The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
Category

Don't hunt, set traps

Startup Real Talk • 291 implied HN points • 04 Dec 24
💼 Business Growth Strategies Customer Acquisition Entrepreneurship Sales Marketing
  1. It's better to set up systems for getting customers rather than just trying to close individual sales. This way, you can get more customers efficiently over time.
  2. Once your product fits the market, focus on creating repeatable ways to attract customers. This is more valuable than closing one deal at a time.
  3. Like setting traps for hunting, having a continuous lead system helps your business succeed without relying on just one person for sales.

How Did The Great Startups Like Airbnb or Instagram Make Pivot Decisions? | VC Remote Jobs & More

Venture Curator • 139 implied HN points • 27 Nov 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startups Innovation Venture Capital Pivoting
  1. Pivoting in startups often involves changing direction when things aren't going as planned, but it should not be glorified as success.
  2. Successful startups approach pivoting as a learning experience rather than a badge of honor, with most effective pivots driven by passion or necessity.
  3. Not all pivots are equal; those driven by genuine passion or necessity tend to be more successful than those just brainstormed on a whiteboard.

How to Navigate Your First 21 Days in DeFi

DeFi Education • 959 implied HN points • 08 Mar 22
🔮 Crypto Trading Community Security Investment DeFi
  1. The first step in DeFi is setting up your accounts and wallets. Make sure to use a secure wallet like Metamask and protect your privacy with a VPN.
  2. You can start using DeFi by making simple transactions like lending tokens for interest or swapping them. Using networks with lower fees, like Fantom, can help you learn without risking too much.
  3. Participating in DeFi communities can lead to surprises, like airdrops or early access to token sales. Being active and helpful in these communities can reward you with tokens and good investment opportunities.

Do Prediction Technologies Help Novices or Experts More?

New Things Under the Sun • 224 implied HN points • 27 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Innovation Data science Research AI
  1. AI can help both beginners and experts, but it depends on the tasks they are working on. Sometimes, beginners gain more because AI levels the playing field.
  2. In some cases, experts benefit more from AI. They can solve complex problems that AI cannot, while beginners still struggle with those.
  3. Prediction tools can make a big difference in innovation fields like mining and drug discovery. The impact varies based on expertise and the types of problems being addressed.
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Update on Valuations and The State of DeFi

DeFi Education • 819 implied HN points • 25 May 22
🔮 Crypto Investing Market Trends Tokenomics DeFi Blockchain
  1. DeFi has changed a lot in the last year. Many new ideas have appeared, but not all have lasted, and lending has dropped due to less interest.
  2. Trading on decentralized exchanges is still strong, showing that people keep trading even in a down market. Innovations in exchange technology are also happening.
  3. The overall value in DeFi is up, but many tokens have dropped in price. Investors need to be careful and are looking for undervalued options as the market evolves.

Overview of the AI landscape

Software Engineering Tidbits • 98 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Tooling AI Machine Learning Data Management
  1. Large Language Models (LLMs) are key in AI applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.
  2. Vector databases and embeddings help understand word associations, with tools like Pinecone and the Embedding Projector by TensorFlow.
  3. Tooling in AI is advancing, with Vellum for versioning prompts and Not Diamond for routing prompts for optimal model response.

What I Learned This Week #1

Eventually Consistent • 39 implied HN points • 06 May 24
🕹 Technology Podcasts Social media Programming Databases
  1. ScyllaDB introduces a shard per core design, maximizing parallelism by assigning a separate shard to each core.
  2. FoundationDB bridges SQL and NoSQL, offering ACID transactions with schema flexibility and performance.
  3. Compilers like Clang and language servers like Clangd have separate purposes; language servers follow the Language Server Protocol for portability.

The Holding Companies of Our Hearts

Investing 101 • 87 implied HN points • 12 Jul 25
💼 Business Venture Capital Finance Startup Strategy Corporate Structure Investing
  1. Everyone allocates resources, not just money, but also time and attention. People are basically investors in their own lives.
  2. Successful capital allocation is more about making smart, strategic decisions than just having money to spend. Great examples include companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Constellation Software.
  3. Venture capitalists often seek attention for their investing strategies, but it's the actual entrepreneurs and companies that are doing the hard work of building that are the real heroes.

Five Effective Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses on a Budget

The Small Business Corner • 39 implied HN points • 06 May 24
💼 Business Small businesses Analytics Email Marketing Social media Marketing
  1. Craft a targeted marketing plan to save time and effort by focusing on potential customers with a detailed strategy that aligns with your business goals.
  2. Create engaging content that resonates with your audience, providing value and building trust over time to attract and convert followers into customers.
  3. Utilize social media platforms to connect with your target audience cost-effectively, engaging with users, choosing the right platforms, and leveraging analytics for success.

