Rand Fishkin

One of the scariest, but best reads on the Qanon conspiracy

Good methodology here, and interesting, if unnerving, results.

Terrific post on SaaS lessons learned. A lot of them run counter to common best practices, but I'd argue they're 100% spot on.

Why do we make life so insanely hard for smart, kind, hard-working folks who just need to get by? Reading this piece gave me a new level of empathy. Hope it does for you, too.

The sauce is worth trying. I found it a bit basic to eat alone, but with meatballs or over zucchini, or as a dipping red sauce... Or heck, for kids or those who appreciate simple but great, it's pretty remarkable.

A great history lesson about how not to repeat the past.

In the aftermath of a terrible war, Americans once purchased an illusion of reconciliation, peace, and civility through a restoration of white rule. They should never again make such a bargain.

A wonderful, short treatise on where ideas come from

The inequality problem is compounded by a simple fact: the rich hoard their wealth. The poor and middle class spend it. Economic engines fail when wealth isn't utilized.

This is a great piece, pointing out the foolishness of recognizing and rewarding achievement > kindness.

You need this knowledge in your life friends.

This was surprisingly fun (and full of literal surprises!)

Absolutely fascinating. Can't wait to find out the next part of this story.

An excellent idea that should become mainstream ❤️

Written interviews help reduce the biases in favor of people that think fast on their feet that are inherent in live interviews

This is more than willful ignorance and pseudo-science. It's a full on campaign by people who know they're lying, and who are profiting from those lies. A wonderfully revealing bit of reporting here.

His research is hilarious,” says Carter. “He takes people who self-define as lucky and people who don’t say they’re lucky, and then he puts a $20 bill in the street and the lucky people notice them and pick them up. And unlucky people don’t.”

While the message is a little muddled, the exploration of history and context is superb.

What an incredible read...

Go big or go home and you often end up home. Go small, steady, and consistent over time and you end up with something big.

If you need something delightful to read and marvel over...

Exceptional piece of writing.

A fascinating journey down the utopian rabbit hole... And how achievable this stuff really is.

Good intent, but sadly GDPR has not curbed much (if any) of its intended targets, but has, instead, harmed the EU startup field, driven companies away, and helped FB+GG gain even larger monopolies.

The complexity and moral ambiguity of this piece make it essential reading

Wow. This is worth a read no matter how much or little you care about professional basketball.

You will not find a better troll of NYC's attitude to every other place ;-)

Platforms make this sound like a hard problem, but Pinterest shows that it's not.

It's long past time.

A superb analysis "Schultz’s campaign is long on ego, short on answers, and so confused about the dynamics of American politics that it threatens to worsen every problem he claims to worry about."

Not a popular position, but this piece makes a good case that it's probably worth the conversation

"But Twitter is not that carefree clubhouse for journalism anymore. Instead it is the epicenter of a nonstop information war, an almost comically undermanaged gladiatorial arena where activists and disinformation artists and politicians and marketers gather to target and influence the wider media world."

An exceptional piece that looks wisely (and harshly) at the odd, often revisionist history of how big tech companies succeeded and what we all should want for incentives in the startup & tech worlds.

Remarkable, if true.

A good back and forth about the system we live in and it's probable futures

What happens when conspiracy theorists get their way

A superb, timely analysis

Yup. Yup. Yup. Every city doesn't want to become some other city. But we all agree San Francisco is the worst cautionary tale of the bunch.

Superb, mind-opening read. Made me want to learn more.

Not sure I'm an Aaron Sorkin fan, but this remarkable series of events around the To Kill A Mockingbird play makes me damn sure I want to go see it.

Simple, but spot on. And applicable beyond just romantic relationships too.

Wise advice that seems hard for most folks to swallow.

Nails it.

Dear god... Reading this makes me *very* glad we're avoiding the "influencer" field with SparkToro. This space has... A lot of maturing to do.

Beautifully written, this piece touched on *new* points about social media culture (a hard thing to do in a space where every aspect is so thoroughly over-analyzed)

Superb advice and wonderful framing.

A surprisingly delightful read

Not a huge fan of the title, but the analysis inside makes some good points (and some new ones I hadn't seen before!)

Honestly, I expected to dislike this piece, as I have t been a huge fan of many of Amazon's business practices. But, it surprised me. This thinking 100% fits with my own experiences around high quality work and decision making.

Yes. Yes. Yes. I often wonder if I'd done my last company this way, whether things would have gone better...

Good love Swisher's transparency and self awareness in this very fun piece

So simple, yet so genius (granted, I haven't dated in 18yrs and hopefully never will again, so take my advice with the appropriate grain of salt)