Weekly Wisdom #317 - My favorite recent product launch

Slate Auto, Thinking in Bets, Light Phone & Staying in the Game

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Happy Monday!

​Slate was the big news in the tech/auto world this week, and for good reason, as they debuted this:

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It may not look like much, but it's a radical shift compared to what's in the market today.

It's highly modular, and you can configure it to look like this:

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...or this:

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It's also extremely simple, with a targeted starting price of under $20K USD with the current incentives.

The name "Slate" comes from "a blank slate," and in their own words, "Every detail is design to make it less cluttered and more usable."

That means that the interior looks like this, with no big screens, or even speakers:

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Instead, you bring your phone or tablet, and a portable speaker.

It's electric, but the range is relatively modest to keep the cost down.

It embodies many of the things I love about great, simple product design, which isn't easy.

​This mini-essay summed it up well: "underdoing" the competition.

Shaan Puri-->

@ShaanVP

new one minute blog: underdo the competition

2:53 PM • Apr 25, 2025

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There are many products out there that remind me of this kind of design: Fellow coffee products, Peak Design camera accessories, and of course, Apple (and the Light Phone below).

Simple is not easy, but these are the kinds of products that get me excited, and the kinds of products I want to build.

Have a great week!

Graham

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Links

📚 Book Notes: Thinking in Bets - Annie Duke - After reading her most recent book, I went back to these notes to brush up on how to be better at thinking in probabilities and outcomes.

It's a staple attribute in the book about Sam Bankman-Fried (Going Infinite) as well, which is a cautionary tale, but gives insight into how this thinking can be beneficial in everyday life, not just trading.

📱 Light Phone III - On the topic of simplicity, and products that are designed in a thoughtful, minimal way, Light released their newest phone, a phone designed to fulfill the convenient things we need phones for, without all the time-sucking distractions.

Their latest phone adds a camera, which is nice. I can see myself trying one of these in the future.

Tweet of the Week

​This is the Tweet I was thinking about most this week, and it reminds me of some of the principles I learned from Nassim Taleb's books.

In a world with asymmetric outcomes, your aim is to maximize your exposure to positive extreme outcomes, and minimize your risk towards catastrophic downside.

The best way to do that? Stay in the game you're playing for a long time.

Charles Miller-->

@charlesmiller_7

Just stay in the game

11:49 AM • Apr 26, 2025

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