DevProd headcount benchmarks, Q1 2026

Engineering Enablement • 10 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Developer Productivity Productivity Metrics Organizational Design Engineering Management Software Engineering
  1. Most companies dedicate about 2–6% of engineering headcount to centralized developer productivity, averaging roughly 4.7%, and that percentage tends to shrink as organizations grow past ~1,000 engineers because tooling, automation, and leverage reduce headcount needs.
  2. The benchmark counts only narrowly-defined DevProd teams (internal developer platforms, DevEx/Productivity, build & release, test infra, and developer education/support) and excludes SRE, general cloud, security, and product-facing platform teams.
  3. Treat these numbers as a guideline, not a quota: use them to set initial headcount for a center of excellence and pair them with measurement (for example, the Core 4) to confirm the team is actually reducing developer friction.

The Continuing Relevance of Adam Smith's "Man of System"

Knowledge Problem • 137 implied HN points • 29 Nov 23
📖 Philosophy Epistemology Political Philosophy Ethics Morality
  1. Adam Smith criticizes interventionist approaches in government that disregard individual preferences and autonomy.
  2. Smith highlights the knowledge problem, emphasizing that individuals have unique preferences and societal systems cannot easily override them.
  3. The 'man of system' imposes his ideals regardless of objections, whereas Smith's analyses focus on systems where participation is voluntary and based on mutual agreement.

Of olfactory ethics and oaf-factory hysterics.

Philosophy bear • 286 implied HN points • 04 Dec 24
📖 Philosophy Cultural criticism Political theory Ethics Social Issues
  1. Dr. Ally Louks is facing criticism online for her PhD topic about the social meaning of smell. Some people find her work pointless and label it as 'woke'.
  2. There is a divide in intellectual circles over what it means to be smart or knowledgeable, with some critiques focusing on how certain ideas are oversimplified or misrepresented.
  3. The online discussions often trend toward name-calling and dismissive attitudes instead of engaging with the actual arguments and ideas presented.

Where Is Technical Program Management Heading in 2026?

Building Rome(s) • 15 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Tools AI Product Management Program Management Careers
  1. AI tools will keep getting much smarter and cheaper, so TPMs should design workflows that age well and leverage compounding improvements instead of chasing a perfect tool.
  2. The novelty phase of AI is ending — leaders will demand real ROI, so TPMs must focus on measurable outcomes like predictive planning, risk simulations, and AI-assisted forecasting rather than surface-level automations.
  3. Companies need to provide access and training for specialized AI tools because lack of access will become an organizational problem, and the TPM role will shift toward a builder, cross-stack, AI-fluent generalist that increasingly overlaps with product management.

Why The World Needs Web3

DeFi Education • 719 implied HN points • 22 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Crypto Decentralization Blockchain Web3 Internet
  1. Web3 aims to create a more secure internet by reducing reliance on centralized platforms, which often expose users to risks like hacking and censorship. This means our online interactions can be safer and more private.
  2. In the future, people could earn money for content creation on decentralized platforms, unlike current social media that makes money from our content without sharing revenues. This can create fairer opportunities for creators.
  3. Web3 may lead to a new economy where crypto can be used for everyday purchases, making it easier for people to use digital currencies in their daily lives. This shift could change how we think about money and transactions.

How to align your values with your work

The Recovering Academic • 178 implied HN points • 13 Jun 23
💼 Business Career development Writing Work-life balance
  1. Self-exploration is important to align your values with your work. Take time to understand what truly matters to you.
  2. Transitioning from academia to industry can be challenging but rewarding. Soft skills and practical tools are valuable in various job fields.
  3. Embracing change and exploring different industries can lead to personal growth and fulfillment. There isn't just one path to a meaningful career.

The Work of AI Content

Oliver Bateman Does the Work • 137 implied HN points • 29 Nov 23
🕹 Technology AI Content creation Blogging
  1. AI-generated content is becoming prevalent, creating challenges in transparency and trust between readers and media
  2. The abundance of content and digital subscriptions is overwhelming, leading to less actual engagement with the material
  3. The value of content lies in meaningful engagement, not just in mere consumption or subscription metrics

When Insurance Admits AI is Safer Than People

Tippets by Taps • 6 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
💼 Business Risk Data Regulation Market Trends Insurance AI Automotive
  1. Insurance companies are starting to price self-driving miles as much safer than human-driven miles, with some cutting per-mile premiums by about half when autonomous mode is engaged.
  2. Insurers that use onboard telemetry and AI to price risk get a strong first-mover advantage. If their lower loss rates hold, traditional underwriting based on age or ZIP will look obsolete and others will follow.
  3. As AI and robotics replace human tasks, adjacent industries, regulations, and pricing models will need to reprice reality. That shift could make cars without meaningful autonomy relatively more costly to own and be slowed by laws that restrict telemetry-based pricing.

