Pragmatic: Lessons from building (and winding down) an AI startup
Reflections on building Jamie, an AI assistant for email, and the decision to wind down Pragmatic after not finding product-market fit.
Business
Startups, finance, business and strategy.
11 articles
Escaping the AI cost trap
AI feels cheap today because VCs are footing the bill. But that trickle-down model is broken — and the way forward is open source, smarter infra and owning your baseline compute.
Berlin Airport reflections: on polymaths, ownership and execution
Reflections on meeting a team of scrappy, multi-faceted engineers and what makes the best startups work
Stop reinventing the wheel
How switching from a broken WordPress site to Luma transformed It's Culture Innit's event management, proving that buying beats building when software isn't your core value.
Don't take the cloud call - focus on your startup
A founder's warning about why early-stage startups should ignore cloud vendor sales calls and keep infrastructure simple to preserve runway and focus on shipping product.
Your website is pissing people off
How unnecessary CAPTCHAs, cookie prompts, and popup modals are driving customers away from websites, with practical advice on reducing friction.
Invest in integrations, not the platforms
Why VCs should back focused tools that integrate well with existing platforms instead of chasing the next monolithic unicorn that tries to do everything.
How to actually get things built
Why product teams need to embrace simplicity over complexity, focusing on clear blueprints and agility rather than endless documentation and rigid processes.
The cultural cost of a bad hire
How a single bad hire can become cultural rot, fracturing teams, slowing delivery, and driving away top talent through bureaucratic chaos and toxic behavior.
I think B2C is the best way to a successful B2B product
Why the most successful B2B SaaS products like Canva, Shopify, and Notion started as beloved consumer tools before conquering enterprise markets.
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