Closing thoughts for 2021
Hi All,
I hope you all are doing well and welcome to Dozen Worthy Reads. A newsletter where I talk about the most interesting things about tech that I read the past couple of weeks or write about tech happenings. You can sign up here or just read on …
You, my dear friends, are my main constituents, for whom I write this week after week (mostly but as you’ve noticed I’ve slacked off a bit). For those of you who know me well IRL know how hard 2021 has been for me personally so I want to close off the year with a recap, some things I am thankful for, and some trends I expect to see in tech in 2022.
Recap of 2021
We started the year wondering if/when we’d get vaccines and we’d get to enjoy our lives. A year might not seem like much but as Tim Urban has articulated beautifully in The Tail End each year matters a LOT. Hours make days make weeks make months and years and soon before you know your life is done. So first off, thanks to the miracle of mRNA vaccines we’re able to enjoy our lives just a bit more. But switching to a micro view and me personally as I think about The Tail End here is what I’d hoped to accomplish in 2021 and how I did:
I started a new job in 2021 at Coil as their Head of Product
I had the absolute pleasure of attending the People Analytics class with Douglas Guilbeault at Berkeley as a returning alum
I also took a Product Management Exec class at Berkeley and met some great people!
I had a goal of running 1000 miles in 2021 but only managed (so far) 986 miles (yes I track every run :))
I intended to publish 46 pieces on Dozen Worthy Reads (original + compiled lists) but only published 37 times (and 38 if you consider this!)
I planned to do some day trading so I could get a feel for both a bunch of products and investing strategies and in 2021 I played with (real money) on Robinhood, Public, Titan, FTX.US and learnt one very key thing - I am a crappy investor and the hype of meme stocks is something I should stay clear of.
I don’t make new year resolutions but I do set goals and my goals for this year (and I intend to do better with writing!)
Write 26 editions of Dozen Worthy Reads and 20 pieces of original content
Run 1000 miles
Take a writing class
Learn more about Web 3.0
Things I am thankful for:
Good health without which nothing is possible; I am thankful to never have had to go to a doc or worry about health issues (or health insurance for that matter!).
Running without which I’d be stressed to no end. Running forces me to think rather than respond and that is truly when I think about large problems (work and otherwise) plus the added benefit of staying (somewhat) thin since I love food and that is pretty much the only way to continue with my unabated gluttony.
Work : While I do not let my work define me, I enjoy working and I am thankful to be able to work with really kind and nice people (compared to horror stories that I hear from people at other companies)
You : This mailing list has grown since last year by quite a bit with so many of you joining and giving me a small part of your week and attention when a funny TikTok video is just a click away. I don’t take this lightly and I am deeply appreciative of the time and attention you bring. So thank YOU!
Friends : Covid would have been miserable without my weekly wine buddies. You know who you are! You know how you’ve helped and I am thankful that I have you guys to bounce things off and have a laugh with. Laughter is truly the best medicine!
Sarge & Eva : Until 2019, I hated cats! I always thought they were selfish animals. Having always been a dog person I never gave this too much thought until my buddy adopted a couple of feral cats (Sarge and Eva). Initially they were too scared of hanging out with us and now they pretty much hang out with us and I have come to realize how affectionate cats really are. The real lesson for me is what other preconceived notions I have about the world and the way I think about it that are wrong? These two cats gave me the perspective that if I am wrong about something so basic, how many other more important things am I wrong about. Here is a picture of them uhh well just looking at the wall and no one knows why! Long lives to both my feline friends!
Reading : I’m an avid reader and I have kept that habit up of consuming from the best of the best on platforms such as substack and otherwise. I am thankful for so many wonderful writers who spend so much time on a frequent basis to spark creativity and make me think or learn or consider something new. Life would indeed be boring without all this wonderful learning
Cooking : Pre covid I’d never made toast. Yep, toast. Yep. Post covid I learnt how to cook from the wonderful chef’s on Facebook and YT and now I can truly say I am a good cook. I’m generally a modest person but in this case I am going to, uh, praise myself : I am a brilliant cook! This is a life skill I wish I had learnt so long ago
Habits reinforce. Similar to how a flywheel works, one good habit reinforces the other so if you’ve ever wanted to start a good habit, forget the new year resolution bullshit, just setup a goal and work toward it - daily. There is no such thing as a shortcut. What looks like perfection to you, is imperfection practiced by someone many times over. What looks unachievable to you as a goal started with a single step toward that goal. Just go for it.