GroupBy #28: Tableflow - The Stream/Table, Kafka/Iceberg Duality, Kafka tiered storage deep dive

VuTrinh. • 59 implied HN points • 26 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Cloud Computing Big Data Data Engineering Software Development
  1. Tableflow allows you to easily turn Apache Kafka topics into Iceberg tables, which could change how streaming data is managed.
  2. Kafka's new tiered storage feature helps separate compute and storage, making it easier to manage resources and keep systems running smoothly.
  3. Data governance is important but can be lackluster if it doesn't show clear business benefits, making us rethink its role in today's data landscape.

December ICE Mortgage Monitor: Home Prices "Firmed" in November, Up 0.8% Year-over-year

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
💰 Finance Refinancing Home Equity Real Estate Delinquencies Mortgages Housing Market Lending
  1. Falling mortgage rates triggered a surge in refinances, lifting servicer refinance retention to a 3.5‑year high and making rate‑and‑term refinances the dominant activity; non‑bank servicers retained far more borrowers than banks.
  2. Mortgage performance strengthened as national delinquencies fell to about 3.34%, well below pre‑pandemic levels, although FHA loans remain an outlier with higher non‑current rates.
  3. Home prices firmed modestly with the ICE Home Price Index up 0.8% year‑over‑year in November, but gains are uneven — the Northeast and Midwest lead, the South and West lag, and single‑family homes are outperforming condos.

I Wrote a Guest Post for Emerge Tools!

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 656 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Engineering Apps Tools iOS Startups
  1. The blog post compares the Twitter and X iOS app binaries, revealing insights like extra app icons and heavy use of dynamic libraries.
  2. Emerge Tools offers valuable solutions for mobile engineers to monitor their app's size and performance.
  3. The author recommends subscribing to Jacob's Tech Tavern for more insightful posts and to show support for the work.

Blink and you'll miss it... The Climate Robotics Summit was on last week

Robots & Startups • 39 implied HN points • 06 May 24
🕹 Technology Mentorship Startups Events Artificial Intelligence Robotics
  1. The Climate Robotics Summit focused on building a community for sustainable applications of Climate Robotics.
  2. Robotic mentor programs are seeking experienced individuals to support startups and share knowledge.
  3. The Women in Robotics Scholarship, in memory of Joanne Pransky, is accepting applications for its second round of awards.

Introducing video to Substack Chat

Substack • 501 implied HN points • 05 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Content creation Video content Social media Digital Communication Online Communities
  1. Substack now allows users to send video messages directly to their subscribers. This makes it easier for creators to connect and share their thoughts in a personal way.
  2. Videos can be paywalled, meaning only paying subscribers can view them, which helps creators monetize their content more effectively.
  3. The video feature in Substack Chat creates a private space for discussions, allowing subscribers to engage closely with creators without getting lost in social media feeds.

Freddie Mac House Price Index Up 1.0% Year-over-Year in October

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 23 implied HN points • 26 Nov 25
💰 Finance Market Analysis Real Estate Investment Insights Economic Trends
  1. The Freddie Mac House Price Index showed a small increase of 1.0% year-over-year in October, which is lower than previous months. This trend suggests that house price growth is slowing down.
  2. Many states, including Florida and Texas, have seen significant declines in house prices from their recent peaks. Punta Gorda, for example, is now one of the worst-performing cities in terms of house prices.
  3. Overall, the housing market may face further challenges, with prices possibly turning negative by the end of 2025 due to increased inventory and low sales.

Explore Your Modeling Mindset With A Quiz

Mindful Modeler • 179 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Modeling Machine Learning Programming Web Development
  1. Modeling assumptions affect how the model can be used. For instance, causal considerations lead to causal claims.
  2. Revisiting and understanding our modeling assumptions can help us tackle problems more effectively, beyond our usual mindset.
  3. Creating simple static websites can be made easier with tools like GPT-4, especially if you have some understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Is The Land Of The Rising Sun Finally On The Rise?

