"The fight-or-flight response (also called hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival."
This week I read about how our fear and outrage are being sold for profit by Tobias Rose-Stockwell. (17min read but worth every second)
Almost every “free” app or service you use depends on this surreptitious process of unconsciously turning your eyeballs into dollars, and they have built sophisticated methods of reliably doing it.
One of the threads of Tobias' piece is how perceived threats have become “realities”. But the actual threat has actually diminished.
For most of our species’ history, available information tended to be really helpful for our survival. If you heard a lot of stories about wild dog attacks, you learned to be vigilant about wild dogs.
The availability heuristic has been hijacked and we have democratized propaganda for profit. This isn't going to go away on its own. We have to fight the good fight.
I look forward to his next post detailing some proposed solutions to this phenomenon that is "undermining our greatest strength — our unique ability to cooperate and share the careful and important burdens of being human."
with appreciation,
Jon
❤️ this? plz tweet, share on LinkedIn or share on FB. Thanks! 🙏
p.s.
in Amsterdam this Friday? (the 13th!) Check out Fallen Bird — Another & Lennard Kok.
p.p.s
🔥 pro tips to escape email hell 🔥
Cycling
UNKNOWN ROADS - COLOMBIA #2
7mesh went to Colombia & the trip looks so rad!
Bonus points for the Elemnt!
Prepared to Ride – Métier Cycling
I've been wearing this vest in the dark this trip.
It is amazing. Check it out : )
The birth of the brake power meter
SQUEEEEEAK!!! Skid. Pedalpedalpedalpedal Squeeeeaaaaaaaak pedalpedalpedal We’ve all ridden with that guy....
Rouleur Classic | Rouleur Classic
I'll be in London for the Rouleur Classic on the 2 - 4 of November. Let's hang there and/or get a ride in!
Tracksmith's Unapologetic Elitism
Startups
Advertising is eating social media
Every tenth post in your Instagram-Feed is irrelevant advertising, Facebook needs constant feeding of the ‘boost this post’ slot machine or you won’t get your message through, social media influencers are in hot water for undeclared promotions and cooperations. What is going on?
Nice one Peter! Luckily, words still matter. 📚
Stop Thinking About Raising Capital For Your Startup. Start Thinking Like a Business Person
And, can we at least admit that failure is not the goal. ; )
Product Owners: how to best pitch not market-ready products?
My bud Jost is always looking for some insights or good articles on how to promote (pre-sell) new products which are not yet ready for market. Especially prototypes or beta products.
Is there reason to take a different approach how to reach pilot customers with beta products?
He asked me to pose some questions to readers fo the newsletter:
- How do I attract their interest to do a (time consuming) pilot phase after which I need important feedback to further improve my product before releasing?
- Do I need to motivate them with special discounts, or is it just intrinsic motivation by telling them that they are the chosen ones to test this product?
- How do I measure qualitative customer feedback systematically, eg with feedback forms on every website?
- How can I further use pilot customers as ambassadors for my product?
- How do I deal with big expectations if I recognize that my prototype fails and I have to pivot or close the project?
If this is up your alley & you'd like to talk shop with Jost, hit him up on Linkedin.
The privilege of risk
“the biggest risk is not taking a risk”, “those who will not risk, will not win”
Apparently, entrepreneurs don’t have a propensity for risk, they just have wealthy parents backs this up. Sure you can 'fail fast' when you have a safety net.
Startup Accelerators Have Become More Popular in Emerging Markets — and They’re Working
But combatting investor bias is still a challenge.
Sales
Is your sales problem really a product problem? /
Not suprisingly when companies are having issues in sales they look to their sales or and sales leadership for the source of the problem. In the cliche example (but one which happens all the time) sales will loop in marketing (“we’re not getting enough leads”, “the leads aren’t high quality enough”).
Why Unscalable Marketing Activities are Best for B2B
Bonus for the Calendly shoutout! ; )
The Best Way to Send Fewer Outbound Sales Emails and Get Better Results
Use conversation-driven sales to send fewer emails and get better results. You can reinvent your outbound prospecting to let your customers buy on their terms.
We've teamed up with Predictable University 🎓
We're helping get the word out about this four-week long course. Expect to spend 30-45 minutes every day & tune into a 45min minute live video class Mon/Wed/Fri at 9am PST. Enter SALESHACKERAMS for 20% off!
The next Sales Hacker Amsterdam is next week @ WeWork | Oct 17
• 19.00-19.30 – Arrive at The Scale Up Group @ WeWork Metropool (Weesperstraat 61).
• 19.30-19.45 – Intros by your truly & Tobias of TRVL
• 19.45-20.15 - Rick Frenken of iZettle.
• 20.15-20.45 - Jeremy Akers of Instituut Core
• 20.50-21.30 Drinks & snacks are sponsored!
RSVP: meetup.com/Saleshackerams/events/244074912/
Radness
Chocolate Spokes, A film by Brendan Leonard
I love this short film about Gregory Crichlow, who left his architecture job in 2011 to start a bicycle shop in Five Points, Denver. In this traditionally African-American and Latino neighborhood, Gregory services residents’ bikes to keep the doors open but hand-building steel frames is what inspires him. Find him at chocolatespokes.com.
Another Thing 💥 The Fallen Bird
WARNING: If you suffer Aviophobia you should just skip this one ; )
As mentioned in the p.s. above: in Amsterdam this Friday? (the 13th!) Check out Fallen Bird — Another & Lennard Kok.
It is a celebration of their journey translating paper and graphite into black porcelain.
For the first time ever, Lennard Kok joined forces with Another Something [in a close collaboration with Michiel Verweij en Suzan Becking] transforming one of his iconic illustrations into a sculpture made out of porcelain, which was given the name: the Fallen Bird.
