The best founders write blogs
so many of the most important founders I see on X/Twitter have their blogs/personal websites in their bios.
and many of them are still posting new essays! not even about their startups. like if you read Sam's, it's full of titles like "idea generation" and "the strength of being misunderstood".
my most recent project is aggregating them into one place to read them. the library has over 70 blogs right now and i'm adding more regularly.
i think there's a ton to learn from founders just through their blogs. check it out and find some inspo.
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For some it's therapy, for others is building or upkeeping their personal brand or just the upkeep of marketing
writing = thinking
yeah i think you're right about writing equaling thinking.
When you're a known figure, I think it makes sense.
But when you aren't well known, I like the @levelsio approach: use X (Twitter) as your blog.
(Not that Pieter isn't famous lol)
yeah you can totally work your X like a blog. you may've seen this thread already, but he recently was talking about this. Andrej Karpathy's response is sort of where i land:
X is great for micro/proto thoughts on stuff -- even long form versions -- but putting it on your blog really works it out and concretizes it.
using X and a blog together is a smart combo
https://x.com/levelsio/status/1874486557547303083
As Paul Graham once suggested, "Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them." Founders who write regularly are effectively documenting their thought processes, refining their perspectives, and connecting with an audience of like-minded individuals who can offer feedback or collaboration.
absolutely - totally agree. it's probably a very good thing if you do it for yourself primarily, as a way to think/document, and then it downstream it's great for others. that's the reason for bringing as much of that kind of writing into place as I can.
This is so intersting, I also love people collecting personal site. This will be so useful personally for me.
Nice, glad you find it useful! let me know if you have any feedback :)
You're right, it's like they're connecting on a personal level with their audience through their journey.
exactly! they're already people who take action and do, and they write to leave little (or big) lessons/observations along the way.
Everyone can read your thoughts only when you write them somewhere, and not just most important founders but also most important leaders communicate through writing.
totally agree. over time, too, i think it shows you're curious. just yesterday Sam Altman posted reflections and predictions on 2025 to his personal blog. a lot is happening on X, but i think we should pay attention to blogs too.
Great idea
thank you :)
For sure. Do you have any favorites among the blogs you've collected so far? Or is there a specific theme you notice across most of them?
some favorites so far might be:
the question of Theme is a good one! mostly, their willingness to write about where they or their company are at in a particular time, or their thoughts about a non-startup-y topic all say something to me about the kinds of people they are, and they seems to be: Curious
have you checked any out?
Thanks for this, not I am aware of some of the people you mentioned but shoulud definitely check out these blogs, all the best.
right on, enjoy!
I’ve recently started posting more content on my blog. And let me tell you, writing isn’t just about sharing ideas; it’s about keeping my brain in check. Every time I write, I get to organize my thoughts. And when I forget a strategy or need to refresh my memory, I simply go back to my own articles. It’s like having a public second brain.
totally! i think you're spot on. and i find that if a good portion of my inputs are other people's blogs and writing (rather than like scrolling X), that helps my own clarity about what to think about or how to think about it.
i think you're specifically right about it being a public second brain. it's your ledger of thinking. a cool signal.
i'm building foundationessays.com where you can find a bunch of different blogs all in one place if you're looking for inspiration :)
already signed up, +followed on X...
And videos!