"The integrations you’ve built, the agencies that implement your product and the affiliates who already have your buyer’s attention all make your product harder to replace. A competitor can copy a feature. Copying years of relationships is a lot harder."

PartnerStack · AI Builds It, Partners Sell It: 4 Takeaways from Thrive 2026

I'm bullish on partner ecosystems being *the* distribution play that wins the next frontier of software. The challenge is in figuring out those partnerships and executing against it.

"Writing. Thinking. Remembering. Creating. Navigating. Making decisions. Having difficult conversations. Working through a problem before immediately asking a machine what we should do. The friction isn’t getting in the way of the skill. The friction is how we keep the skill."

How to Keep Valuable Friction in an AI World

Protect the skills.you value. Do the work.

"AI can help us make things. It can also help us experiment, explore possibilities, and get past the blank page faster. But it’s on us to make sure we actually continue exercising the creative muscles ourselves. If we lose the opportunity or the inclination to play, we risk atrophying some of the very skills that will make us valuable in the future."

What Pokemon Pokopia Taught Me About the Future of Marketing - SparkToro

"Modernity has shifted leisure from activities that require coordination with other people toward activities that can be consumed without the permission or participation of others. Compared to TikTok, a dinner party is a terrible leisure technology."

You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner - Derek Thompson

I don't lament the loss of dinner parties. Hosting a party is hard work, and we have enough work to deal with already. Home is the escape.

"Emily has a very simple framework that she uses for working with AI, which she calls the “Brain Sandwich” [...] The idea is very simple, and can be summarized by: whenever you work on something, you should use: 1. Your brain, and then 2. AI, and then 3. Your brain [...] The rule of thumb is: if you can’t explain what’s changing and why, it’s not ready for someone else to take a look."

The Brain Sandwich – Terrible Software

The more I use AI in my day-to-day work, the more I'm arriving at a similar conclusion. AI helps in the messy middle of exploration and figuring things out. But the results? The something worth sharing? That should come from me.

"Mean people waste energy fighting, struggle to build strong networks, and may be motivated by the wrong things. Kind people, meanwhile, have more opportunities to build relationships and work with others."

Kindness Is a Competitive Advantage

Andrew Yeung has some solid tips here. Being kind can be hard.

"One gathering creates an experience. Repeated experiences give people history together. [...] You start the network by creating the centre. You know it’s working when you’re no longer the centre of everything."

You Are The Media - How To Build A Network That Grows Beyond You

You Are The Media (YATM) wasn't on my radar until recently. This piece on building a network (community!) hit home. It's the same advice I've shared for years: Start small. Bring people together for something. Adjust your direction based on the group's needs. Keep it going.

"For advertisers and brands, the research demonstrates that podcasting isn’t just an effective medium for reach—it’s a medium built around connection. Instead of simply buying ads, what if brands helped fund listener meetups or live events? What if they supported causes that matter to the show and its listeners? There may be opportunities to become part of the community rather than simply advertise to it."

Coleman Insights · Podcasting's Superpower: The Power of Connection | Coleman Insights

Podcasting (and radio!) are intimate mediums. They're rituals of having someone else's voice in your head. Audiences have a shared experience of tuning in. Sponsors piggyback on that already. Now what if sponsors did more to facilitate shared experiences for those same members?

"The best ROI on your career likely won’t come from AI. Put yourself in the right spaces and connect with real people."

Dave Gerhardt · The best marketing education won't come from a course

Show up. Meet people. Be helpful. Repeat.

"I still like to link to things. That sounds almost ridiculous to point out… but when did we stop linking? The hyperlink may be one of the most beautiful ideas the internet ever gave us. Here’s something interesting… go somewhere else… read it yourself… explore that space… discover another voice… fall down your own rabbit hole."

Mitch Joel · A Kinder... Gentler Internet - Thinking With Mitch Joel, Formerly Six Pixels of Separation

This. Absolutely this. I've never been much of a creator. I'm more of a curator. Recaps and roundups are my happy place. The anti-zero-click. It's why I spun this new site up. I wanted to get back to that. Back to sharing what I'm reading and watching and thinking about, algorithms be damned.