someone who thinks they know better than consumers what they need is called an entrepreneur.

When I hear “Your call is very important to us…” while waiting on hold for twenty minutes, my brain quietly finishes the sentence: “…but some calls are more important than yours.”

Today, after an update, Microsoft Word asked me to rate how likely I am to recommend it to friends. I was stumped — I don’t even know anyone who doesn’t already have it installed out of sheer necessity.