A “small giant” is a company that chooses to optimize for mojo instead of growth. Mark and Adam describe how Muse was inspired to follow this path, designing the business model, team makeup, and funding source accordingly. Plus: a digression into tender offers and the fine points of US tax law. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Partnership, freedom, and responsibility Adam Wulf Small Giants S&P 500 Clif Bar, Whole Foods, Union Square Cafe Startup = Growth existence proof Signal, Panic, Vanguard index funds and ETFs Chef’s Table meme stocks Delaware C-corp Harrison Metal career capital revenue-based financing maker vs manager VC Math tender offer stock buyback dividends TrustCommerce growth stocks vs income stocks foundations: Mozilla, Apache, Processing, Wikimedia

Tools for collaboration are changing team culture. Nikolas Klein has been a part of this shift in his academic work and on the product design team at Figma. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss creative collaboration including how guardrails can increase comfort with working collaboratively; changing mindset from “my ideas” to “our ideas”; and screensharing as an intimate act. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Nikolas Klein @nikolasklein time logistics for teams spanning US and Europe Sketch Runner Artifacts Schwäbisch Gmünd / Hochschule für Gestaltung CLUI Shopify design system / Polaris Telescope Figma hypergrowth user redesign of Figma comments sea shanty TikTok remix culture bisociation / Arthur Koestler hammock-driven development Sketching User Experiences OBS Studio ring light Zoom Studio Figma cursor Halloween costumes Designer News reaction to Figma launch people who understand the capabilities of software The Dream Machine

Brand is not just a name or a logo—it’s the character of a company and its products. Adam and Mark discuss the memetic and emotive elements of branding; brand as tribal identity; and Muse brand values like thoughtfulness and curiosity. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Brand New history of the Heinz brand logomark Richard Branson / Virgin Pixar Nike / the Swoosh / Just Do It 37signals Tarsnap Sabaki the Muse newsletter The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding FedEx business biography memetic Notion illustrations by Roman Muradov Cragistlist and brutalist web design proof of work typography of Apple, Inc. packaging design on 99designs Harley-Davidson consumerization of IT and Bring Your Own Device BlackBerry, corporate VPNs administrative legibility

How to prototype advanced gestures; how to organize your Muse boards; and how to spot good ideas. Plus, a peek at the long-term Muse roadmap. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Ferrite listener questions thread Balsamiq, Framer, Origami Studio Make it real infinite canvas memo reductionism spatial reasoning Growing ideas with Andy Matuschak retrospective Paul Buchheit Slow Software self-hosting End-user programming Minecraft redstone MySpace customization Figma plugins

Maps can visualize space, time, biological processes, social graphs, and much more. Anne-Laure of Ness Labs talks with Mark and Adam about the multi-thousand-year history of map-based thinking, and how we can use maps in our own creative work today. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Anne-Laure Le Cunff @anthilemoon winter solstice Algerian food Ness Labs @ness_labs mindful productivity the Dunning-Kruger effect How to Be Idle Thinking in maps Cassiodorus Babylonian map of the world the map is not the territory The Invention of Nature Alexander von Humboldt’s Chimborazo map Disney business process map (1957) Krebs cycle floppy disc save icon D3.js Parametric Press Connected Papers digital object identifier (DOI) babies using touch gestures on magazines heads-up display (HUD) Scapple by Literature and Latte focused mode and diffuse mode / Barbara Oakley affinity maps

Jason Crawford writes about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about technologies like messenger RNA vaccines, nanotech, and supersonic jets. Plus society-level questions like whether we are in a period of stagnation, how we fund maverick ideas, and why we need hubris. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Jason Crawford / The Roots of Progress / @jasoncrawford Fieldbook A Small Matter of Programming We Need a New Science of Progress The Torch of Progress — Ep. 13 with Adam Wiggins The Great Stagnation Bessemer steel process germ theory We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters The Rise and Fall of American Growth and Jason’s summary Where Is My Flying Cars? and Jason’s summary Luddites Victorian-era concept of Progress A Culture of Growth Francis Bacon growth mindset The March of Progress World’s Fair posters phase 3 clinical trials Hardcore History techno-optimism 1927 Charles Lindbergh ticker-tape parade Why haven’t we celebrated any major achievements lately? Academy of Thought and Industry Boom 747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet Concorde

Thinking and creativity require privacy. In this data-intensive age, what does “privacy” mean for a tool for thought? Mark and Adam discuss product decisions in the context of digital privacy for the tech industry and society overall. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes US Supreme Court oral arguments live The Right to Privacy (1890) LiveJournal GDPR Brave, Duck Duck Go, ProtonMail, Fathom Signal, Telegram TLS Clipper Chip Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine Local-first software Open Whisper Systems web of trust Signal contact verification Zoom end-to-end encryption whitepaper PGP telemetry PII cookie warnings browser fingerprinting Tor TikTok iOS 14 clipboard notifications Designing for Pragmatists and Fundamentalists Edward Snowden, Citizenfour Tails The Stasi The Lives of Others

Jason Yuan believes that we all should feel empowered to think about ways to improve our computer's operating system. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about stage design, dreaming big versus delivering practical products, and why software should be fun. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Jason Yuan / @jasonyuandesign Mercury OS MakeSpace Screenotate Omar Rizwan Tyler Angert Repl.it Weiwei Hsu Desktop Neo Artifacts iOS 14 widgets Sketch Orgami Quartz Composer Android launchers Gall’s law the iPod click wheel virtual workspaces Dynamicland Bret Victor spring damping David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet Xanadu philosopher’s stone The Mother of All Demos

Andy.Works believes in design-forward products, as seen in his work on Paper for iPad to a handmade analog clock for his young kids. Mark, Adam, and Andy discuss products as vector for culture; maverick game designers; innovation budgets; and pushing back against the idea of scale in software. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Andy of Andy.Works Andy’s clock project Microsoft Courier Surface Duo FiftyThree Paper Paste No More Boring Apps KPI John Baldessari Muse podcast with Josh Miller user-centered design Frank Lloyd Wright The Guggenheim local maxima Making Movies Playdead / Limbo, Inside Oskar Stålberg / Townscraper Jonathan Blow / Braid Notch / Minecraft Jordan Mechner / Prince of Persia not the user’s fault Choose Boring Technology

Discussing creative professionals choosing where to live, the magic of Silicon Valley, Stripe and Zapier relocation incentives, Amazon HQ2, Apple's tax case, and strategies for making big life decisions