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5 LESSONS FOR BOOTSTRAPPING PROTOCOL COMMUNITIES

LIQUIDATIONS 101: UNDERSTANDING CAPITAL LOSS AND PENALTIES IN DEFI LENDING MARKETS

This article compares liquidation processes in traditional DeFi lending markets with Fluid's approach. In markets like Aave, liquidations can result in users losing 50-100% of their collateral. In contrast, Fluid minimizes user losses by incrementally liquidating only as needed to bring a position below the liquidation threshold and applying a much smaller penalty.

INSIDE THE TRUMP CRYPTO PROJECT LINKED TO A $2M DEFI HACK AND FORMER PICK-UP ARTIST

World Liberty Financial, a crypto project tied to Donald Trump and his sons, has raised concerns due to its team's past association with Dough Finance, a DeFi platform that was hacked for $2 million. The project's white paper outlines plans for a decentralized borrowing and lending service, with a governance token, WLFI. Several team members, including former pick-up artist Zack Folkman, have controversial backgrounds, raising questions about the project's legitimacy and long-term prospects.

WEB3: THE HOUSEHOLD NAME IN THE MAKING

Binance Research finds that Web3 lags significantly behind Web2 in user adoption and retention. The two main challenges are excessive speculation and an overemphasis on infrastructure at the expense of consumer-facing products. Mainstream adoption requires dapps with real utility, expanded distribution channels utilizing Web2 ecosystems, and improved mobile accessibility.

SOLUTIONS TO DEFI'S GAMIFIED VALUE EXTRACTION

Though DeFi has its fair share of issues, this author expresses optimism about its future and predicts that traditional finance yields will become accessible onchain through Real-World Assets.

JAPANESE FINANCIAL SERVICES AGENCY ISSUES TAX REFORM GUIDELINES

The Japanese Financial Services Agency's 2025 tax reform includes new guidelines for taxing virtual currency transactions, prompting investors to advocate for a reduction in the crypto tax rate from a max of 55% to a uniform rate of 20%.

CRYPTO APPLICATIONS IN DECENTRALIZED ENERGY

California's heat wave in 2022 showed the potential of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), where households help stabilize the grid by managing energy use.

SOUTH KOREA GTM

To effectively enter the Korean crypto market, it's important to understand local preferences, regulatory climates, and the builder landscape, with special attention to sectors like IT and gaming.

WHY THE EVM WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE

The EVM is expected to remain dominant with regards to smart contract development due to its extensive network effects and large amount of documentation and guides that ease development hurdles.

NIKE AND MOMA DESIGN STORE LAUNCH FIRST OFFICIAL COLLABORATION

Nike and MoMA Design Store have launched their first official collaboration series of limited-edition and co-branded products, emphasizing fitness and style. The series starts with the MoMA Nike Everyday Sock, which features the iconic Swoosh and MoMA branding. This partnership marks the first time official Nike x MoMA products have been released, despite a long-standing relationship highlighted by exhibits and exclusive releases. The collaboration will see more product drops.

MICROSOFT DECIDES IT'S A GOOD TIME FOR BAD UI TO DIE

Microsoft is phasing out the Windows Control Panel, a 40-year-old interface linked to DOS that has been criticized for its complexity. Despite affection from some long-time users, it has always been a flawed and dangerous tool that gave too much power to the hands of the untrained. Its retirement signifies a move towards centralizing functions into the more modern but imperfect Settings. This shift highlights a broader industry issue: the lack of a shared, structured way to manage device settings, leading to user frustration and inefficiency.

CANVA SAYS ITS AI FEATURES ARE WORTH THE 300 PERCENT PRICE INCREASE

Canva's aggressive rollout of generative AI features will significantly hike its subscription costs next year. Canva Teams users globally will see a price increase of over 300%, with US rates jumping from $120 to $500 per year for up to five users, discounted to $300 for the first year. Canva justified this by citing its new AI tools' enhanced "product experience" and value. Some users have criticized the steep price hike and are considering switching to alternatives like Adobe.

WHY A.I. ISN'T GOING TO MAKE ART

Art involves numerous choices, often unconscious. AI-generated works lack these choices, leading to bland or derivative results. While impressive, AI-generated art lacks the depth and breadth of decisions found in human-made creations.

ASPECTS OF THE EARLY WEB I'D LIKE TO SEE COME BACK

The early web (1995-2005) was defined by its simplicity, lack of big data, and opportunities for originality, allowing creators to build niche communities and unique online cultures. This era's openness and focus on user privacy offer valuable lessons for shaping the future of the web.

SANDING UI

"Sanding UI" involves iteratively testing and refining a user interface by repeatedly interacting with it, like smoothing wood with sandpaper. This method identifies issues, such as non-clickable gaps caused by CSS styling, and resolves them to enhance usability. The process focuses on continuous adjustments to create a seamless user experience.

