Given the low switching costs and product developed enhanced by AI, I believe the following business model may do well, which I believe to be in the interests of all individuals as the cost of goods goes close to zero:
- High product quality
- Low cost/one time purchase
Think about how open source developers work tirelessly to unemploy people.
However, this may be stymied by the following:
- AI providers hoard their highest quality models for personal development
- Digital “walls” and cabals form: it is certain that Hacker News and ProductHunt are the media mouthpieces of established organizations, not a neutral forum. (this is a natural fact of life for many to create cabals as opposed to institutions, but it limits their broad appeal should people think they are unjust)
- Publishing is a cabal. Your top private schools are a cabal. Cabals are natural. Find one that you get along with. Even Lobste.rs is a social cabal, just that it might think itself to less prone to hyperbole and exaggeration and hence more neutral, but it is still its own world. Everything is a social cabal.
- Independent media existing on Substack is a misnomer. You live in the world of Substack—though they may be more neutral than previous organizations, this is not guaranteed.
- What is netural? Google ads, Instagram, X.com (not really, it’s a cabal for Elon Musk himself), Apple App Store ads. Domain registrars. Problem here is that you can get one hit post, and then you might not get anything again for a while. So cabalism and supporting your friends is a natural endeavor.
- Demand is induced. When you go to the grocery store and hear a new song, people in control of the distribution already chose those songs and induced catchiness for you. Americans didn’t spontaneously move to the suburbs by their own will: larger social trends and organization moved people that direction. Structural motives that constrain the choices of the individual yet giving them the appearance of their own choices.
- Even if one product was extremely high quality, people may not hear about it due to these digital walls
- Types of walls: platform & language
- Publishing is a cabal. Your top private schools are a cabal. Cabals are natural. Find one that you get along with. Even Lobste.rs is a social cabal, just that it might think itself to less prone to hyperbole and exaggeration and hence more neutral, but it is still its own world. Everything is a social cabal.
- Those who want to extract rents from people and software in perpetuity because their own positions depends upon it are able to hire the best talent and cabal-distribution gives them wide outreach, giving them a consnistent product advantage over one-time purchase developers
- There may not be that many people who are technically skilled and of this mindset and able to form together as a cohesive bloc to work to do this
- There are some doing this: https://once.com/ or https://payonceapps.com/ or https://buyoncesoftware.com/, but they seem to not be growing so much. Of good product-led companies I can think of Posthog and Supabase.
- Hype-apps like The Browser Company which feed off investor money but then rapidly shut down or pivot harms their customers. I value quality over vibes.
- There may simply not be a customer demand for high quality software and apps. It’ll be too complex for them to use. How many people use Zotero versus Notion?
- Greater seed oil and environmental pollution in the United States makes people less capable of abstract reasoning, they may simply prioritize emotions and consumption. Financial system doesn’t concentrate money in the hands of people who uphold quality or detail.