Tech Trends for 2022
Employee Activism : Tech, for the last couple of decades, has been unaffected by activism primarily because the money was good, life was good, schwag was good, stock was good. But all that turned around in 2021 where people started getting pissed with their employers. I expect this kind of activism to continue into 2022 given the number of people leaving jobs on a frequent basis. People are no longer content with a job in tech, they want fulfillment. I’m not sure where this will end up because, well, it's a job but I expect to see employers give employees more accommodations and privileges. Bottom line : Trust your workers or lose them
Crypto prices : The more popular cryptocurrencies will hit new highs in 2022. No this is NOT investment advice so buy at your own risk. We’ll nevertheless see a bunch of ups and downs and more and more scams but the more mainstream currencies will hit highs in 2022
Regulation and Lawsuits : Lawsuits against BigTech will become more common (from multiple constituents, governmental entities, private parties) but this won’t change things much until the government intervenes with regulation. I expect to see regulation around privacy, monopolistic practices, content regulation start to take hold or become more mainstream topics in 2022. I don’t expect that most will become actual law in 2022.
Funding : I expect the frothy funding environment for tech to continue well into 2022 hitting all time highs. There is way too much capital flowing around and with options such as EquityBee and AltoIRA more options opening for retail investors. This trend is just getting started.
Big Tech faces more scrutiny : The Facebook files were just the start. I expect there to be a lot more scrutiny, leaked secrets, and “gotchas” for not just Big Tech but for other companies in tech as well.
Clubhouse : I am skeptical that Clubhouse will survive 2022. They will either be acquired or be on a downward spiral for 2022.
Food Delivery, Cloud Kitchens, Instant Delivery : All these trends will continue to skyrocket to new highs in 2022 with a lot of expected regulation for Gig Economy companies around the world. Last mile delivery will compete even harder with Amazon and win some local markets. Some of these heavily funded companies will have no choice but to either acquire or retain with better unit economics compared to their larger competitors. I see a bunch of acquisitions similar to the rideshare industry way back when …
Creator Economy : I think we’ll see much more investment in the creator economy in 2022 with breakthrough business models. Large media platforms will continue to woo creators; millions of creators will make this their full time job; millions won't and will switch back to more traditional jobs.
Web 3.0/ Metaverse / Crypto : A lot of this is already happening but we’ll see a whole lot of noise, scams, trash in the Web 3.0 space with people trying to figure out what Web 3.0 can do better, cheaper, faster than Web 2.0. I expect to see Web 3.0 companies scale and perhaps one real break-though use case for “normal” internet people
Splinternet : 2021 was the start; we’re going to see the internet splint further as governments consider the internet boundaries that they need to control. BigTech either has to contend with local regulation (Apple in China, Russia for example) or get the hell out (Facebook’s debacle with news in Australia). I expect countries such as Russia, China, India to continue to make local versions of many products and thus more customized products in each of these countries. Lots of funding tied to this
Hacking : We’re going to see more large scale vulnerabilities such as the log4j one in 2022. Security has always been an afterthought for many products and with so many products using open source as their starting point there are many vulnerabilities that will be exposed and exploited.
Dozen Worthy Reads : We’ll if you made it till here, Dozen Worthy Reads becomes a large media empire in 2022 :-D #lifegoals ;)
Look, I’m not smart so take all these with a pinch of salt and the end of 2022 we’ll see how I did.
I wish each and every one of you a wonderful Holiday season, a very Merry Christmas, and a 2022 that exceeds your expectations. Stay safe, be well and thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed reading this please consider sharing with a friend or two (or sign up below if you came across this or were forwarded this)
Thanks for reading Dozen Worthy Reads! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Thank you for reading Dozen Worthy Reads. This post is public so feel free to share it.