PINES UI

Pines is a UI library designed for Alpine and Tailwind projects. It provides a collection of ready-to-use animations and components, such as sliders, tooltips, accordions, modals, and more.

STYLES & VARIABLES ORGANIZER (FIGMA PLUGIN)

This plugin for Figma streamlines design system management by linking styles and variables, merging values, and enhancing design token implementation.

VISUALIZE YOUR COLORS AND FONTS ON A REAL SITE

Realtime Colors lets you instantly visualize and test color and typography choices on a website, saving time and simplifying design decisions.

REDUCING UX DEBT (OR DIE TRYING)

UX debt refers to unresolved user experience issues, often caused by poor communication and compromises in design quality, that can hurt business and team motivation. Regular collaboration between designers and developers, modular design systems, and proper documentation can help manage and reduce UX debt.

HOW TO GET HIRED AS A JUNIOR DESIGNER IN 2024

The design industry has faced instability due to the pandemic and AI, making it essential for junior designers to master UX basics and design tools like Figma. Continuous learning, seeking mentor feedback, and leveraging prior skills and networks can help you stand out to employers.

THE LOST SENSE

The digital revolution, especially smartphones, has diminished tactile experiences, impacting brain development, emotional growth, and well-being. Reconnecting with the physical world and redesigning devices to enhance touch could help counter these adverse effects.

TAXI STUDIO COLLABORATES WITH KEVIN BONGANG ON CARLSBERG FONIO BREW

Carlsberg and Brooklyn Brewery have launched a campaign featuring a premium bottle design by Cameroon-born artist Kevin Bongang and a brand film highlighting fonio's brewing possibilities and cultural significance.

THIS ILLUSTRATOR TURNS EVERYDAY OBJECTS AND FRUITS INTO HILARIOUS DRAMATIC CHARACTERS

Alberto Arni creatively transforms everyday objects and fruits into humorous characters with unique personalities, entertaining the ordinary through his playful illustrations on Instagram.

WHY CREATIVES NEED A NEW ALLIANCE TO FACE THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT OF AI

The Creative Origin Alliance, launched to protect artists' interests against AI's impact, seeks to unite creatives in response to AI tools and big tech's use of their work without consent.

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THE NEW NORMAL FOR SAAS

The SaaS industry has experienced a significant slowdown in growth since 2021, with new business acquisitions becoming more complex and expensive. As a result, companies are shifting their focus towards retention and expansion, with Net Revenue Retention (NRR) becoming a critical metric for sustaining long-term growth. Companies with high NRR tend to grow faster and are more resilient to economic downturns, but achieving a 100%+ NRR is becoming increasingly challenging, especially for larger companies with a high subscriber count.

BACKCASTING FROM KNOWN AI SCALING LAWS

The current state of AI scaling laws presents a compelling opportunity for entrepreneurs to create value, even without considering unforeseen breakthroughs. By studying known trends and backcasting from possible futures, entrepreneurs can identify inflections and gather insights to build breakthrough companies. The cost of intelligence is falling rapidly, and the physical compute required to achieve a given performance in language models is declining, making it an exciting time for innovation in the field.

FOR POSTSCRIPT, THE FUTURE OF MARKETING IS AI-POWERED AND DELIVERED VIA TEXT

Adam Turner, CEO of Postscript, discovered that only a quarter of consumers who signed up for marketing texts made purchases, prompting him to enhance the company's automated messaging with human sales associates to address consumer concerns directly. This approach led to a significant increase in purchase rates, with 60% of consumers who interacted with sales associates making purchases. Postscript now aims to scale this personalized interaction using AI tools, allowing for more effective and personalized marketing experiences across its customer base.

SALES TAX FOR SAAS COMPANIES

Sales tax compliance has become increasingly complex for tech companies, especially after the 2018 Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, which introduced the concept of "economic nexus." The ruling requires businesses to collect sales tax in states where they have no physical presence if they meet certain sales thresholds, making it crucial for companies to manage their sales tax obligations to avoid financial and legal risks. Understanding the nuances of sales tax, including nexus rules and product taxability, is essential for tech companies to effectively manage their financial strategy and minimize potential liabilities.

2 VERY COMMON MISTAKES THAT CAN KILL YOUR STARTUP

FRAMEWORK FOR GROWING CONSUMER SUBSCRIPTION BUSINESSES

Growth advisor and angel investor Phil Carter has developed a framework called the Subscription Value Loop to help grow consumer subscription businesses, drawing from his experience and analysis of over 30,000 apps. Consumer subscription apps face challenges such as high churn rates, low ARPU, and dependence on paid acquisition, but successful apps can overcome these by building a strong core value promise and leveraging strategies like optimizing onboarding, pricing, and retention tactics. By understanding and enhancing the Subscription Value Loop, companies can improve metrics like LTV/CAC and Payback Period, driving sustainable growth.

