Shane Snow

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@bentossell Holy crap! That's amazing, and the best feedback an author could hope to get. Congratulations. I love ProductHunt, btw. To answer your questions: 1) When I started skateboarding in high school, suddenly every parking lot and staircase looked like a skate park. It's sort of the same thing with lateral thinking—and specifically a lot of the myths that the research I dug into dispel. I think I call BS on myself and my colleagues a lot more when we say "That's not how we do things" or "Let's set a realistic goal" or "He/She needs more experience" etc. So I probably have become more annoying. :) 2) I go through the exercise of asking myself "What if I had to do this 10x better?" or "If I were going to build a competitor that would destroy this project/company/etc, what would I do?" These kind of step-back-and-self-question exercises are so useful. Also, I guess I travel a lot more places than before (to speak about the book). Ain't ever been to Hong Kong til Smartcuts. Now I'd love to move there. :) The real question is: Are you still living with your parents? Free rent FTW!

⭐️

Ben Tossell

@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt

@shanesnow I bought an apartment ;) so no free rent, instead I pay a mortgage But THIS IS MY JOB, so have zero to complain about!

1 share tweet・a year ago

Jonny Miller

@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia

@shanesnow I just finished Smartcuts, kudos for the great writing and I always appreciate it when an author takes the time to read their own audiobook! What were the biggest takeaways or surprises for you personally when writing the book? And secondly, were there any other examples of smart cuts that didn’t make the final edit?

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@jonnym1ller Thanks for the kind words! Narrating the audio was so awkward. :) I initially set out to write a book about fast-growth technology companies, and the big surprise for me was the pattern of thinking common to people and companies who make breakthroughs across history and outside of tech was the same: lateral thinking. So the book was about charting some specific patterns of lateral thinking strategy, but there's certainly a lot of specific tactics that I didn't include. Speaking of which, I recently broke down one tactic in this checklist: http://www.shanesnow.com/blog/20...

Jonny Miller

@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia

@shanesnow Great crib sheet, #7 is one to remember! I totally agree that it’s the most important thing not being taught in schools today. Maria from Brainpickings has this phrase “combinatorial creativity” that I really love. It’s also a great argument for learning outside of your specialty/industry, even if it doesn’t feel relevant at the time.

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@jonnym1ller I love that. Do you have a link to where she coined/wrote that by chance?

Jonny Miller

@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia

@shanesnow Yes, several! I think she originally shared it in this NYC Creative Morning: https://www.brainpickings.org/20... – but you could make the case that she was just combining Einstein’s words in linguistically creative ways herself: https://www.brainpickings.org/20...

Theoharis Dimarhos

@theo_dimarhos · Marketing+Biz Dev at AngelouEconomics

Hi Shane! If you were launching something, what would be the three hacks you'd use to make sure you get great coverage?

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@theo_dimarhos Not sure I'd call them all hacks, but my 3 best tips would be: 1) Develop real personal relationships (in person, if possible) with reporters long before your launch. Help them with stories they're working on that are not about you. Be a source on background for them. Hook them up with good sources and introductions. Tell them when you like their stories. Share their stuff on social. Get lunch. Then 6 months later launch your thing and they'll definitely at least take a look or pass it along to someone who will. 2) Have a good story ready. The story of why and how what you're launching came about is often more interesting than the fact that some startup launched some thing. Tie your story into current news or trends for the reporter, because that's what they're going to have to do. Be ready to introduce reporters to other people who can talk about the space or who are doing interesting things that aren't you. 3) Keep the momentum going by pitching the story of your launch momentum as a story itself—to the ad and social media and tech blogs. I write about this in Chapter 7 of Smartcuts if you want to dig in deeper on this one.

Kate

@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt

Who are some of the people who have made the biggest impact on your life and career? (Stories, please!)

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@katesegrin Hard to enumerate and name the people who have had an impact on my life and career. But as a journalist: David Carr is the one who comes to mind who had a huge impact before I knew him personally as well as after. I wrote this when he passed away last year: https://medium.com/@shanesnow/wh...

1 share tweet・a year ago

Kate

@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt

Hi Shane! What has been one of the best articles or pieces of media you've seen in the past week / of all time?

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@katesegrin Best piece of media I discovered in the past week is this video of Snoop Dogg narrative nature footage:

Favorite piece of all time, probably this feature story by Gene Weingarten: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp... Although in memory of Alan Rickman RIP, this video is incredible:

(You won't believe what happens at 3:57! How's that for an "Upworthy" headline?)

Theoharis Dimarhos

@theo_dimarhos · Marketing+Biz Dev at AngelouEconomics

What have you found to be the best ways to reach important/busy people and how can you increase the probabilities that they help you out?

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@theo_dimarhos Helping others out—or helping people they care about—is a good way to get people to actually want to help you. And on your first question: I co-wrote a piece for Fast Company a year ago about this very question of contacting important people here http://www.fastcompany.com/30366...

Russ Frushtick

@russfrushtick

@shanesnow What is your take on unmarked branded content? I believe CNN's The Big Story is going this route. Are you concerned about this line of branded content blurring?

1 share tweet・2 years ago

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@russfrushtick I think unmarked branded content is totally deceptive. It's also hard to see how this benefits an advertiser from a branding perspective if you can't tell who the brand is. Best case scenario for branded content is to create content that's so good that people are proud to engage and you're proud to put your brand on it. The most dramatic example of this in recent memory is the $200mm grossing LEGO Movie.

Lejla Bajgoric

@lejlahunts · Intern, Product Hunt

Thanks for being here! You've written a great deal, but what's the key work you've read that's most informed your writing?

1 share tweet・2 years ago

@lejlahunts http://www.shanesnow.com/booklist :D

@shanesnow · cco, contently

Emily Hodgins

@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt

Which of your articles are you most proud of?

1 share tweet・a year ago

@shanesnow · cco, contently

@ems_hodge I have a recency bias here, but I thought this blog piece about the future of energy was important: http://maneatingrobot.com/61/all... Also this was effing awesome: http://www.wired.com/2012/12/nav...