Welcome to Digital Native!
I’m Rex. By day, I’m building Daybreak and working with Pre-Seed and Seed-stage companies; by night, I write Digital Native about tech and startups.
Every Wednesday morning, you’ll get a piece straight to your inbox.
What to Expect:
At its heart, Digital Native is about how people and technology intersect; the things that interest me are the ways that humans use technology to communicate, to collaborate, to create. We’re fortunate to be living in a time of rapid innovation, and it feels like the pace of change is only accelerating.
The 10 Most-Read Digital Native Pieces of 2023:
To give you a taste of what to expect, below are the 10 most-read pieces from the past year:
1) 10 Charts That Capture How the World Is Changing
These 10 charts embody some of the most interesting and important shifts of our time, from loneliness to ChatGPT, tech valuations to office occupancy. Each chart is accompanied by a brief explanation.
2) The Resale Revolution
Resale is growing 11x faster than broader retail, powered by Gen Z shopping habits and sustainability moving into commerce. Yet resale has hardly been touched by technology. Why is that, and why is it poised to change?
3) The Mobile Revolution vs. The AI Revolution
When we look back at past eras of technology, ranging from the steam engine to the internet, we observe patterns of boom-bust cycles. Applying these learnings to today’s AI revolution reveals what we can expect in the coming years.
4) LLMs for Dummies
Large language models have taken the world by storm in 2023, but how do they actually work? This piece digs into their mechanics, then explores what applications of LLMs will start popping up.
5) The Five Pillars of Startup Impact
America is dealing with a series of crises: a mental health crisis, a climate crisis, an obesity epidemic, economic inequality. Thankfully, startups are tackling America’s crises in clever ways.
6) 24 Predictions for 2024
I make predictions for what’s to come in the New Year, ranging from a breakout AI dating app, to a challenge venture funding environment, to Temu and TikTok Shop dominance.
7) How Duolingo Grew Its TikTok to 6.6M Followers
If I had to crown one company the king of TikTok, I’d go with Duolingo. Duolingo is a master of virality. I sat down with Zaria Parvez, the 24-year-old mastermind of Duolingo’s TikTok, to learn how companies should leverage TikTok and drive viral moments.
8) AI in 2023: The Application Layer Has Arrived
AI’s application layer is only starting to emerge, with language models and image models unlocking creativity and knowledge. This piece digs into what’s happening and what might happen next.
9) What Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Business
2023 was the year of Taylor Swift. This piece unpacks what startups can learn from her, from tapping your community to ignoring market size analyses.
10) The Hyper-Personalization of Everything
What the Industrial Revolution was to physical production, the AI Revolution is to digital production. Opening the floodgates of production means more personalization—on everything ranging from education to advertising.
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