SPUR TEST

Spur lets you test your website with natural language.

CAMELBACK FELLOWSHIP (PRE-ACCELERATOR)

Camelback Ventures offers a $40k fellowship program for entrepreneurs using education and technology to address socio-economic inequity. Applications close on September 3 at 6:00 pm Central.

SPEEDRUN (ACCELERATOR)

SPEEDRUN is A16Z GAMES' early-stage accelerator that invests $750K in startups at the intersection of Tech x Games, with applications closing on September 30.

NOTES ON “FOUNDER MODE”

Investor Paul Graham's essay "Founder Mode" discusses two distinct leadership styles for running a company: founder mode and management mode. The essay argues that when founders are pressured to adopt management mode as their company scales, it can lead to negative outcomes. However, the specific criticisms against management mode may be overstated, and the real question should be how to effectively operate in founder mode while adapting to the company's changing needs.

THE THREE MOST COMMON CHALLENGES WITH FREEMIUM—AND HOW TO FIX THEM

With interest rates staying high, many software companies are reassessing their free tier offerings to improve their pricing strategy. A well-designed free tier should offer enough value to attract users while also creating a clear incentive to upgrade to a paid tier. By identifying and addressing common pitfalls, such as offering a free tier that is too generous or too restrictive, or pricing the paid tier too expensively, companies can refine their pricing strategy to boost growth and revenue.

GROWTH PRODUCT ORG CHARTS

To effectively structure a Growth team, start with a small, agile team focused on experimentation across the customer journey, consisting of a Growth Product Manager, a Data Scientist, a few Engineers, and some design and marketing support. As the team demonstrates positive ROI and gains traction with key metrics, it can scale into a more structured organization with multiple squads, each focusing on different growth levers such as acquisition, activation, monetization, and retention, while being careful to own specific surfaces and maintain them with the help of a Growth Infrastructure team.

“HOW BIG IS YOUR MARKET?” IS A TERRIBLE QUESTION FOR INVESTORS TO ASK

When evaluating startup potential, it's more important to consider the market's growth prospects rather than its current size.

WHICH DESIGN ERA ARE WE IN?

The evolution of digital design has traversed various eras, from static websites in the 1990s to interactive web applications and mobile apps, each era introducing new features and design languages.

THE VALUATION PREMIUM FOR STARTUPS IN CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK IS REAL

Startups in California and New York consistently receive higher valuations compared to those in other states, with premiums reaching up to 70% in certain stages and years.

TRANSPORT FOR LONDON CONFIRMS CYBERATTACK, ASSURES US ALL IS WELL

Transport for London (TfL) is addressing a cybersecurity incident affecting its internal systems. While no customer data breach or service disruption has been reported, TfL is working with government agencies to respond.

THOUSANDS EXPOSED IN FOTA WILDLIFE PARK BREACH

Fota Wildlife Park is notifying customers who bought tickets on the park's website since May 12 of a breach. Users are being advised to change any passwords associated with the site, be aware of phishing attempts to their email, and notably to cancel any debit or credit cards used. The park has not revealed exact details on what data was stolen, how the data was stolen, or the number of customers impacted

YUBIKEYS ARE VULNERABLE TO CLONING ATTACKS THANKS TO NEWLY DISCOVERED SIDE CHANNEL

The YubiKey 5 hardware token for two-factor authentication has a cryptographic flaw that makes it vulnerable to cloning attacks when physically accessed by an attacker. Yubico has confirmed that all YubiKey 5 models are susceptible to cloning due to a side channel vulnerability in the Infineon microcontroller used in various authentication devices. Updating firmware on affected YubiKeys is not possible, leaving them permanently vulnerable to potential attacks.

AWS IAM: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TOWARDS LEAST PRIVILEGE

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the various tools that are available to fine tune AWS IAM access. It suggests some important SCPs such as limiting access to specific regions and blocking root user access, establishing zones of trust, utilizing permissions boundaries, using IAM Access Analyzer, and separating humans and non-human identities. The article suggests starting with a more permissive set of permissions to understand how your team utilizes AWS and then limit permissions from there.

LINUX DETECTION ENGINEERING WITH AUDITD

The first part in a series on Linux detection engineering from Elastic Labs, which focuses on installing and configuring auditd. The first part of the article lists installation methods for auditd and explains the types of rules that auditd supports. Control type rules configure the auditd process, file system rules watch files for read, write, and execute actions, and system call rules are the powerhouse of auditd and specify which syscalls to monitor and log. The second part focuses on how to use the Auditd Manager Elastic integration to install and configure auditd at scale and presents Elastic alerts for various scenarios.

PLAYING AROUND WITH AWS-VAULT FOR FUN & PROFIT

This post explains how to use AWS Vault to securely store AWS credentials leveraging the AWS Session Token Service to provide temporary, limited-privilege access to AWS resources in typical AWS account patterns, reducing credential exposure risk.