Many founders think of themselves as accelerating their customers: making a tool or toolkit with which customers can get something made or done more quickly, to get on to their next thing.

The hope is you'll accellerate them along their workday, so they can get to the end and spend more time doing what they really want to do in life.

But the reality is different:

Many entrepreneurs think of themselves as making a tool or toolkit. They want to make it easy for customers to get something done or made quickly, and get back to the important things.

It's a tempting idea: if you can just make them an expedient tool, will your customers spend more time doing what they really want to do in life?

I think not.

Most people's lives are an endless checklist. Trying to get a million things done. Completing one checkbox just gets them to the next checkbox, not to what they really want to do! And this is the ecosystem-level result of the proliferation of tools and toolkits, rather than playgrounds.

To get out of this matrix, we can shift our focus, and help customers live well today—without going on to the next item!

This is a shift from empowering people to making space for them. You'll be making an environment, not a tool. A playground, not a funnel. An exploration, not a transaction.

A tool or toolkit lets the user get whatever they want done, quickly and efficently. It gets out of the way and provides parts for assembly.

But creative people prefer to work with materials which provide grain, friction, or challenge. They prefer to work in environments. They consider creation not just as a way to get to an end goal, but as a process of discovery. Creative environments have the right sort of friction, that leads to discoveries while working, rather than just to finishing the job quickly.

Empowering People vs Making Space for Them

Many entrepreneurs think of themselves as making a tool or toolkit. They want to make it easy for customers to get something done or made quickly and get back to the important things.

It's a tempting idea: if you can just make them an expedient tool, will your customers spend more time doing what they really want to do in life?

I think not. Most people's lives are an endless checklist. Trying to get a million things done. Completing one checkbox just gets them to the next checkbox, not to what they really want to do! And this is the ecosystem-level result of the proliferation of tools and toolkits, rather than playgrounds.

To get out of this matrix, we can shift our focus, and help customers live well today—without going on to the next item!

This is a shift from empowering people to making space for them. You'll be making an environment, not a tool. A playground, not a funnel. An exploration, not a transaction.

A tool or toolkit lets the user get whatever they want done, quickly and efficently. It gets out of the way and provides parts for assembly.

But creative people prefer to work with materials which provide grain, friction, or challenge. They prefer to work in environments. They consider creation not just as a way to get to an end goal, but as a process of discovery. Creative environments have the right sort of friction, that leads to discoveries while working, rather than just to finishing the job quickly.