rocket.md (2324B)
1 +++ 2 title = "More from Tarpenning" 3 date = 2024-12-16T19:40:00-08:00 4 [extra] 5 book = "Rocket" 6 author = "Marc Tarpenning" 7 finished = 2024-12-15 8 rating = "★★★☆☆" 9 +++ 10 11 I stumbled onto [Altamira] during my usual daily web surfing, though 12 exactly how I can't quite remember nor discern from my browser history. 13 What I do remember is that I was there for [In The Dark]. [Rocket] was a 14 delightful surprise. It's not hard to discern from [my previous writing] 15 that I think Marc Tarpenning is a smart fellow. I was quite excited to 16 discover another opportunity to hear what he has to say. I'm also a 17 sucker for bespoke hardware, e-ink screens, and reading books by people 18 you've met. 19 20 After reading, I can affirm that *Rocket* is an altogether pleasant 21 experience. The fundamental insights about "measure twice, cut once" 22 that I have already written about apply just as well to NuvoMedia as 23 they did to early Tesla: Tarpenning writes that they "never varied the 24 plan" for what they were going to build. His focus on business 25 models—later important to proving that a market for high-end electric 26 vehicles might exist—is also present, reflected at NuvoMedia in the 27 discussion they had around the role of publishers and internet 28 distribution in the world of e-books. 29 30 *Rocket* places a stronger emphasis on a specific method for narrowing 31 down addressable problem-space than the talk of his that I attended. The 32 methodology is described succinctly as follows: 33 34 > Our thesis, if you will, was looking for products that didn't exist, 35 > that the technology was just getting good enough to enable. 36 37 The examples Tarpenning provides illuminate fun alternate histories that 38 never quite made it. 39 40 The form that this book takes is also quite notable: it is barely longer 41 than 50 pages in total, heavy in font but light and thin in the hand. It 42 would not be out of place as an article or a blog post somewhere on the 43 net. I am a strong proponent of the pamphlet as an art form, so I don't 44 begrudge the physical manifestation of *Rocket*. I did not, however, 45 enjoy the layout: were the Federalist Papers written in interview 46 format? 47 48 [Altamira]: https://altamira.studio 49 [In The Dark]: https://altamira.studio/store/p/itd 50 [Rocket]: https://altamira.studio/store/p/rocket 51 [my previous writing]: @/posts/marc-tarpenning-on-innovation.md