Taeho Kim
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The State of Startup Media: The Birth of a New Republic of Letters preview image

Evolution

  • 2013: TechCrunch + HackerNews = enough to stay informed
  • 2011: "Software is eating the world" made tech mainstream
  • 2013-2018: Snowden, Cambridge Analytica eroded trust in tech
  • Builders started writing their own narratives: blogs, then newsletters, podcasts

The New Republic of Letters

  • Like the 17th-18th century Republic of Letters: cross-border knowledge exchange
  • Today's tools: blogs, podcasts, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok
  • "Insight matters more than credentials"
  • Dwarkesh Patel: 24, no credentials, now interviews CEOs of Stripe, Anthropic, Microsoft

Key Concepts

  • Hyperlegibility: Make yourself readable so the right people find you
  • Creation changes the creator: The real flywheel is your own growth
  • Consistency wins: MrBeast posted every 11 days for 10 years

"Knowledge has always been about connecting people, not collecting information."

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