Hey there - long time no see!

It’s been nearly 10 years since I first started working on Unscalable. At the beginning of the project, I never imagined I’d end up as a published author! I have you to thank for that, and I am immensely grateful.

But to be honest, in the years since, I thought I was most likely done with long-form writing. I wasn’t sure what made sense to write about next. My close friends can tell you that I’m a big believer in not saying things just to talk. I prefer to speak (or write) when I know my words will be helpful or valuable. 

Which is why I’m excited to share a new project, Artificial Ignorance. Like millions of others, I’ve been fascinated by generative AI and what it’s capable of. In particular, I’m curious about how these tools work, and how we can best get them to work for us.

So, I’ve spent the last several months learning as much as I can, getting my hands dirty, and documenting everything I find. Everything is still so new, but I’m thrilled to be on another writing journey. I hope you’ll join me.

https://www.ignorance.ai/

Cheers, Charlie

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since the last update, but I wanted bring up something seriously important: reviews. 

As you probably know, I’m fairly new to all of this "being an author" stuff. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I definitely couldn’t have gotten here without all of your support. So thank you. 

However, I’m learning new things about publishing every week, and lately I’ve figured out that reviews are SUUUPER important. Like, as-big-of-a-deal-as-pre-ordering-the-book-in-the-first-place important. Because reviews are how this book gets taken to the next stage as a product. It’s how we go from being an unscalable project to a rocketship venture. It’s the difference between you owning a "valuable first edition copy of Unscalable" vs. "that paperback your friend wrote one time". 

So I really, really need you to leave a review. 

What should I write? An honest review! If you don’t think Unscalable deserves 5 stars, then don’t give it 5 stars. Be authentic! Highlight what you liked about it, and what you didn’t like. We’ve all got different tastes and what you thought was less-than-stellar might make someone else decide to give the book a try. Besides, I’m still learning and growing as a writer, so constructive criticism is always welcome. 

How many reviews do we need? As far as I can tell, the book needs just over 100 reviews on Amazon. That’s the point at which the algorithms start to kick in and make their dark magic happen. And that’s SO doable! Fewer than 1 in 5 of the 581 followers needs to leave a review to make this work. 

Sorry, I’m really busy. Maybe later? Codswallop! All in all, this should take you less than 15 minutes. Less than 10 minutes if you’re a fast typer. If you only have 60 seconds of free time, you can just leave a star rating. This project has come much, much further than I ever thought it would, and it seems like a damn shame to not go the extra mile. 

Here’s the page! I already scrolled down to the "Write a customer review" section for you. 

Thank you so much!

P.S. Need some more convincing? Check out this article in Forbes! Six Small Business Books To Enlighten Even The Savviest Entrepreneurs

P.P.S. MASSIVE shout out to S. Byrnes, Kevin, evolsb, Christian, katy, and NAOTAKE for already leaving a review. 

Happy New Year everyone! 

Many of you have already gotten your copy (or copies) or Unscalable. If you haven't, Inkshares is still in the process of shipping out the early backer copies, so it should be arriving shortly!

Although you've already got your copy, the official launch is right around the corner, on January 19th. And in preparation for that launch, it would be incredible if you could leave a review on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Unscalable-Charlie-Guo/dp/194175855X/

Having good reviews is a huge driver for continued sales and word of mouth, so please please take a minute to leave one once you've finished reading.

tl;dr: Happy 2016, book launch is this week, spread the word and write an Amazon review!

Cheers,
Charlie

Unscalable Bonus Bundles!

Big announcement today! If you'd rather read it in a browser, visit https://medium.com/@charlierguo/unscalable-bonus-bundles-a4cc669dc5e6

I’m really excited to announce everyone who orders multiple copies (paperback OR ebook) before January 31st, 2016 can get their hands on the following exclusive content:

* Bonus audio interviews with new founders and companies (including Inkshares, Lockitron, Tiny Farms, and more!)
* Over $6,000 worth of tools and services to help fight the unscalable fight
* Guides to help apply some of the unscalable lessons found in the book
* One-on-one emails/hangouts/chats with me

I’ve been working for the last couple of months to put together exclusive extras for backers who buy multiple copies of the book. If you’re interested in some additional content, some potential advice, or just want to get a second copy of the book for someone you know, this is your chance! So here’s the breakdown:

2 Copies (thanks for your support!)

• Exclusive audio interview not found in the book (including Inkshares, Lockitron, and Tiny Farms; a full list coming soon)
• The Unscalable Guide: An overview of the lessons and techniques found in the book, which you can apply towards your own projects and companies.

5 Copies (dang you’re awesome!)

• All of the above, plus…
• Writing An Interview-based Book: A summary of how I compiled and published a book based on interviews. Helpful if you’re working on something similar!
• Email scripts: The templates that I used to reach out to the founders and CEOs featured in Unscalable.

10 Copies (holy cow, TEN copies??)

• All of the above, plus…
• Access to Founders Kit (https://founderskit.co/): Over $6,000 worth of coupons for the best startup tools and resources, including 3 months free from a variety of useful traction tools like CrazyEgg, Invision, PR.co, Olark, Positionly, Proto.io, Weebly, Instapage, Wistia, BladeWP, Segment, and other discounts from dozens more.
• Email with me! You’ll get a private email address that lets you get directly in touch with me! We can talk about anything you want, including the book, programming, good craft beers, your startup, or anything else.

25+ Copies (¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

• All of the above, plus…
• Hangout with me! Similar to the email, we can have a private chat via Google Hangouts to talk about whatever you want for an hour.
• Other stuff! I have no idea what might compel you to get 25 or more copies, but if there is something I can offer, please tell me!

Side note: Reasons why you might want to chat with me.
To be clear, I’m not saying that I “have it figured out” or “know all the answers”. That’s rubbish. Success is never guaranteed in startups, and the vast, vast majority of them fail. BUT, at this point I’ve spent over a hundred hours talking to founders on the early days of their companies, and how they grew their users counts into the thousands or millions. Not to mention I’ve started a couple of companies of my own.
After all of this, I’d like to think that I at least have a short list of things NOT to do, if not some decent ideas on new techniques to try. So in our video chat we can discuss your company and potential ways for you to accelerate your growth doing unscalable things, while discussing some common pitfalls you may want to avoid.

Interested in something else, like collaborating on a talk or a workshop? Let me know and we can find a way to work it out.

Email unscalable.bonuses@gmail.com to get in touch! I’m going to spend the rest of December finalizing the content, and I’ll be messaging backers to confirm their bonuses in January.

P.S. Holy cow, we broke 1,500 copies! Everything is still on track to launch in January, I can't wait! The paperback copies have finally started to come in: 

Updates: Tech in Motion Event and Book Bonus preview!

Hey everyone! A quick update today. 

First off, Tech in Motion is hosting an event on December 3rd, and I'm going to be speaking with Jeremy Thomas (Founder of Inkshares!) and James Richards (CEO of Teleborder, and the first book chapter!). If you're interested in hearing more about what Inkshares does, why I wanted to write this book, or how Teleborder has been doing since the original interview, definitely RSVP! There will be drinks!

Event details: http://www.meetup.com/TechinMotionSiliconValley/events/225789642/
When: December 3rd, 6pm
Where: Hacker Dojo (599 Fairchild Dr., Mountain View, CA)

Second, I've been putting together some bonuses for backers who purchased multiple copies. The details are still being finalized, but these are likely to include extra audio content, writeups of unscalable techniques, and potentially one-on-one Q&A sessions. Keep an eye out for the full details!

Thank you again for all your support!

Cheers,
Charlie