Japan Economy Watch • 319 implied HN points • 25 Jan 23
🌐 International Japan Economic outlook Economy Global
  1. Experts have mixed opinions about Japan's economic future, with some being optimistic, predicting growth and avoiding recession, while others are more pessimistic, warning of a crisis.
  2. Japan has challenges like wage suppression and resistance to change, but also opportunities for economic revival through societal megatrends like entrepreneurship and e-commerce.
  3. The government needs to support and capitalize on these opportunities in order to avoid missing out on potential economic growth and progress.

Managing Inside Growing Companies

Lessons • 176 implied HN points • 21 Feb 23
💼 Business Startups Management Teamwork Growth Leadership
  1. Managers inside growing companies need to accept that change is constant, and it's important to focus on facilitating the process of finding solutions rather than having all the answers.
  2. It's okay for managers to acknowledge and accept the things they cannot control, and instead, focus on what they can control to set their team up for success.
  3. Helping people on your team grow and learn is a crucial aspect that managers can control and should prioritize in a growing company environment.

About my own interest in the current generative AI craze

Bojan’s Newsletter • 176 implied HN points • 27 Feb 23
🕹 Technology AI Future of work Creative work ML
  1. The author has not done fundamental work in generative AI, but has potential projects that may go in that direction.
  2. The author's interest in generative AI is linked to their long-term interest in the future of work, which directly affects their professional life.
  3. Generative AI tools have the potential to transform work dynamics significantly, especially in creative fields.

The Space Economy

Startup Pirate by Alex Alexakis • 176 implied HN points • 24 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Satellites Space Startups Innovation Space Tech
  1. The space industry is evolving from being led by superpowers to being driven by private companies, resulting in a significant growth of the space economy and increased number of objects launched into space.
  2. Space technology benefits humanity in various ways like enabling telecommunications, monitoring climate change, and providing navigation services through satellites.
  3. The rise in commercial space activity is attributed to factors like lower launch costs, innovations like reusable rockets, and the availability of new materials and technologies, making it easier for companies to enter the space industry and experiment with space technologies.

Japan Reality Check #4: In praise of the Salaryman CEO

Japan Optimist • 176 implied HN points • 25 Feb 23
💼 Business Leadership Corporate culture Performance Profitability
  1. Japanese Salaryman CEOs have shown extraordinary resilience and competence in delivering corporate economic value and profitability.
  2. Data shows that Japanese Salaryman CEOs have outperformed Wall Street Superstar CEOs in terms of profit increase without relying on rising sales.
  3. While Japanese Salaryman CEOs have significantly increased profits, their compensation has only risen modestly, maintaining a close link between performance and pay.

A 3-Year Roadmap For Starting a Consultancy

Michael’s Newsletter • 176 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
💼 Business Content creation Skills Consulting Entrepreneurship
  1. Starting a consultancy is a 3-year journey with specific themes and success criteria for each year.
  2. In year 1, focus on experimentation to develop fundamental entrepreneurship skills and choose a business path.
  3. In year 2, build a foundation by mastering consulting skills and selecting a specialization; In year 3, focus deeply on that specialization.

METI's “2025 Digital Cliff,” Part II

Japan Economy Watch • 239 implied HN points • 10 Apr 23
💼 Business Technology Salaries
  1. Japan faces a significant shortage of ICT professionals due to a shortfall in STEM students and low pay for ICT professionals.
  2. Japan ranks below average in key areas of ICT training, which impacts the preparedness of students for ICT occupations.
  3. Low pay in Japan contributes to a lack of interest in STEM careers, resulting in fewer university students majoring in STEM subjects.

Marc Andreessen: 'Founders Can't Raised Fund Without Understanding Risk-Cash Relation'| Running Great User Interview Using Y-Combinator Strategy | VC Remote Jobs and More

Venture Curator • 159 implied HN points • 31 Oct 23
💼 Business Remote Jobs Entrepreneurship Venture Capital Startup funding
  1. Understanding the relationship between risk and cash flow is crucial for founders to successfully raise funding.
  2. Peeling away layers of risk with each funding round can help founders attract more investment.
  3. During user interviews, focus on understanding user problems rather than pushing product features.

True Transhumanism, Part 1

Extropic Thoughts • 176 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
📖 Philosophy Life philosophy Transhumanism Technology Critiques Worldview
  1. Transhumanism is a philosophy that embraces transformative technologies for improving the human condition.
  2. Critics of transhumanism have shifted from questioning its feasibility to pondering how to control its impact.
  3. Transhumanism values continual improvement and critical rationalism, and seeks to shape better futures through science and technology.