Tom Goodwin

I miss offices. I miss meetings. I miss random smiles in corridors. I miss energy. I miss brainstorms. I miss industry events. I miss snatched conversations. I miss walking around and feeling part of something. I miss team meals. I miss nurturing and being nurtured. I miss Friday feelings, I miss leaving the office. I miss vacations.I miss the richness of living. I miss seeing reactions. I miss it all.

And I’m doing fine, but I wonder if in order to cope we’ve all just become rather numb. A little bit dazed. Feels totally nuts that were in this situation. Feels like the rules changed and we’re in a futile purgatory, no logic, no end, no plan. And to speak of this is considered wrong, because these are first world problems and most of us are doing really well considering. But it’s MANY other people I’m worried about, and seriously so.

Often I'm in a co-working space these days and overhear some people talking passionately about their startup, and I love being able to feel the energy, the devotion, the sense of risk taking, the calling these people have. A group of 10 young dreamers taking on the world.

Because I'm nosey (well curious) I'll overhear the name of the company and Google it. And, time and time again it will be something like this.

-A new DTC brand selling expensive Canned Water.
-The 36th largest company to try to sell Fitbits for dogs.
-T-shirts as a service.
-A dating app but for the smallest niche you could ever imagine
-A travel app to spoil people with way way too much money
-The 872nd entrant as a DTC brand for pricey Shampoo
-The 67th neobank to serve small business owners
-A way to get wine to your house in <15 mins
-Slippers but made of obscure Peruvian fabric for $200
-Artisian Hemp towels.
-Get an underpaid overstressed person to deliver something to you.

Now, don't get me wrong. I adore entrepreneurialism. I admire those who make things happen, who have a dream.

I love we live in an age where commerce, creativity and business is now more accessible and thus more democratic than ever.

But what on earth compels you to do something of so little benefit to the world. You wake up every day thinking of how to ensure you can overtake the 23rd largest player in a market that makes no sense nor difference. What makes you so passionate about bottled water you think the world needs a way to get a case of it for $46 with free delivery to peoples homes. How can your calling be to do something so inane, self involved and frivolous as this.

There are a lot of people with incredible energy, brilliant knowledge, wonderful connections, access to funding, a way to make a real difference to the world. Why do people insist on pursuing the same derivative, cliched ideas? Is it just cool to be a “founder?“, is it great to raise capital doing something futile?

More helpfuly

Why can't we work around the real needs of real people, not just the elite.
What can't we work around real problems to be solved?
Why can't we do things that make the world a tiny tiny bit better?
Why can't we establish what new technology makes possible and innovate around the profound new envelop of possibility.

Some ideas I'd love people to work on:
-How can we make social platforms that builds bridges and understanding
-How can we make it easier to recycle
-How can we reduce corruption
-If talent is spread across the world, but opportunity is not, how can we give opportunity to everyone.
-If university education is deeply unaffordable, how can we help the massively educated but not typically credentualized get great jobs
-How can we help people meet others in real life.
-How can we make it easier for small venues to sell tickets
-How can we reduce food wastage
-How can we make it easier to get a babysitter

etc etc etc

This is not the most interesting story in the world, but I want to share it.

A couple of weeks ago, having moved to a new area, my Girlfriend and I went out for a meal nearby at a moderately nice restaurant. I mean this wasn't “French Laundry“ , but it was a place people would go for a small occasion, not for a big meal.

Sat at the bar ( no idea why, but always prefer the feeling of eating at the bar) had a lovely chat with the bar person, lots of discussions with other great staff, all of whom seemed proud to work there. Rather annoyingly there was a QR code menu, which I loathe ( beyond reason) , but we got suggestions from the barman.

The food was wonderful. The service felt great, and it felt very special.

A few nights ago, did something I never do, remembering how sublime every item we ate was, we returned.

Immediately someone informed us that the place had a new menu and new system. Now the QR code took you to a sign up page, where you simply entered your credit card details, opened an account, and then ordered food from items listed, and paid for them before they were delivered.

The same staff were there, they all looked a bit lost. Their jobs were now to go around helping people onboard themselves with the ordering process. The people who brought us food seemed almost afraid to get eye contact, their roles were now logistics not service. The air of the place had gone from a great night out, to a place with people staring into screens.

We've all been a bit annoyed at the end of a meal trying to find someone to flag down to get the bill. We've been frustrated as they fail to come around fast again to take payment, but when this entire step is missing, the meal felt wrong. There was no “ending“, no thank you, no closure. To simply pay for your food, get it, eat it and then just leave with no ceremony, felt oddly sad. I felt annoyed with the automatic tip added on, which I'd felt great about the first time.

For goodness sake can people who look at life as a process to smooth out with technology and reduce costs get some sense.
Please think a little bit. Please remember that staff are not organic robots, they are wonderful humans. Please remember even “paying the bill“ isn't a shitty step to remove, but something to make as delightful as possible.

Tech people and consultants need to stop leading, we need empathetic people in charge and to remember that very little that matters can ever be measured.

SHEIN is an almost perfect example of the zero marginal cost era of consumption in 2023.

Every day around 6,000 new SKU's of clothing are added for sale.

Whatever sells, they make more of. No curation, no listing fees, no thought.

Nobody needs to think about the design, they just try stuff. If Tshirts with Bananas sell well, try t-shirts with Mangos, Strawberries and more. If people like costumes where you look like a Cactus, make 10x more and see what happens.

No need for a soul, a heart, an idea, a vision, a belief, a story, a craft, or quality, just the collective whims of millions of people clicking.

