Adam

20 years building brands + 2x exits + Angel Investor

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

Great endorsement for designers having a seat at the table.

I’ve said it for years, designers are the best entrepreneurs.

[Nikita Bier @nikitabier]

After advising 50+ consumer companies over the last year, the one thing that separates those who can execute and those who can't:

Having a full-time designer in the room at all times

I've met with countless companies that have raised millions—and even one that has raised billions—that do not even have a designer on payroll.

This makes product development broken:

1/ You simply cannot have constructive conversations about ideas without visualizing them in real-time
2/ Your experiments will frequently have inconclusive results because users cannot discover features or they misunderstand how they work
3/ There is no one who can galvanize the team with a vision of what the product could look and feel like

And to be abundantly clear: I'm not referring to visual UI or graphics. I'm talking about someone who can think through the fundamental building blocks of product comprehension—like navigation, interaction and copywriting—and is technically savvy enough to visualize those components in high resolution.

There can certainly be exceptions to not having a designer, like where the CEO is an exceptional visual thinker, but that does not scale beyond a small team.

At the end of day, products live and die in the pixels: it's what the users see and tap. And without someone shepherding that process, you are effectively wandering the desert blind.

[dany @danywander]

a reminder that branding matters.

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@mikesmith187 Chalk board in the office is pretty cool

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

I’m in love with this sentence:

“The strongest version of you is buried under the habits you're afraid to break.”

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@Zeneca Meh, lazy take. Pokemon has way more staying power (and global fan fare vs NFTs). No one cares about the JPG, they care about the physical artifact. I still hope NFTs make a come back, but it just isn’t as fun as Pokemon.

[Saagar Enjeti @esaagar]

It's the screens

ban them. All of them. No smartphones, no chromebooks whatsoever. Paper homework only

[U.S. Department of Energy @ENERGY]

False. Just 15% of CA primary energy consumption comes from ‘renewables.’ More than 75% of CA energy consumption is from oil and gas — that’s higher than the national rate.

It is true that CA has embraced anti-hydrocarbon policies. The result?

CA has the highest electricity rates in the continental U.S., the highest gas prices, and the highest adjusted poverty rate in America.

I wouldn’t be bragging if that was my state.

[Balaji @balajis]

The US federal budget is $7 trillion.
There are 535 in the Senate and Congress.
They collectively allocate that money.
Specifically: 7000/535 = 13 billion per official.
Which means AOC is a political billionaire.
She allocates far more than any market billionaire.
Indeed she allocates ten billion liquid, per year.
A market billionaire has one billion, illiquid, per life.
So: AOC spends 10-100X what a market billionaire has.
It's not even close.
She's right about one thing, though.
AOC didn't earn the tens of billions she spends.
The state taxed that money, by force.

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@MarioNawfal @elonmusk Capitalism for the win!

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@elanmiller NO EM DASHES EVER

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

In Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, God's finger stretches fully outward, while Adam's finger is bent at the last joint.

This illustrates well the message Michelangelo wanted to drive: God is always present, but it is up to humans to take the initiative to connect with Him.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Marcus Aurelius wrote this over 1800 years ago:

“What are you afraid of losing, when nothing in the world actually belongs to you?”

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@RyanHoliday So stoic.

[Orman Clark @ormanclark]

“Creativity is people who care enough to keep thinking about something until they find the simplest way to do it.”

— Tim Cook

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

💪❤️🙏🏽🇺🇸

[Joe Gebbia @jgebbia]

Charles Eames advice for students:

Make a list of books
Develop a curiosity
Look at things as though for the first time
Think of things in relation to each other
Always think of the next larger thing
Avoid the "pat" answer - the formula
Avoid the preconceived idea
Study well objects made past, recent, and ancient but never without the technological and social conditions responsible
Prepare yourself to search out the true need - physical, psychological
Prepare yourself to intelligently fill that need

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

President Bill Clinton draws a giant zero on a sign as he and vice president Al Gore unveil the balanced federal budget in the White House, February 2, 1999.

[The Knowledge Archivist @KnowledgeArchiv]

The Tesla "T" logo comes from Nikola Tesla's original electric motor patent btw

Pretty cool.

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@tferriss @farzyness 8.75. It’s great, and easy to use. Strong enough for daily stuff like dog hair and crumbs.

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@chamath @farzyness Same!

[Adam @ACfromTogether]

@MarioNawfal @basche42 Tucker for prez