Andrew Ettinger 🇺🇸

Wordsss turns two today. We refreshed our website with case studies and new branding. Some thoughtsss: It's never been more true that the best story wins. A small team with the right tools can now build a meaningful technology company, with all the bells and whistles: good enough, generic writing, functional design, and a passable brand. "Pretty good" became the default. To stand out, great companies have become more determined to establish a differentiated point of view with distinctive writing and memorable design. Many of the supposed truths I believed about this business were just stories that I made up. The world is fake and made-up — and (almost?) everyone is winging it. Learning that is terrifying, but liberating. "You can just do things" is only part of the story. The other part: very few people do. "The reward for good work is more work." —@kevin2kelly. No coffee meeting, outbound email, or networking event proved more fruitful for business growth than simply sharing our work. I've worked with dozens of founders and the variance in archetypes is seemingly infinite. There is an infectious magnetism (aura?) some have that is hard to articulate, impossible to replicate, and incredibly energizing. Find people that energize you and spend more time with them. I recognize that the goalposts have shifted, and I'm reminding myself to stop and appreciate how far we've come, while respecting that the floor and ceiling are both objectively higher. It is our moral obligation to be optimistic. And it is a very wise business decision. The world is going to change a lot — faster and more dramatically than ever before. It's going to be weird, but I believe it's going to be wonderful. Buckle up! I keep coming back to one @tyleralterman thought that perfectly encapsulates the greatest lesson of the @wordsssdotcom experiment: "Anyone who's become radically more capable of creating what they want to see in the world passionately launched into an ambitious public-facing project." This has been the most exciting and rewarding chapter of my career so far. I feel lucky and grateful to have made this well-timed bet. Your turn.

Wordsss turns two today. We refreshed our website with case studies and new branding. Some thoughtsss: It's never been more true that the best story wins. A small team with the right tools can now build a meaningful technology company, with all the bells and whistles: good enough, generic writing, functional design, and a passable brand. "Pretty good" became the default. To stand out, great companies have become more determined to establish a differentiated point of view with distinctive writing and memorable design. Many of the supposed truths I believed about this business were just stories that I made up. The world is fake and made-up — and (almost?) everyone is winging it. Learning that is terrifying, but liberating. "You can just do things" is only part of the story. The other part: very few people do. "The reward for good work is more work." —@kevin2kelly. No coffee meeting, outbound email, or networking event proved more fruitful for business growth than simply sharing our work. I've worked with dozens of founders and the variance in archetypes is seemingly infinite. There is an infectious magnetism (aura?) some have that is hard to articulate, impossible to replicate, and incredibly energizing. Find people that energize you and spend more time with them. I recognize that the goalposts have shifted, and I'm reminding myself to stop and appreciate how far we've come, while respecting that the floor and ceiling are both objectively higher. It is our moral obligation to be optimistic. And it is a very wise business decision. The world is going to change a lot — faster and more dramatically than ever before. It's going to be weird, but I believe it's going to be wonderful. Buckle up! I keep coming back to one @tyleralterman thought that perfectly encapsulates the greatest lesson of the @wordsssdotcom experiment: "Anyone who's become radically more capable of creating what they want to see in the world passionately launched into an ambitious public-facing project." This has been the most exciting and rewarding chapter of my career so far. I feel lucky and grateful to have made this well-timed bet. Your turn.