What should an early-stage founder build when the models change every week?
That question was at the center of our packed design conversation at Arcana, hosted by
@Soleio and
@Felicis.
@iansilber and
@joellewenstein brought perspectives shaped by work at Instagram and OpenAI, Airtable, and early Facebook. The room was full of people eager to hear what that experience means for the next generation of products.
While the event discussion was off the record, there are a few takeaways worth sharing:
→ Build so better models make your product better, not irrelevant.
→ Create something that compounds beyond the model, like network effects or unique data.
→ Stay willing to change your mind. When capabilities shift weekly, speed of adaptation matters a lot.
The design discussion stuck with me, too. We don’t fully know what these models can do yet. The people who keep experimenting (while asking what users actually want!) will be the ones to discover possibilities that no model could have predicted.
Thanks to Ian, Joel, Soleio, and everyone who came ready to explore.