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Hey STIMYers,
Happy Friday!
Two main news that peaked global interest this week:
The Clubhouse craze has plunged.
Just look at the download rates:
Putting stickiness aside, Clubhouse's competition is getting stiffer than your sambal-slathered ikan bilis (anchovies). Spotify, Slack, Twitter Spaces, Reddit, Discord, LinkedIn, and even Facebook are all hopping onto the social audio game...
Although Clubhouse still managed to close its Series C round at a $4 billion valuation, triple what it was in January! Looks like A16Z is really doubling down on their Clubhouse bet. 😮
Apple Podcasts Subscriptions
Next big news is in the podcasting space with the release of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. In gist, podcasts used to be synonymous with Apple and even a decade ago, Apple was clear in wanting to see how the space could be monetised. That day has finally come.
With this option, podcasters can now:
Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to jump on this bandwagon at this point in time for several reasons.
Everyone's got an opinion on the above, including Zach Mack (Senior Producer, Vox Media) & Peter Kafka (Senior Editor, Recode) on the Recode Media podcast, which you can listen to here.
Aye/nay to paying for access to podcasts?
Now onto this week's episode!
Pui Wan (otherwise known by her moniker, "Picoworm"), was just 14 when her older sister bought her a book on miniature art and from that moment, she was hooked.
Discovering how expensive it was to purchase miniature art, she began to figure out how she could make her own (this was before YouTube tutorials existed). Buying books, visiting online forums and art exhibitions, she even picked up the Japanese language because most of the master miniature artists were Japanese & did part-time jobs to help fund the materials/equipments she would need! Dedication level x10000.
Knowing full-well that this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, Pui Wan began studying business on the side (while pursuing mechanical engineering at university) so that she would be better prepared for the real world upon graduation.
And has never looked back since.
One of her big highlights happened last year when Ryan Reynolds aka Deadpool, featured her in his limited Snapchat series. Pui Wan taught him how to make a miniature hair dryer! 🤩
Highlights:
You can listen to Pui Wan's episode in full on: STIMY Website, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Listen Notes
Looking for past STIMY guests in the content creation field? Check out:
1. Article: On Active Listening
Why read?
This article is geared towards how sales people can cultive their active listening skills but I think it can easily apply to anyone.
Active listening is something I'm always trying to improve on in my podcast interviews. While 80-90% of the time, I know the story that I want to bring out through my questions, I don't want to miss out on the unexpected gems that might come out if I only I'd delayed an extra second or two before coming up with my next question!
The advice here is pretty standard, but I liked some of the easily actionable items they listed.
How to Improve Active Listening
P/S: The article is clearly trying to sell Avoma - I've not used it before so I don't have an opinion on it, but I liked some of the tips outlined above!
Links: Article
2. Twitter Storm: The Most Undervalued Asset of a CEO...
Twitter is a strange space. And it has some pretty funny things go viral.
One such twitter thread that sparked a storm early this month was initiated by Christine Carrillo, who had this to say:
🤣
Links: Christine's Twitter Thread
3. Article: You Haven't Seen Greatness
I thought this was an interesting article by Joe Kraus (partner at Google Ventures) on Techcrunch about how "if you don't think you need it, you haven't seen greatness".
Brief Summary
When determining whether certain roles are important, consider whether you have seen someone truly great in that role.
Because chances are you might have seen say a lawyer give you advice (that you found useless!) & thus assumed that having an internal legal counsel is an unnecessary cost. Until you encounter one who truly understands your business & brings extraordinary value.
So, if you find yourself saying that you don’t need a {product manager, product marketer, pr person, marketing person, etc}, ask yourself the question first if you’ve ever seen greatness in that position before you really make that decision.
Link: Techcrunch Article
4. Answer Socrates
What is "Answer Socrates"?
A FREE web-based tool that tells you what others are searching for on Google, including Trending Topics.
Who is it for?
Anyone who's curious to know what's trending. But especially for content creators, question enthusiasts, researchers and SEO.
Alternatives
Answer The Public is another site I use a lot for SEO - type in a query and it generates hundreds of variations on the topic. You can also sort by country/language to get a more personalised result.
Link: Answer Socrates
Upcoming STIMY Guests
And that's it for today. As always, all thoughts are welcome; just hit the REPLY button below.
See you all next week! 😊
Ling Yah
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So This Is My Why | Issue 33 Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Hey STIMYers, First off, it's been over a year since I last issued a STIMY newsletter. Whoops. ICYMI, lots of things have changed, e.g.: I left law; Incorporated STIMY as a company, which helps C-suite executives, founders and VCs build their personal brands on LinkedIn; Started interviewing STIMY guests in person; Just returned from an epic 1.5 week trip in Singapore (which included hosting the 5th STIMY Hangout!);...
So This Is My Why | Issue 32 Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Hey STIMYers, It's been a hot minute. While I don't tend to go political here, it'd be remiss of me to not touch on an earth-shattering event in Malaysia: What happened? Malaysia's former Prime Minister, Najib Razak, was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment & a fine of RM 210 million (USD 47 million). According to the Chief Justice: Putting aside the personality of the appellant, this is a simple and straightforward...
So This Is My Why | Issue 31 Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Hey STIMYers, Hope you're all having a great summer & hello from London! First off, STIMY recently had one of its biggest guests: a Facebook executive who used to work at Nike, Airbnb & Snapchat). Secondly, STIMY is off to the Late Late Show!! ICYMI: Last summer, STIMY featured Nick Bernstein: Senior VP of Late Night Programming & executive in charge of the Late Late Show with James Corden, aka the Big Boss (see...