Wisereads Vol. 34 — Rob Walling's SaaS Playbook, Eva Parish's editing advice, and more
Last week, we shared Herman Melville's Moby Dick, one of the great American novels. This week, we're sharing a chapter of The SaaS Playbook, a founder's guide by Rob Walling.
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Most highlighted Articles of the week
Anatomy of a credit card rewards program
Stripe advisor Patrick McKenzie aka patio11 breaks down how credit card companies profit even after doling out rewards. "People love Amazon and Apple and they love free Amazon and free Apple even more. This is true even among a portion of very sophisticated, wealthy, numerate [Chase Sapphire Reserve] users, who love this idea so much they click a button designed for suckers."
Advice to Young People, The Lies I Tell Myself
In his debut article, Machine Learning engineer Jason Liu offers young professionals advice on getting a job, learning skills, and making tough choices. "Choosing can be terrifying because it means we are accountable for our decisions, and there are infinite options before us… it is the death of optionality. But I believe that choosing is the only way to live authentically."
What I think about when I edit
Eva Parish, technical writer turned software engineer at Squarespace, reveals her rules for clear and concise writing. "People also often use adverbs as a hedge: 'Basically, it's this.' 'Essentially, this is what I’m saying.' Is it, or isn’t it? Remove the adverb and commit to saying whatever you’re saying."
Most highlighted YouTube Video of the week
This Invention Made Disney MILLIONS, but Then They LOST It!
The Corridor Crew VFX artists revisit a technology that could have transformed image layering in the film industry: sodium vapor. "Is sodium vapor better than the green screen? The science, the physics, they all tell me it is. But because the prisms have been lost to time, I'm never going to get to realize my dream of a clown getting married on Mars."
Most highlighted Twitter Thread of the week
18 of my favorite frameworks
David Perell, "The Writing Guy," gives a list of his favorite frameworks, including the Eisenhower Matrix for prioritization and the 5-second moment for storytelling: "Every story revolves around a single, transformative moment… The clearer and more dramatic the flip or realization, the better the story."
Most highlighted PDF of the week
Technology Radar: An opinionated guide to today’s technology landscape
Thoughtworks presents recommendations for technical teams in their biannual review of frameworks, platforms, techniques, and tools. "Large language models (LLMs) are the Swiss Army knives of natural language processing (NLP). But they’re also quite expensive and not always the best tool for the job — sometimes it’s more effective to use a proper corkscrew."
Hand-picked book of the week
The SaaS Playbook
In his latest release, The SaaS Playbook, serial entrepreneur Rob Walling shares practical advice for scaling a business without venture capital. Covering everything from building moats to refining pricing and fixing bottlenecks, Rob guides founders on how to grow sustainably while avoiding burnout.
"Successful founders come in all varieties. Some are highly driven and motivated and seem to move at superhuman speeds. Others are more chill and purposeful, showing up day after day to do the work. But they all share a few key traits… When in doubt, they do something. They don’t wait around; they don’t procrastinate. They don’t think of reasons it should take longer—they start shipping."
Rob is generously sharing the final chapter, Mindset, with Readwise users. If you find this excerpt insightful, we invite you to support his work by purchasing the full copy here. 🙏
Handpicked RSS feed of the week
Rob Walling
Alongside his books and podcast, Startups for the Rest of Us, Rob offers insights through thoughtful essays. From Roadblocks vs. Speed bumps: "As a founder you can choose to look at an obstacle as something that keeps you from moving forward (a roadblock), or as something that slows you down for a minute as you continue along your path (a speed bump)."