After a talk I gave at NewTech NorthWest, someone asked: “Why interview prep? Why this problem?” Fair question. There are a lot of problems to solve. I had 5-6 different ideas that were energizing to solve. So I pulled up Maslow’s hierarchy and started mapping where each would sit. Most products optimize for one or two levels. Fitness apps touch physiological needs and esteem. Social apps hit belonging. Then I looked at jobs and careers. ...
I picked up work on Revarta’s organic traffic strategy in the last few days and got a solid reminder and learning on early product development. Here’s what I discovered while implementing a sustainable, cost-effective approach to content generation and keyword research. Effective SEO doesn’t require expensive tools or complex workflows — especially in the early stages. The Sophistication Trap I started by looking at the “standard” SEO toolkit. The reality hit quickly: quality SEO tools easily run $250+ per month just for data and insights, before you even think about content generation. For an early-stage product like Revarta, that’s a significant investment with uncertain returns. They also didn’t seem to get me all the way there and left the execution bits out. ...
It’s January. Everyone’s thinking about the “1% better every day = 37x improvement in a year” math. It’s inspiring. It’s also not how improvement actually works. The math assumes every gain stacks on the previous one. But most improvements don’t compound. They reset. You get better, then you lose the thread. You make progress, then you can’t tell what’s working. You ship something, learn nothing, and start over. James Clear said it well this week: “New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do.” ...