It's A-B-C.....AB/AB.........ZZZZ testing

The ultimate manifestation of 2020's consumerism

People buying stuff that's optimized based on algorithms, made as a reaction to trends honed by algorithms, promoted by influencers who do whatever seems to work.

Stuff so cheap that if the quality is poor it's not worth sending back.

Somehow the modern world is predicated on making tonnage of just absolute crap, sufficiently cheaply and quickly that it sort of works. The graphs go up for long enough.

The age of zero marginal cost. Where manufacturing, launching, distributing, crafting, marketing costs all appear to trend to zero.

From writing to videos to images to news to startups to clothing to photos to business ideas. Just do it badly but fast and cheap.

Want to make a website that sells clothes, you can probably whip it up in an hour. Want to place clothes on AI models, give it 10 mins, want to email 1000 people with a press release, train an AI to do it.

A time where the cost of thinking or listening or designing seems too inefficient. Where being fast trumps everything . Were rather than plotting a path to success based on deep thought or listening or ideas, or dreams or believe. We leave it to algorithms and optimization.

I'm not complaining. I'm just saying I can't wait for the counteraction.

A move away from being swamped with cheap crap.


The power of thought, the power of a vision, of taste, of expertise, of listening to people and making things that are needed

Owning stuff we cherish.

Reading things that have been crafted

Enjoying things made with soul

Creation as a calling, not a cynical business plan

There is nothing more empowering than genuinely not seeking the approval of others or really caring about what they think of you.

It frees you up in so many ways, but also is very threatening to most around you.

This is a funny video of a newly implemented AI chatbot for DPD, a parcel delivery company.
It turns out it's amazing at writing poems, it can tell jokes, but its unable to
- Track your parcel.
- Access any information about your account, or deliveries.
- Let you change delivery details
- Or even tell you what phone number to ring.

It is worse than useless, unless of course you want poetry

I'm sharing this less because it's funny, but more because it demonstrates the golden rule about Digital Business Transformation

It's never about how sophisticated the technology is, it's about how deeply integrated it is.

Unless a customer care agent, whether a bot or a human, can access various systems your company uses, it's destined to be frustrating.

In the rush to “test and learn“ or boast to our trade mags, or get headlines, we use technology quickly as a quick useability patch.

But all the value is created not by UX, but new flows, new systems, new journeys, and this means depth of integration.

The world won't be changed by AI, but it will be changed by better systems, databases that can talk to each other, better data governance, better thinking, better security.

AI may be a way to turbocharge this, it may be an excuse to do it, but the real leapfrogs happens because of ambition and courage, not speed nor superficiality.

Please note this video comes from a viral tweet, from ashbeauchamp , someone I can't find here to tag.

Would someone to make an app called “spontaneous”.
A way for people who HATE planning to navigate places that offer last minute stays, last second theatre tickets, spare seats on flights, in restaurants, spa bookings, haircuts, any service.

You could use location based services to ping people based on spaces that open up, quiet times, unsold inventory etc.

I don't get why so much of the world revolves around planning, when our phones should render everything much faster, more seamless and spontaneous.

I saw a small but brilliant use of AI in a major retailer last week.

We’ve all been there: you get to the checkout with an item that has no price label and no barcode.

Normally this means a 10-minute delay while someone wanders off to find the same product. You insist on telling them the price ( even though you know it’s daft, that’s not inventory management works)

But this time was different.

The assistant pulled out a phone, opened the Lowe’s’ staff app, used image recognition to identify the item instantly, a barcode popped up, and we were done. Clean. Fast. Seamless.

It’s not life-changing. It’s not even new. But it’s smart and it captures something important about how companies use AI.

There are two ways to innovate with technology:
1. Bottom-up: Take every task or workflow you have today and make it better using whatever technology is available.
2. Top-down: Start from the new possibilities technology creates and reinvent your company around those opportunities.

Large incumbents tend to default to option 1. AI-first startups tend to choose option 2.

The challenge, for everyone, is to ensure you’re actually solving a real problem, not just sprinkling technology around because it exists. The challenge is to be able to actually implement it at scale and for systems to integrate it

That’s why I loved this example. It’s simple, it makes sense, it removes friction, and it improves the experience for both staff and customers.

A small win, executed well. Good work

I say it every month. But competent use of Excel or Google Docs could have wiped out 30 % of white collar jobs , but that’s not how it works.

Heck, 40% of roles could be eliminated if people just knew how to run a meeting better and could prioritize

So while I love AI and think it’s transformative , we need to accept companies have rarely shown that much enthusiasm for change and efficiency from the new.

97% of white collar work is ass covering.

It’s not ideation , it’s not implementation, it’s not doing stuff, it’s merely creating a process that looked sensible, its bureaucracy and “due diligence”

The degree to which AI will consume jobs is dependent on
1)Can it be blamed?
2) Can it count as time and materials to bill out ?

It's weird that we all agree that the map of the world should be the other way up and we find this image uncomfortable and thus "Wrong"

But there's absolutely no reason for it. It's just a convention.

We're a sphere in space, there is no up or down, lots of elements to maps make sense.

Of course it's logical to have the Equator. Having it centered on GMT and London is both understandable but also arbitrary bias.

But the idea north should be Up vs Down is entirely random, it's just what we did.

I always find this fascinating .
To some extent, if we all make assumptions that are the same, it doesn't matter.

But assumptions are there to be challenged.

Just because everyone sees something the same way doesn't make it right

Sometimes challenging assumptions is an enormous value unlock

But sometimes it just means you do things differently for the sake of it, and waste a lot of energy