Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

Dru Riley, Trends.vc // Meta-Trends, Paid Newsletters + Crypto

Mar 18, 2021

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Dru Riley

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

What's the Difference Between Indie Hackers and Startups?

03:29 • 2min

Are You a Software Engineer?

05:29 • 2min

I Love the Book, but I Can't Get Past the Intro

07:38 • 2min

How Do You See Jiu Jitsu Teaching You Anything?

09:35 • 3min

Was It Traction or Traction?

12:42 • 2min

Is It Worth More Than That?

14:43 • 2min

Making $1 on Internet Can Change Your Life

17:00 • 3min

The Game Story Matters a Lot

19:44 • 2min

Bringing on Investment or Decision Dilution?

21:21 • 3min

I've Learned to Love Conflict

24:20 • 3min

Report Reviews - What Are Some Common Signs That You're Looking Out For?

27:26 • 3min

On Trend - Data Integration and Signal

30:06 • 3min

Do You See Democracization as a Meta Trend?

32:38 • 3min

Is There a Barrier to Entry?

35:59 • 3min

Do You Think We Need More Coders?

38:55 • 3min

Are We Moving to a World of More Decentralization?

41:31 • 2min

Decentralization Matters

43:50 • 2min

Investing in Alternative Assets Is a Great Idea

45:36 • 3min

I'll Just Tell You Where Is Your Opinion on This Whole NFT Space

48:09 • 3min

NFTs in the Workplace - Part 2

51:28 • 2min

Report Reviews - I'm Just Trying to Sort Out What's Next Up

53:15 • 2min

Podcasts Aren't High Signal

55:09 • 2min

Podcasts - The Ultimate Form of Respect

57:27 • 2min

Dopamine on a Podcast

59:28 • 2min

How Many and How Much Does This Affect Them?

01:01:37 • 3min

Email Reactions - Um Constraints

01:04:25 • 2min

How Do You Develop That in Audio Format?

01:06:43 • 3min

The Growth Curve

01:09:14 • 2min

The Hundred Rules to Live By

01:10:51 • 2min

How Important Is That to You?

01:12:33 • 2min

The Importance of Being Concise in Storytelling

01:14:49 • 3min

You're Rightly Don't Ignore It Signals Matter

01:17:33 • 3min

Is It All About the Bag or in the Supermarket?

01:20:48 • 2min

The Last Couple Here Um Memento Mori Your Time Is Limited Live With Urgency

01:22:58 • 2min

Man Isn't Baseball and Courage

01:24:54 • 3min

Dru Riley is the founder of Trends.vc, a community + newsletter that helps 35,000 entrepreneurs discover new markets + ideas.

Trends makes tens of thousands of dollars/month in subscription revenue + was ranked "Product of The Month" on Product Hunt.

In this conversation you'll learn about:

– the meta-trends behind what Dru writes about, the things that don't change, after studying the things that do change

– democratization, positive-sum networks + fractional ownership

– trends he's excited about including: DeFi (decentralized finance) + DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and NFTs (non-fungible tokens)

– the 80/20 of his research + editing process, including how he processed 172 podcasts for 1 recent report

– we go behind the mind & discuss some of his rules for life, we touch on incentives, stories + courage

Let us know what you think on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bzaidi https://twitter.com/DruRly

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q5rdqLzy-Gw

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Preview
0:02:46 - Intro To Dru + Trends
0:04:57 - Scale of Trends
0:05:39 - Software Engineering Background + Knowing When To Leave
0:08:14 - Starting Books In The Middle
0:11:46 - Making First $15 after saving up $250k
0:21:00 - Rejecting An Offer Of Investment
0:22:22 - Decision Dilution + Stakeholder Types
0:25:14 - Content vs Trust Treadmill
0:26:01 - Refining Like A Standup Comedian
0:28:34 - Signals To Look For In Feedback
0:31:37 - Meta-trends
0:33:45 - Democratization
0:36:18 - Ability To Build Smaller
0:38:06 - Coders vs Builders - “Code Is Being Commoditized”
0:40:57 - Decentralization
0:43:06 - Positive Sum Networks
0:45:26 - What are DAOs (decentralized autonomous orgs)
0:46:53 - Fractional Ownership
0:48:45 - NFTs
0:51:41 - Direct To Consumer
0:52:44 - Research + Writing Process
0:54:57 - Processing 172 Podcasts
0:59:10 - Podcast Speed + Dopamine Hits
1:02:15 - Edit - “How Many, How Much”
1:03:52 - Filtering Feedback
1:05:49 - Constraints
1:08:34 - Starting From Scratch Today
1:11:37 - Behind The Mind - 100 Rules To Live By
1:12:15 - Hard choices easy life. Easy choices hard life.
1:13:05 - Think Grey, Not Black + White - Annie Duke
1:14:09 - Stories vs Insight
1:16:59 - Incentives
1:17:56 - “Life Is Short, Not Fair”
1:19:27 - Don’t Try To Change Someone’s Worldview
1:21:20 - “It’s Not About The Bag”
1:23:24 - Memento Mori
1:24:29 - Life Is Not Baseball - Play Asymmetric Games
1:25:23 - Courage

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