{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Justin's brain","title":"Rethinking \"calm company\"","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/d5cdbcbd\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":605,"description":"Years ago, I wrote an essay called The Calm Company. It came out of watching startups burn people out with 80-hour weeks while quietly running out of money. That essay ended up shaping a lot of how we built Transistor.\nTransistor has given me a foundation for calm. We don’t track hours, we pay well, and if your kid’s home sick, you go take care of them. But getting Transistor off the ground was incredibly hard, and staying competitive is still hard. \nSo lately, I’ve been wondering if the essay needs a revision.\nI reached out to my friend Jesse Hanley (Bento, PostShiba) and he sent back a voice memo that reframed the whole thing for me:\n\n\"A calm company isn’t a destination. It’s a side effect of running a company whose revenue isn’t under threat.\"\n\nIn this episode I play Jesse’s memo, then think out loud about competition, the pace of work in the AI era, and why I still feel grateful to work in software.\nThis is also the first video I’m publishing to Spotify using Transistor’s new video publishing feature, so you should be able to leave a comment right there on Spotify. I’d love to hear what you think.\nTimestamps\n00:00 Why I’m revisiting The Calm Company\n00:50 Calm vs. working on the hardest thing\n01:10 What I asked Jesse Hanley\n02:15 Transistor is still hard to compete with\n02:55 Jesse’s take: calm is a side effect, not a destination\n03:45 When your market gets squeezed (Bento + launching PostShiba)\n05:00 Calm as a “passive buff”\n05:50 Don’t forget, you’re running a business\n06:30 Some perspective: plumbing, retail, and digging ditches\n07:40 Rereading the original Calm Company essay\n08:45 The pace of work in the AI era\n09:35 First video published to Spotify with Transistor\n\nLinks\nThe Calm Company essay\nJesse Hanley on X\nBento\nPostShiba\nTransistor video podcasting\n\nLeave a comment on:\n📺 YouTube\n🟢 Spotify","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/UqqDv1UJafgztUHPZUZVwjORISRwWDKEaL8iomaxkdA/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82ZDk1/NzE2MWZlMTEyZjdi/MWI5MjFiYmU3ZjA0/MTMwOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}