19 Comments
User's avatar
James Barringer's avatar

It feels like fuelling the engine that actually moves the vehicle, rather than polishing the bonnet.

Performance follows where attention is placed.

Founders carry pressure from all sides, and money easily becomes a proxy for worth rather than work.

This advice lands differently across the voices:

Nurturers might feel the relational tension it creates.

Guardians focus on fairness and sustainability.

Creatives might question how value is really measured.

Connectors might sense how pay signals culture and trust.

Pioneers might resonate with reward matching risk and ownership.

Naming these perspectives helps teams talk about pay without it becoming personal or polarising.

Peter Jansen's avatar

I stopped taking meetings with "Visionaries" three years ago.

I realized I was sitting across from men who were experts at capturing value but amateurs at creating it. They were building elaborate traps for capital, not engines for progress.

Here in the sanctuary, I have a simple filter for everything—investments, friends, tools: Does this add energy to the system, or does it drain it?

Musk calls it being "useful." I call it being a generator. In a world drowning in entropy, the only safe harbor is around the people who are actually building the fire, not just warming their hands by it.

Chris Tottman's avatar

"amateurs at creating it" = nice framing. Thanks for sharing

Hodman Murad's avatar

Ah yes, good old rebranding: when you're just repackaging the same old thing and hoping no one notices. It makes Musk’s "create more than you take" advice land even better. Thanks for sharing this.

Dennis Hedenskog's avatar

"Draft rules would curb manipulative interactions, require human escalation for self-harm risks, and set youth protections. The proposal reflects a shift from content safety to emotional safety amid rapid growth of anthropomorphic services."

This is really interesting, and surprising to me that it's happening in China.

What is the status on this in the West? US and/or EU?

Chris Tottman's avatar

I've not seen anything in the West to be honest. Surprisingly so. I'm sure it'll come

Dennis Hedenskog's avatar

I hope something likes this will come in the West

Dennis Berry's avatar

Curating insights, funding trends, and actionable takeaways keeps founders informed without noise. Tracking capital flow adds real signal, knowing where the money moves is as valuable as ideas themselves.

Jens Stark's avatar

The piece on rebranding is interesting. It's a good reminder that the presence of complex or trendy words doesn't automatically mean that its an effective business strategy.

Keeping things simple, clear and meaningful goes a long way.

Chris Tottman's avatar

💯 my favorite is the "Full Stack AI " - that'll be big. From what was previously unloved

Dennis Berry's avatar

Elon is the master! This is a solid reminder that fundamentals still matter more than narratives. The throughline across rebrands, AI adoption, and Musk’s advice is the same: build real value first, then scale and monetize.

Chris Tottman's avatar

The daily net contributior !

John Brewton's avatar

Proof beating promises feels like the real theme running through all of this.

Chris Tottman's avatar

I hadn't noticed but yes..maybe something was going on sub consciously! 😳

Sharyph's avatar

I really like your take on... rebradning...we're seeing a lot of "narrative-market fit" lately where people are just putting a fresh coat of paint on old problems instead of actually fixing the fundamentals.

Chris Tottman's avatar

AI washing 😳

Chris Tottman's avatar

"Icing a 💩" is the phrase we use in the UK 🤣

User's avatar
Comment removed
Jan 3
Comment removed
Chris Tottman's avatar

I totally agree. Founders/teams remaining in high curiosity, deep level questions, pain obsession vs marketing, selling, pitching mode permanently. I truly believe if you do the former one business leads to another and another - repeatable mindset to repeat founder 📈

Chris Tottman's avatar

Wise words indeed! The best founders are obsessing about customer/prospects pain(s) and building around what they find, discover, extract. It's not a selling mindset. It's a deeply curious questioning mindset ✅